Skiing in St-Lary: A Tour Through the Pyrenees Mountains by Mary Novakovich
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A scene from White Christmas flashed through my head as the train sped through France towards the Pyrenees. Just as Bing Crosby and chums sang in anticipation of snow in Vermont, I was hoping against hope that the forecast for rain in the Pyrenees would be wrong and that white fluffy stuff would magically appear in its place.
Like Bing, I would be disappointed – but not for long.
There’s no getting away from the fact that you can’t take plentiful snow for granted in the Pyrenees. It hasn’t got the altitude and enviable snow record of the Alps. But, for the average visitor, it has ways of making up for that.
St-Lary-Soulan was my base, one of the liveliest and most attractive of the nine resorts in the Hautes-Pyrénées department, its centre filled with pretty stone houses and half-timbered shops. The village meanders along the river Aure, its rocky banks and surrounding hills reminding me of Snowdonia. I think that perception was helped by the lack of snow on the hills and quite a lot of rain.
Animals, Bears and Marmots
A nasty cold rendered me unable to ski for the first couple of days, which coincided with positively balmy weather in the village. As I downed medicinal vin chaud outside the funky Izard Café Central, I couldn’t believe it was 15C. Strong winds had shut most of the runs at St-Lary’s highest ski station at 2400m, leaving many of the people who had arrived for the week of New Year’s Eve festivities to throng the streets.
For a village of only about 1,100 people, it is surprisingly well stocked with restaurants, cafés and shops. Nothing too flashy, though, mainly decently priced ski wear and local produce as well as soft toys celebrating the region’s favourite animals, bears and marmots. While the real marmots were busy hibernating, the village’s resident bear was on show at the Maison de l’Ours. If you can stomach the rather high entrance fee of EUR 6.50, you can visit the burly creature and watch a film about the local wildlife. I personally think the fee is better put towards a dish of duck confit at the Maison du Cassoulet on rue Vincent Mir.
Towards the Pistes
The weather was definitely creating havoc, though. In December 2009, St-Lary opened its new cable car that surpasses the old gondola as the fastest way to get from the village’s 800m elevation to the first ski station at Pla d’Adet at 1600m. It would also cut down on car journeys, as the resort is keen to minimise its environmental impact.
Unfortunately, the wind shut the cable car too, so I joined the long queue for the gondola to Pla d’Adet. It was a sorry sight under stony skies. People were gamely walking over the bare ground and muddy patches towards the pistes, which normally would have been wide motorway runs. Broad streaks of brown earth separated the pistes, narrowing them considerably.
I took the free bus to Espiaube at 1900m where I was hoping to get the cable car up to 2400m. That was shut too. I could just about make out the half-pipe, devoid of snow. Strangely, this didn’t seem to bother the majority of people, especially the little ones. The bottom of the slope had been turned into an anarchic toboggan run, children joyfully flinging themselves down the hill and their parents stoically carrying them back up again. They weren’t going to let something as trivial as a lack of snow spoil their holiday.
The Local Playground
Indeed, making the most of the conditions seems to be an inevitable part of a ski holiday here. The overwhelming majority of visitors are French, who regard the mountain range as their local playground and drop by for a spot of skiing whatever the weather. Spaniards make up the next biggest group – not surprising, considering the border is only about 15km away and the Spanish resorts are more expensive than their French counterparts. In fact, the Spanish flavour adds a pleasant dimension to St-Lary. Most of the bars offer tapas, and Spanish, rather than English, is the second language. Many of the region’s inhabitants are descendants of refugees from the Spanish civil war, so restaurant and shop staff easily switch between the two languages.
Eventually I was well enough to check out the skiing for myself, zooming up the quiet new cable car to Pla d’Adet on the last day of the year. The sun had returned, even if the snow hadn’t, and you can forgive a lot of things when the sky is blue. The snow cannons had kept the pistes in decent condition, and there were more patches of agreeably soft snow than I had envisaged. There were long queues too, as the higher slopes were shut again. It didn’t spoil the atmosphere, though, which was warm and friendly. And more warmth was awaiting in the Bergerie mountainside restaurant in the form of big bowls of delicious cassoulet.
Even if the skiing was under par, you couldn’t fault the food. There were the usual mountain cheesy favourites (fondue, tartiflette, raclette), best enjoyed at the Restaurant de la Tute in rue Vincent Mir (book ahead) or at L’Authentique Vignecois in neighbouring Vignec. The south-western French penchant for duck stretches into the Pyrenees, and the mountain range adds its own specialities in the form of Bigorre black pig and garbure, a thick soup of bacon, cabbage and whatever else is lying around.
Swimming Trunks
The lack of snow during high season meant that families had to entertain their children once the thrills of tobogganing had worn off. St-Lary, unlike many Pyrenean towns, doesn’t have its own natural thermal springs, but it makes up for it in the wellness centre at Sensoria. While children splash about the cave-like interior under shooting jets, parents can relax in the large thermal baths. A warning for men: if you don’t own the tight swimming trunks the French demand in public pools, and if you won’t stump up EUR 12 for a pair at reception, they won’t let you in. No such restrictions were in place in the pool and hot tub in my residence at Lagrange’s L’Ardoisière, which, if not much quieter than Sensoria, was at least close to my pleasingly spacious flat.
So if the skiing leaves a lot to be desired and the weather so changeable, is it worth it? People who want snow-sure conditions in their ski-in, ski-out chalets should stick to the Alps. If skiing takes second place to a friendly atmosphere, attractive landscapes, gorgeous cuisine and overall lack of pretension, then try the Pyrenees. Just check the forecast before you book.