The ski resorts of the Lleida Pyrenees have advanced the start of the 2013-14 season to November 23 and plan to have almost all of their slopes and lifts in operation for the Constitution bridge.
The intense snowfalls that fell in the second fortnight of November in most of the Pyrenees with significant thicknesses and the low temperatures have allowed Baqueira Beret to partially open the facilities on Saturday, November 23, and Port Ainé, Espot Esquí and Port del Comte, on the day November 30. The Nordic ski resorts of Lles, Tuixent-La Vansa and Sant Joan de l'Erm also opened on the 23rd, making this season the most advanced in the history of this sport in the Lleida Pyrenees.
During the presentation of the season, which took place in the multipurpose room of the Diputación de Lleida and was attended by those responsible for the winter complexes, as well as representatives of other regional administrations and the Generalitat de Catalunya; it was reported that the 11 Lleida stations have invested almost 4 million euros in this campaign to improve facilities and services and, in particular, to attract new debutants. This year there has been an increase in the signaling of routes for rackets, mainly in the Nordic ski resorts, which have gone from 51 km in the previous season to 87 km in the current one, as well as in the alpine ski resorts of Port del Comte and Espot Esquí.
During the presentation of the season, the president of the Lleida corporation, Joan Reñé, underlined that the ski resorts of the Pyrenees of Lleida receive every year almost two out of every three skiers who choose Catalonia to ski and one out of every four of the that they do in the stations of the whole of Spain. "These figures are an example of the quality and attraction that the Pyrenees of Lleida have for all fans of the world of skiing and snow," said Reñé.
The president of the Diputación de Lleida referred to the advancement of the season by a week compared to the initial forecast thanks to the snowfall that fell in the second half of November and stated that he is confident that this good news will allow sales of around 1,250,000 ski passes, a figure that was reached in the 2009-10 season and that would mean almost 10% more than the ski passes sold in the 2012-13 campaign.
For Reñé, the postponement of Barcelona's candidacy for the 2022 Winter Games and the new scenario proposed for 2026 "must be an opportunity to manage and work on a clear Olympic commitment". Reñé encouraged skiing in Lleida to bet on schoolchildren in the face of the "opportunities" of the 2026 Winter Games, which are based on the need to promote the practice of this sport among schoolchildren to boost the economy and have guarantees in the face of a new candidacy olympic He also added that "we should all generate adequate and attractive offers so that from schools and from families skiing is practiced in a more intense and regular way", and said that the future candidacy must also allow improving communication infrastructures in the Pyrenees of Lleida.
The 11 Lleida stations have invested 3.9 million euros this season to improve facilities and services and, in particular, to attract new debutants. In the last 10 years, the Lleida ski resorts have invested 123.6 million euros, acting as a true economic engine for the Pyrenees and maintaining year after year the leadership at the level of the whole of Spain in terms of ski activity.
Source: Pyrenees.com
