Andorra is an interesting place to ski, but not for very long.
Situated in the middle of the Pyrenees, Andorra is isolated by swamps, mountains and glacial lakes. I always wondered how Andorra became a separate country and the impassible fogs and millions of tunnels we drove through to get there make it evident. The country is surrounded by a natural wall that would have made travel to or through the small country nearly impossible before the creation of the massive network of tunnels that allow easy transport between the country and Spain and France.
The country is so small that Andorra does not have its own monarch. The role of monarch is exercised by two co-princes: the president of France and the bishop of Urgell (Spain). The princes change as new bishops and presidents are elected in their respective domains. No wonder Sarkozy can’t take care of France, he has to worry about Andorra!
All right, enough history. I woke up at 5 a.m. this past Friday to board a bus with my friend Siena and a bunch of other students living in our dorm. Our host was a small man named Tomás with more energy than should be legal for someone his size. After a long, sleepless bus ride we made it to Arinsal, where we spent the next two days skiing.
Andorra has not received much snow this year, maybe Northwestern can donate some? Because of the lack of snow, a lot of slopes were closed, but that didn’t stop me and Siena. We went down one slope that was marked as closed with a big fence and despite some exposed rocks and bushes, it was a decent run. We got yelled at by one of the lift-workers, but not too harshly. People working there are pretty laid back. The lift worker simply said don’t do it again and we were off the hook.
I haven’t skied in about two years so it took me a little while to get my ski legs in working order, and despite a couple of incredible wipe-outs on the slalom course, I was in good form. Siena dominated me in skiing, but was kind enough to hold back for me every once in a while.
After two days of skiing we had exhausted most of the slopes. Two days was the perfect amount of time for the trip. Any more than that and I might have had to try snowboarding instead to spice things up.
Most of the other people skiing there were Andorrans, English and Spanish on holiday for the weekend.
The only bad part of the trip is that I have come down with a stomach flu. Hopefully that won’t stop me from accomplishing my next trip that will start later this week: Sicily and Malta.
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