A big traffic jam!

After all the snow and bad weather, we decided that Saturday was the day and so we loaded the car and started out to Le Somport, just over the border in France. It's about 30 minutes' drive from Jaca on an excellent road. HOWEVER, not long into our journey we realised it would take us longer; there was a continuous line of cars going very slowly, stopping and starting from the second village on the route. We thought it was just sheer volume of traffic; there having been several weekends when the ski resorts couldn't open due to bad weather. When we finally got to the turning for the first ski resort of Candanchu we saw the problem. The main road was closed and all the cars had to drive through Candanchu.

The main road was blocked by a bank of snow, I imagine that further on it was either blocked by an avalanche or in danger of that happening.

So all the traffic wound through the road which goes into Candanchu and out the other side, where most cars went towards Astún and what looked like just a few crossed the border to Somport, the cross-country ski resort. Le Somport is on the road which goes down into France, but it was blocked with another bank of snow, so the only access was from Spain. 

So we finally arrived, parked and got skiing. There is a layer of at least two metres of snow over everything up there; enough for everyone. 

This sign is usually taller than me.

Some of the smaller trees were almost buried.

The snow was quite hard as it wasn't fresh and had melted and frozen again.

It was really beautiful, and not very difficult to get away from the many, many other people there.

When we left, we saw there were cars parked along the road, both sides, right up to and beyond the border with Spain; more than I've ever seen before there.

Ski Wednesday

On Wednesdays it's half price to ski in Le Somport. Since my morning was free I put the racks back on the car and drove to France. The ski resort is just across the border, and the actual slopes-well, tracks really, are both in France and in Spain. However, most of the skiers are Spanish, I think.
It hasn't been a good season; too many weekends and holidays of bad weather. Yesterday, though, was a fine day to ski in shirtsleeves and a hat to keep the sun off
Cross-country skiing is quite hard work for someone like me with hardly any technique. I watch people glide  past me effortlessly on uphill stretches and envy them, but I don't fall over often. Mainly because of going so slowly, but also from years of practice.
It was absolutely beautiful, with few people and quite nice snow.

Le Somport

We finally made it to the cross-country ski resort of Le Somport- just over the border in France- on Saturday morning. There wasn't much snow over the Christmas holidays so we didn't go then, but after waiting so long it was now or never! We put the ski racks on top of the car and loaded up. Arriving early enough to park easily and move about was good. It meant we could get out onto the farther slopes without tripping over skiers even clumsier than us. Cross-country skiing is hard work, and very rewarding!