Ski Holidays in Bareges

Bareges is a traditional Napoleonic spa village with the largest ski area in the Pyrenees -

La Domaine du Tourmalet - with over 100kms of pistes

Stay in our own lovely apartments within the elegant Helios from £495/week or a centrally located hotel — seven nights half-board from £395 per person, en-suite bedrooms.

Book your own discount flights into Pau or Lourdes with Ryanair (or TGV train to Lourdes) and we will look after the rest- transfers, ski school, lift passes etc.

                     Beginners area at Tournaboup                       The beautiful Le Lienz ski area, site of 1928 Olympics

                     Tourmalet Snowpark                                                                       Coume Lounque piste                  

Matt Barnes rides a cornice on the Col du Tourmalet 

The huge Domaine du Tourmalet ski area has over 100kms of runs and is served by 50 modern lifts, is of a size to rival most large Alpine resorts but without the prices and queues, and the locals are so much friendlier!

From the forest runs of Bareges to the wide open sunny pistes of La Mongie, there is wonderful skiing for all abilities, and you can ski right back to the village on a variety of runs. The expert skier will adore the Pic du Midi off-piste descent from nearly 3000m and snowboarders will love the huge snowpark.

170 snow cannons ensure comprehensive snow cover across the whole ski area.

Add the charm of a Napoleonic spa village, the local knowledge of a small specialist operator, a brilliant ski school and you have all the ingredients for a great ski holiday!

Deep powder at Quatres Termes

Off-piste beneath the Tourmalet

 

Bareges village

Great skiing for all...

BEGINNERS — Each of the five interlinked ski areas has easy slopes for the beginner. The ski school will use the sunny cruising runs which link the different areas to move you around the lift system so there is no need for repetitive practice up and down the same slope. And what better way to gain confidence than on the longest run in the Pyrenees, 13kms of blissful descent on an easy green run from the Col du Tourmalet along the river back to the village. The Bareges beginners' area has user-friendly 'moving carpets' to help with those first steps.

A very snowy Bareges

Board park

Beginners Area and Christian from Ecoloski

Restaurant at La Laquette

INTERMEDIATES — Intermediate skiers will love exploring the network from one end to the other with a choice of blue or red runs linking the areas. Start on the pretty tree lined runs at La Laquette before moving towards "La Plage", a glorious south-facing run beneath the Pic du Midi, then over the Tourmalet to the wide sunny pistes of La Mongie to take the cable car to "Quatre Termes", a gorgeous twisting descent in marvellous high mountain scenery from 2450m.

ADVANCED — The pistes of the Ayre must rate with the most beautiful runs in Europe, a variety of red and black descents through the forests of Le Lienz. Further into the network the various red runs and acres of off-piste at Caoubere offer an excellent practice ground before attacking "Coume Lounque" and "Coume Lyse", two adrenalin-pumping descents from beneath the Pic du Midi. The World Cup course in La Mongie is reserved for the excellent skier whose technique will be tested on its vertiginous slope. We particularly recommmend the ski school to the expert skiers as its instructors excel in getting advanced groups off-piste at every opportunity. Not to be missed is the wonderful off-piste run from the top of the Pic du Midi at nearly 3,000 metres (10,000ft), favourably compared with the great alpine off-piste runs.

A pause to admire the view on the Pic du Midi descent

Big Air Competition 2008

Fun in the Bareges snowpark

Drowning in powder

Mathieu Crepel: ‘The Tourmalet ski resort has an exceptional freeride area with endless possibilities and even more if you count the Pic du Midi. There is always so much fun to be had’
© Régie Intercommunale du Tourmalet

SNOWBOARD — Mathieu Crepel is from the Tourmalet resort. World snowboard champion in 2008, winner of the world half-pipe in 2005, French half-pipe champion and first in the Professional World Snowboard Championships in 2006 (TTR).

The huge snowpark 'La Parc des Etoiles' is situated on the Plateau de L'Ourdis just beneath the Col du Tourmalet and has jumps, woops, big air, rails, boardercross and sound system. The ski area has acres of off-piste with a wealth of natural half-pipes, bumps and cruising pistes which make Bareges the ideal playground for boarders. The last few seasons have seen an explosion in the number of boarders here, Bareges has become the place for the Atlantic surfers, thanks to the close proximity to the surfing beaches of the Atlantic. Regular events taking place during the season are— Quiksilver Challenge, Freeride du Tourmalet, Dragon Tour, Pyrenees Snowboard Tour etc. Ecoloski offer group lessons or individual tuition throughout the season for all levels, group sizes are small (4-8) and very friendly...

The SKI SCHOOL 'ECOLOSKI' — Whether you are a complete beginner or an expert skier the instructors of Ecoloski, the local ski school, will have you doing things on skis you will have never done elsewhere. For them, learning has to be fun, so even the beginners will soon be moving around the whole network. The better skier will be taken to some of the special places that only Ecoloski can find, as the instructors are locals their knowledge of the ski area and conditions is unequalled, a love of their mountains shines through their work. Tuition is available in snowboarding, telemark, touring, cross-country and they offer tandem paragliding flights.

© All photos copyright Borderline Holidays