You would think our trip was to Kazakhstan. Yet we are simply headed to the Pyrenees. With the exception of those in Andorra, Pyreneen ski resorts sit quietly under the radar.
But last year, en route to the Alps, I struck up a conversation with a French skier. He had visited some of the smaller French resorts in the Pyrenees and his eyes glistened when he spoke of them. And sometimes the slopes are so quiet you can have the mountain to yourself. There are 38 ski resorts on the French side of the Pyrenees alone.
The fact that knowledgeable tour operators like Ski Collection and Zenith Holidays feature them is reassuring, and you can travel overnight from London by train and get extra time on the slopes.
Our first destination, Ax-les-Thermes, even has a station in the village. Our voyage begins with a 4. After dinner at a restaurant opposite the station, we catch the 10pm Corail Lunea sleeper train and watch Paris slip away as we head south. Arrive by overnight train into Ax and you might doubt that you have arrived in a ski resort at all. We see no snow on the ground, and an initial stroll reveals a lovely village square, but none of the usual signs of a ski resort โ no clatter of ski boots and no ski hire shops or clothing stores in view.
However, lack of snow in Ax village is normal, as the altitude is a lowly metres. The ski and snow action happens higher up at Bonascre, accessed by cabin lifts a three-minute walk from the village centre.
