Cerler

Big trouble free off piste faces in Spain? Yes yes yes! Cerler is one of the biggest surprises you’ll ever have in your snowboard life. Sitting close to the highest peak in the Pyrenees, Cerler is not what you’d expect from a Spanish resort.

Along with Formigal and Panticosa, Cerler is owned by the local government and a savings bank, in most places this would spell disaster. But in Spain savings banks must invest 80% of their profit into community based industries and the local government are totally into developing their tourist industry. So the lucky winner in all this are the mountain resorts, and Ryan Air who’ve been given a bung to fly to Zaragoza, the closest airport to all these resorts, but still three hours away. 

Cerler has a great lift system, with high speed detachable six and four person chair lifts, magic carpets and best of all, a wait more than 15 minutes for a lift get your money back guarantee, how cool is that. If all goes to plan, in the next few years, they’ll be opening up another mountain side, near the Ampriu area,  which is accessible by road, taking the piste area over the 100 km mark and opening up a big new off piste area. The town has also been developed sympathetically, in a modern way, by using the local stone. So you can eat in a 12^th Century farm house before returning to your spanking new hotel without a real change of scene.