The Sierra Nevada Ski Station is a

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In Nort ...

in the Sierra Nevada in the province of Granada in southeastern

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. The ski area is on the northwestern slopes of Veleta, the third highest peak in

Peninsular Spain Peninsular Spain refers to that part of Spanish territory located within the Iberian Peninsula, thus excluding other parts of Spain: the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Ceuta, Melilla, and a number of islets and crags off the coast of Mor ...

and the most southerly ski resort in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. The resort hosted the

FIS Alpine World Ski Championships The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships is an alpine skiing competition organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS). History The inaugural world championships in alpine skiing were held in 1931. During the 1930s, the event was held annuall ...

in 1996 and occasionally hosts

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

races, the last being the women's technical races in 2007. In recent years World Slope and Freestyle events have made a very successful appearance here. It was also host to the

2015 Winter Universiade The 2015 Winter Universiade, the XXVII Winter Universiade, was a multi sport winter event held in Granada, Spain and Štrbské Pleso, Slovakia. On 14 March 2009, FISU announced that the host would be Granada because they were the only bid. On 25 J ...

, the world university games. In March 2017, Sierra Nevada hosted the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships.

Description

Sierra Nevada is Europe's southernmost

, and the highest in Spain. With its high

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

, the skiing season can last from late November until early May. Particularly towards the end of the season it experiences sunny days of skiing, although wind can be a problem due to Veleta's

prominence In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...

and few trees. The resort is situated from the city of Granada, and is accessed by the A-395. It is also less than from

Motril Motril () is a town and municipality on the Mediterranean coast in the Granada, Spain. It is the second largest town in the province, with a population of 60,368 as of 2016. The town is located near the Guadalfeo River and is from Granada. Hi ...

, on the

Costa Tropical Costa Granadina is a comarca in southern Spain, corresponding to the Mediterranean coastline of the province of Granada. It is also but less frequently called the Costa Tropical or Costa de Granada. It is crossed by the N-340 coastal highway th ...

, which means skiing and swimming on the same day is an option. The nearest bigger city is Málaga, is accessed by the highway A-7/

European route E15 The European route E15 is part of the United Nations international E-road network. It is a north-south "reference road", running from Inverness, Scotland south through England and France to Algeciras, Spain.highway A-44/ European route E902 (Motril-Granada) and then route Granada-Sierra Nevada Ski Station. At the foot of the slopes there is a resort village, Pradollano, which stretches up a hill to the north of the pistes. The bottom of the village is at about above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

, while the summit is just below . Pradollano is home to a large number of shops, including many that sell or rent ski equipment, souvenir shops and a small supermarket. There is also a variety of ski schools, restaurants, cafés, bars and nightclubs. The mid-station Borreguiles, which is served by two cable cars that run from the bottom of Pradollano, is at . Here there are a few cafés and restaurants, a

ski school A ski school is an establishment that teaches skiing, typically in a ski resort. The modern version of the ski school was invented by the Austrian ski pioneer Hannes Schneider in the early 1920s when he formalized instruction methods and establi ...

, a few hire shops and lockers. The resort is run by a private-public enterprise called ''Cetursa Sierra Nevada, S.A.''.

Activities

By far the main attraction for visitors to the resort is the of alpine skiing runs. With abundant snow, it is possible to ski almost anywhere on the mountain, as the whole resort is above the tree line. The resort does not carry out avalanche blasting, and skiers are generally advised against leaving the pistes due to avalanche risk. Those looking for a real challenge could try the World Cup Giant Slalom run known as “Fuente del Tesoro”. As the resort mainly caters to locals, and less to people visiting for a whole week, it is much busier at weekends. There are rarely any queues mid-week outside the main Spanish holidays (first week of December, Christmas through to 6 January and Easter). Even at weekends, queues are generally fairly short by comparison to other European areas especially if the whole resort is open, allowing skiers to spread out across the mountain. In recent years the resort has made an effort to increase the number of services it offers, including expanding the Mirlo Blanco recreation zone, which now has an ice rink, toboggans, ski-bikes, mini-skis and a track for wheeled toboggans. Some of the heaviest investments have been put into developing what is currently the longest Slope style line in Europe with over 71 modules and a possibility of linking 46 of them in one continuous line. In addition to this, the largest Half Pipe in the country has also been developed. Summer activities include walking, cycling, horse-riding, and mountain climbing in the area. One of the cable cars and one chairlift are kept open in July and August, making it relatively easy for hikers to reach the summit of Veleta. On a clear day, you may be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of Africa from the peak of the mountain. Also during the summer months, the National Parks office runs a minibus service from Hoya de la Mora, just above the resort village, to Posiciones del Veleta, at . The service includes a guided commentary about the geology and ecology of the Sierra Nevada.

Transport

A bus service connects the resort to the main bus station in the city of Granada, with the journey taking approximately 45 minutes. The bus station is on Avenida de Juan Pablo II. During the skiing season, weekday buses run from the bus station to the resort at 08:00, 10:00 and 17:00, returning at 09:00, 16:00 and 18:30. At weekends and on public holidays they leave Granada at 08:00, 10:00, 15:00 and 17:00, and return at 09:00, 13:00, 16:00 and 18:30. Outside the skiing season, there is a daily bus to the resort at 09:00, while the bus back down leaves at 17:00. There is also a minibus service that shuttles between the bottom and top of Pradollano, as well as a chair-lift suitable for non-skiers that connects the bottom, middle and top of the village.

Further information

The resort is located from the centre of Granada and is only a 50-minute drive. The ski season normally lasts from the beginning of December until the end of April or beginning of May. Artificial snow machines now mean that the resort can open for skiing even when there is no natural snow. Andalusia has a very high proportion of sunny days even in the winter and usually it is possible to ski with beautiful blue skies and warm temperatures. It is possible to ski in the morning and sunbathe at the beach in the afternoon on the same day. The highest summit of the Sierra Nevada range is Mulhacén at , the highest ski lift and piste goes to just below Veleta, which is at .

References

External links