Lucky trip number three to the Sierra Nevada in Granada. For a skiing novice it has a good variety of beginner and intermediate trails (although I only did a few of the latter).
I headed off Granada via a stop in Newark and a busride from Madrid. The trip to the bus station at Menedez Alvaro takes a while on the metro and by the time I arrived I had missed the last bus of the morning so I had a couple hours to wait. Fortunately waiting in bus stations, or in my case, a warm Burger King next to the bus station with a copy of El Pais happens to be a decent way to pass the time.The leg down to Granada is pretty empty. The occasional Cepsa station is the only thing that reminds you that you are in Spain and not say, the American west. I arrived in the evening and went down for a meal in the kitchen and called it a day. A very long day. It was the first time, I believe, I had not slept at all on the flight over.
Day one of skiing went pretty well. I got my forfait and skis for two days and hit the beginner runs of the Upper Borreguilles to get my footing. A few hours of that and I took advantage of some flurries to keep warm in the restaurant with a piping hot bowl of lentil soup. Unfortunately the day after that didn't improve much. A fog set in that was making it very difficult to see and my tinted glasses made it worse. I would pretty much just follow someone in red and only on trails I had done several times. Around 3 it was beyond bad and it took me about 20 minutes to do a run that typically takes two to three minutes. That was enough.Back at the hostel we went out for a Tapas tour of local bars in the Albazyin. Tortilla, fries, pisto (egg on seasoned tomatos on toasted bread) and a few others left me pretty full. Back to the hostel back to bed.
Tanned gent on the slopes
Day two of skiing was about as good as you can possibly get. Not a cloud in the sky. Learning my lesson from last time I put on some sun block so I wouldn't be sporting the Darth Maul look from 2006. Even with that I did get a little sun.
At the top of the beginners trails it is so brilliantly blue it almost hurts your eyes. Speaking of blue... I decided to go to a Peatones intermediate run off the roughly mile long Perdiz trail. I couldn't quite figure out why it wasn't green until after I went up to one small hill on the run and looked down. It was pretty steep but fortunately reasonably wide. Getting cocky, I decided to try to improve my form on where it joined the beginner run which ended with a face full of snow and a nice little scrape above my right eye...fortunately I didn't have to go far to ice it.
Back in town we had a Paella night and went out for some dessert in town. Skiing exercises leg muscles that I apparently never use so I took Thursday off and just roamed around the Albazyin and went up to Sacramonte. It was nice to not have a 7a wake up time also :)
Friday began day three. More of the same, decent weather but windy. I pulled off a mitten to get some chap stick when I dropped it off the lift. I couldn't find it when I went back so I ended up shelling out about 40 euros for a pair of water proof gloves. Oh well, I'll have them for next time. Toward the end of the day I thought I would try to ski down from where the Telecabina drops you off. It is all blue trails so I took it slow. I think I skied for about 2 miles.Tomorrow I am off to Madrid so I can make my Sunday return around 11p.
Oh Em, I had chocolate con churros and an El Pais every morning. Two Kebabs and probably a gallon of Fanta. Now that's livin'
Ciao,
--Joey
