“Without produced snow we would not be skiing, we invested many millions,” said the commercial director of the resort, a two-time Olympian.
With nearly 115 skiable kilometers, Baqueira plans to close on April 6 and exceed one million skiers in this 2023-24 academic year.
MADRID, 31 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The commercial director of the Baqueira Beret resort, Xavi Ubeira, stated that the use of technology for snow production and a million-dollar investment are “neutralizing” the high temperatures due to climate change, and he hopes to exceed one million skiers in this “difficult” 2023-24 season.
When in its counterparts in the Pyrenees the lack of snow has closed a large part of the slopes, the Aran Valley and Valls d'Àneau resort shows its muscle: 115 kilometers of skiable surface and all the active lifts. And this despite the recent cancellation of the first test of the Freeride World Tour.
“It rained and we expected a little snow. We thought that 30 or 40 centimeters would fall and it was 3 or 4, the 0 was missing. Thinking about the safety of the riders, a test of that level could not be done in the Baciver because it was very dangerous,” he said in an interview with Europa Press in Pla de Beret, a handful of meters from the tents where skiers test equipment from the best brands.
Despite not hosting the best extreme riders in the world, the person in charge of Baqueira was convinced that next year they will repeat the public and organizational success of a test that is “a spectacle” and that they have signed until 2026. And more later of the victory of the Spanish Nùria Castán in the Swiss town of Verbier.
With a “significant” investment of 13 million euros, distributed in the improvement of digitalization, snow production and, among other aspects, the remodeling of the Montarto Hotel, a 'four-star' at the foot of the slopes in Baqueira with a swimming pool and spa, has multiplied production tenfold -3,350 cubic meters per hour- with the replacement of the old ones with new snowmakers.
Baqueira Beret is a world leader in avalanche forecasting and snow production, with 73 kilometers of pipes buried in its slopes to supply water from the three lakes – Orri, Beret and Bonaigua – in the valley to the 740 snowmakers spread across the country. its 170 kilometers of ski area.
“If there was no snow production we would be completely closed. In '89, when we didn't have it, we couldn't open until February. Production allows the ski resorts to continue operating. Snow is not artificial, snow is snow, produced, not artificial. You can make it denser and make it remain much more stable despite high temperatures,” he explained.
“WE DON'T WASTE WATER, WE REUSE IT”
“We don't waste water, we reuse it, it's a closed circle,” said Ubeira. The meltwater that ends up in the rivers in the spring is dammed in the Orri, Beret and Bonaigua lakes that flow into the Mediterranean and Atlantic, almost 800,000 cubic meters, and is 'recovered' for the mountains through the snowmakers. And so the cycle repeats. “It is true that we lose a little snow when it evaporates, but it is almost insignificant,” he added.
The sustainable 'factor' is complemented in Baqueira with the acceleration of the digitalization process, with the 'click and collect' service that allows through a QR code to buy food in restaurants, access the parking and buy the ski pass to “improve the Customer experience”.
With a profit of 11 million euros and almost one million skiers (990,000) in the previous year, the directors of Baqueira Beret are more cautious regarding the forecasts for this campaign, which began on November 25 and will conclude on November 6 April, just after Easter.
“We have been a little restrained because we are considering a forecast of about 900,000 skiers, although we are going a little above the forecasts. The truth is that the season, within the conditions that we have difficult, is going very well,” he celebrated.
Waiting for the month of February, when Carnival, White Week and the holidays in France coincide, an important market for the resort, Ubeira indicated that it may even exceed one million skiers like two seasons ago.
“Climate change? It clearly influences us, but the technology to produce snow is increasing very quickly and makes it possible to neutralize it by taking advantage of those 'cold windows' of winter much more. We are adapting to changes at the climatic level. The maintenance of the slopes by machines is as important as snow production,” he stressed.
Last summer, the BTT season generated 60 percent more business than in 2022 and the opening of two lifts taking advantage of the pull in the first week of July in the Aran Valley of the Ultrail Mont Blanc.
“Before we only opened in August, but now we open in July and August. But the volumes are not comparable with those in winter: the entire summer is the same as two or three days of Christmas. But the hotels in the valley can open,” he argued. .
THE “MISSED OPPORTUNITY” OF GAMING
In February, the Board of Directors of the Aranese station meets to analyze the budget and projects for the next season, in which its commercial director did not predict an 'expansion plan' with more kilometers, although he did not rule out hosting a station in the medium term. Universiade with the help of the RFEDI.
“When the topic of the Olympics came up, we prepared a plan to host snowboarding, alpine and cross-country. There is a very good relationship with the RFEDI and if they tell us: 'We are going to have a Universiade and we need the Beret stadium for a giant or a supergiant', we will sit down with them and evaluate it,” he assured.
In this sense, Ubeira, Olympian in Albertville'92, Blanca Fernández-Ochoa's bronze medalists, and Lillehammer'94, regretted that the organization of the Winter Olympic Games in 2030 had “positioned” them on the 'snow map'. '.
“The Games are very complicated. What bothers me is that they went to waste due to a political or administrative issue rather than due to the agreement of the stations or federations. On a political level it was not possible and for me, who has been an Olympian, “It's a 'bitch' because you lose an opportunity. The train passes and doesn't come back. I think we will never have the opportunity to have the Games again,” he predicted.
In the absence of official confirmation shortly before Paris 2024, the IOC will grant the French Alps the Games in 2030, those in 2034 will be in Salt Lake City and Switzerland, in 2038. “It is an opportunity that we have lost, but we have to continue working to host activities such as the Freeride World Tour, a European Alpine Cup and, in the future, an Alpine World Cup. But that is long term and there is a lot of work to be able to achieve those things,” he concluded, with the white cloak that peeked out of the window of the attic floor of the restaurant in Pla de Beret.