Madrid blog -- Ski at la pinilla


We live on the last floor of an old building in the center of Madrid. From the living room, facing west, we have a view of the mountains surrounding the city. I have been seeing snow capping the mountains for the past month. Madrid is in fact a mountain city, sitting on a plateau at 700m, that's 2100ft for you metric challenged ones, you can tell by the air too, dry and cold.

Being an avid skier I finally 1/ bought a car, which is completely un-needed in this city 2/ to head out to a local ski resort. I have never lived near ski slopes. So 2 days ago, yaya, 9 years old and me headed out to la pinilla. Yaya is a great snowboarder by now and can ride pretty much any terrain. La pinilla is no great resort, in fact it is pretty sucky, it is really tiny, with really 2 or 3 slopes worth anything and a long blue slope coming down. But I loved it. First of all having ski one hour away from my house is a luxury I never experienced before. Second, this is a fantastic resort for kids. I may go back this weekend with the boys as well. Third, there is really good food. We had this excellent chorizo in a hole in the wall of a mountain bar.

Perfect "para quitarse el mono", meaning "to get rid of the monkey" when you miss skiing. I am liking this Madrid thing.

UPDATE: as I finished writing this blog this morning the biggest snow storm starting hitting madrid. I got 10cm of fresh powder on my balcony. We are hitting the slopes tomorrow. Funny thing is Madrid is completely unprepared for this and everything shut down. Cops are preventing buses from circulating.

Comments

lake tahoe ski vacation said…
I've never been to la pinilla before, but it seems to be a great place to visit, I might also take the experience on that area, by the way you might want to visit our place at quail lake
April 29, 2009 at 12:04:00 AM PDT
Unknown said…
Hi there - I'm also living in Madrid and really interested in going to Pinilla. I'm an keen snowboarder from Ireland of all places. If you'd like some company and someone to share the petrol cost with you then let me know. my number is 6788 66 344. Cheers Michael
January 15, 2010 at 5:50:00 AM PST
Anonymous said…
Nice Blog. La Pinilla is not a great ski resort but it's fun. Last year it was my first time skiing there, and I enjoyed all times I went. Pistes are nice and people working there make a nice effort to keep all things ready.

Congratulations! Antonio (Zaloette)
August 24, 2010 at 6:06:00 AM PDT
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