The Sunday Times February 13, 2022 15
SPAIN
FRANCE
ANDORRA
Andorra
la VellaSport Hotel
Hermitage
& SpaGrau Roig
Boutique
Hotel & SpaGrandvalira
Vallnord
Arinsal
Refugi de
SortenyBarcelona
Toulous e
50 miles
5 milesALEKSLE, MITCHELL GUNN/GETTY IMAGES; DUNCAN CRAIGOn top of
Andorra’s
Canillo ski
region, left;
Sport Hotel
Hermitage, top;
Duncan’s heliski
helicopter,
above rightyoung Chileans and
Argentinians attracted to
Andorra by its comparative
lack of visa red tape.
Upton has fallen for
Andorra in a big way; several
times he mentions his
commute, ski-touring up from
Arinsal for another day on
sun-kissed slopes. But this isn’t
the wide-eyed wonder of a
callow school leaver.
“I came for a sabbatical 16
years ago and, well, I guess
I never left,” the 50-year-old
says with a broad smile.
“When I started here Andorra
definitely wasn’t attracting the
right crowds. But over the last
five years it has changed
immeasurably.”
He adds: “What we’re
seeing this season is a lot
of people who’ve been
short-changed by other ski
countries, either through
fluctuating restrictions or
rising costs. Here you know
where you stand.”
Dessert is an invigorating,
top-to-bottom descent,
melding black, red and blue.
Upton tweaks my technique
only when I ask. I’m eager to
improve, not least because of
what awaits the next day.
Heliskiing would make
most skiers’ bucket lists. You
don’t have to jump out of the
hovering helicopter, it turns
out, nor dress in a Roger
Moore-style yellow onesie
(I’m not sure why I thought
that). You do, though, have
to have a head for heights
and a tolerance for
alarming safety briefings
(“Why is the fold-out
avalanche probe so
long?”).
Our first “drop”
is to a sharp ridge
that serves as the
northern border of
Andorra. Ski off thewrong side and I’m likely to
end up in Toulouse. The
helicopter sniffs around the
mountain top, before landing
on a table-sized rectangle of
level snow. We jump out, grab
the kit and throw ourselves
on top of it, heads down,
as the downwash of the
departing aircraft kicks up
a mini blizzard.
Then all is silent,
mesmerisingly beautiful and,
frankly, a little terrifying.
My skiing comfort zone lies
several hundred feet below.
My fellow heliskiers Jordi and
another Duncan are more in
their element. But in the guide
Mark Crichton, an Irishman
who, like Upton, relocated to
Andorra and saw no sane
reason to leave, I have just
the calm, gently cajoling
presence I need.
We compartmentalise
the descent, with achievable
targets and lines. And while
I’d be lying if I say I didn’t
complete parts of the journey
on my chin, I do at least make
it back to the helicopter for
round two — departing from
what in summer would be thefront lawn of L’Ovella Negra
Mountain Lodge at the head
of the sleepy Vall d’Incles.
It’s an exhilarating day and
one that ends in the refuge
high up in the protected Parc
Natural de la Vall de Sorteny.
The manager, Phillipe, wears
the unkempt, unperturbed
manner of someone who lives
far above the fray.
We eat slow-cooked lamb,
drink red wine and talk
about the fabled Haute
Randonnée Pyrénéenne
(HRP), the high-level, long-
distance hiking route that links
the Atlantic and the Med,
passes the front door and has
long been on my list.
Five spartan rooms are
available to book but — as is
the refuge way — a free bunk
room, open year-round, is
there for anyone caught short
in the mountains.
After the meal Phillipe takes
me out to see the refuge’s new
terrace, blanketed in snow
and lit by implausibly bright
stars. “You must come again
in summer,” he says, gesturing
to the unseen mountains all
around. “Then you’ll see
Andorra in... how d’you
say... a new light.”
Truth is, I already have.Duncan Craig was a guest of
Absolutely Snow, which has
seven nights’ B&B staying at
the Grau Roig Boutique Hotel
& Spa and Sport Hotel
Hermitage & Spa from
£1,945pp, including flights,
transfers, ski hire
and ski passes
(absolutelysnow.com).
Heliskiing is available
from £840 for four,
with two drops
(experiencia
muntanya.com).
For more, see
visitandorra.comVIDEO: HELISKIING
See Duncan take on
Andorra’s remote mountains
in our digital editionsng, says Duncan Craig. Cheap
upmarket — with added thrills
A room at the Grau Roig
Hotel, above; Duncan
tries heliskiing, right“spot the pro cyclist” (half the
Tour de France peloton live in
Andorra, drawn by an altitude
inversely proportional to tax
rate and press intrusion).
A few well-heeled couples
have their offspring with them,
but if it’s a family break you’re
after you’re really on the
wrong side of the country.
Arinsal, in the northwest, is
the closest Andorra has to a
traditional Alpine village: the
mountains more encircling,
the architecture morecharacterful. A gondola takes
you up to the mid-mountain
station at Comallempla
(1,950m), launch point for
Vallnord’s 63km of
immaculate, snow-cannon-
replenished pistes.
I’ve skied in seven
countries now and never
have I experienced a less
intimidating, more inclusiveski area. Snowboarding
toddlers bunny-hopping
down gentle blues with Dad;
whooping sit-skiers carving it
up on bowled reds; flailing kids
stretched out on the snow,
giggling uncontrollably.
There’s no urgency, no
peril, no idiots.
But nor is it tame. At the top
of a jerky, unsettlingly steep
button lift that could probably
save the NHS millions in
vasectomy costs, another
gondola takes you high across
the valley to the ski area’s Pal
sector, where some of the most
vertiginous blacks in the entire
Pyrenees await.
“Look, there’s the old
smuggling road,” says my
guide, pointing to a faint line,
like a healed scar, stretching
through the snow to the
Spanish border far below.
Franco’s dictatorship
persisted until 1975 and many
Andorrans made a decent
living transporting medicine,
tobacco and banned luxuries
to their deprived, embittered
neighbours.
I meet the chief instructor,
Marcus Upton, for lunch at the
Coll de la Botella restaurant.
In a typical year the
Leicestershire man manages
a team of 80, many of themRRA