where to live in the Pyrenees?

[rod9301]

I am planning a spending a year in the Pyrenees, French side.

I ski, mountain bike and rock climb.

Where should I base?

I like steep skiing, both in resort, and backcountry.

I researched this on the web, but it's kind of hard to tell which resorts are the steepest.

Any advice?

[Derf64]

Hi Rod,
Start staying in Pau (airport) area it gives an access to 3 valley with opening city called Oloron, Laruns and Lourdes. Many way to find some interesting things to do. Access through Mountains to Spanish side is only about only 1 Hours.
If you need any information don't hesitate to contact me
Derf

[Buster Highmen]

Ask the d00ds @ http://www.telemark-pyrenees.com/en/.

Et Vive le GONG.

[ulty_guy]

I've heard that this place generally has the rowdiest lines....
http://www.picdumidi.com/ski-haute-montagne/

[BerettaRacer]

Keep us up tp date on what you find. I'm doing another winter in Sanremo this year, but early rumours are that my boss may have us based in Barcelona next winter, so it may be a Pyrenees winter for me too.

[dominici]

I did lots of research on this a couple of years ago. As someone said Pic Du Midi is reported to be pretty amazing, read an article about the amount of backcountry around La Mongie too. Cauterets is a very small resort for beginners but gets an insane amount of snow according to the statistics, some of the best in Europe, and Gourette gets a lot too. I did a spreadsheet comparing big alps resorts and these pyrenees resorts and the snowfall stats were neck and neck. pyrenees doesn't have a load of lift like the Alps but it would be mistake perhaps to see them as inferior for a less than pro skier. If you are into touring then there must be a hell of a lot to do around there. Apart from La Mongie/Bareges which looks really good for on and off piste, the resorts seem fairly small or beginner ish cos the Alps gets most of the tourism hence lack of huge infrastructure. There's a n-py pass which gets you into a good handful of resorts, http://www.n-py.com/en/hiver/accueil-hiver.html and it looks like a hell of a lot of fun and a real adventure as it is from experience much wilder and local compared to the alps. It looks like it costs 584 euros for the whole season if you buy it before the 22nd November. Jealous.

[rod9301]

Thanks. How far from pau to the ski resorts?

I was hoping to live within 30 minutes of skiing.

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[Derf64]

Rod ,
I live in Pau, and it deserve all front line resorts within 1 hours.
Positive point its a nice place to live.
Other suggest starting from Pau (city) is to stay in :
Lourdes (mid town) : (vallee des Gaves) 30 minutes Cauteret, Luz ardiden, Garvarnie (amazing place see below) or La mongie resorts. Lots of backcountry on that area.

Laruns (small town) : (Vallee d'Ossau) 15 minutes from Gourette, Artouste and Spanish resort ForMigal.

[Buster Highmen]

The Pic du Midi looks very nice:

[rod9301]

I looked at lourdes as a place to stay.

Is les cauterets steep? How about la mongie?

How is lourdes as a place to live

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[TheOriginalGraniteChief]

A chalet!

[Derf64]

Lourdes is an important christian place with many pilgrims from everywere. But not very dynamic with a lot of old people..
Pic du midi is an observatory and a telecabin bring you at the top and you can ski down to La mongie or Barege resorts. It cost a bit of money (30 dollars !! one way) for this. I advise you to ask locals for nice backcountry lines.
What is important to know in Pyrenees is that even if distance are short, the wheather and snow amount is very versatile between each valley. And the best way to get flexibility would be to stay in the middle distance of every resorts. Pau have this advantage.
If you choose to stay in a mountain town Luz saint sauveur is the best middle place to go. (10 minutes from La mongie, 30 min from Gavarnie and 30 from Cauteret.).

[Morroi]

I am planning a spending a year in the Pyrenees, French side.

I ski, mountain bike and rock climb.

Where should I base?

I like steep skiing, both in resort, and backcountry.

I researched this on the web, but it's kind of hard to tell which resorts are the steepest.

Any advice?

Hope I'm not too late. Just registered today and saw your question while looking for something else. My answer is: if you can live in Spain, basically because life is much better ...and cheaper!!

Wherever that you live near the Pyrenees you'll be skiing/biking/climbing on both sides (France and Spain) so it doesn't make much difference where to live... thus you might as well live somewhere cheap.
Benasque, Jaca o Vielha are lovely mountain cities that come to my mind, but there are plenty of other places in Spain where life doesn't end at 7pm every day.
Have you ever spent a winter midweek afternoon/evening in a French city? You'd better enjoy lonely places!
And Cerler, Candanchú or Baqueira Beret are as good as any other resorts north of the border given the right conditions.

And that's the other thing: if you really want to take advantage of the best snow you'll have to travel a lot. When the fronts come from the SW you'll be better off in Cerler or Boí-Taüll than anywhere else. But if they come from the North, few places have better snow and back/sidecountry skiing than Baqueira Beret. And few places keep the snow for so long in spring as Ordino in Andorra... I live at one end of the Pyrenees and I often travel 4 or 5 hours for a weekend to the central or Eastern Pyrenees if the conditions are better.

So take it from a half frenchy/half spaniard who lives on the Spanish atlantic coast 18kms from France... Live somewhere in Spain near the border of France; it's cheaper, nicer and you'll be crossing the border so often both directions that it won't really matter.

Cheers!

F