Spain!!

A little back story. My daughter is spending her junior year in Spain.  I met her for a week in Zermatt. The following week
my wife and younger daughter met us in Spain for a week.
We left Zermatt in a honking snow storm and flew to Barcelona..Great  city with amazing food and cool sites


I then picked up my wife and daughter and drove to south to Granada for more site seeing and skiing!! The skiing part didn't please my wife.
Sierra Nevada ski area is the most southern ski area in Europe. For the top you can see the Mediterranean..4000 Verts above the treeline..Unfortunately they were hurting for snow but the they have all most total snowmaking coverage..
http://www.sierranevada.co.uk/index.php ... 16&lang=en



The resort is one of the stops on the world cup. The runs are long wide and steep.. A GS skiers dream!!



All done with skiing we drove to the coast 1.5hrs away..Next stop Gibraltar.  We toured the Rock..Great Views and wild monkeys



To enter Gibraltar you have to drive across the airports main runway..Nuts they have traffic lights and gate when planes land..


There's more to the trip , but I think I have bored you enough..

In conclusion...I recommend that you save ,borrow , steal and go to Europe.. The skiing experience is not to believed..The US has nothing that can compare to it..It might not have the deepest snow etc..The skiing and culture combined is just something else..This was my 3rd trip to Europe , I hate to say it, I think it's better there..

Incredible to have a ski area that near the Mediterranean. I guess that Baldy and Waterman in Los Angeles are similarly close to the ocean; however, they're rarely open these days.

Any idea what the yearly snow average is?

That looks sweet!! Thanks for sharing.

JasonWx wrote

..go to Europe.. The skiing experience is not to believed..The US has nothing that can compare to it..It might not have the deepest snow etc..The skiing and culture combined is just something else..This was my 3rd trip to Europe , I hate to say it, I think it's better there..

Why do you "hate to say it"?

I think we're all adult enough to realize that other countries are just better than the U.S. at some things. Hell, I hear that even Canada has good skiing!

Nice shots - I love the tentative look on your daughters face while standing near the monkey.

The monkeys were everywhere..My wife ran to the car and the little ape followed her...Funny as hell

I agree with you about skiing in Europe, it's hard to beat the combination giant ski terrain and the food and culture. My favorites are St Anton in Austria, one ticket for about $40 a day will let you skin in 12 different areas all contacted by bus that comes on time to the second. Four of the areas are four times the size of Vail. St Anton has 85 lifts on four Mtns with up to 4500 vertical. My other favorite is Val D"Isere in France. Great skiing in five valleys all interconected by lifts with food you can not believe like chocolate Grand Manier crepes for snacks on the streets of the town and on Mtn filet mignon with waiter service and champagne for lunch. The skiing is awseome with close to 5000 foot verical and every type of terrain imaginable and para gliding on skiis for the adventerous.