Ski and Snowboard News, Deals, and Events

Inghams have published new deals to Pas de la Casa in Andorra if you book by Oct. 31, 2008.

The company is offering savings of up to £90 per person (including £40 per person when booking online) for holidays departing between Jan. 3 and Feb. 7, 2009.

Stay at the three-star Iglika Hotel, for example, where prices start from £251 per person for seven nights on a half board basis, based on two sharing, including direct return flights from London Gatwick, Heathrow (+£46), Bristol (+£26), Birmingham (+£26), or Manchester (+£27) and resort transfers.

As well as being one of Andorra's most popular ski resorts, Pas de la Casa is also a border town - the gateway into the country from France. The name Pas de la Casa (literally Pass of the House) derives from the days when all you would have found there was a shepherd's hut which served as a landmark for travellers crossing the River Ariege.

Nowadays it's a busy border control manned by customs officers checking on the numerous visitors who come here for the duty free shopping or to enjoy the variety of snowsports. It's popular with the young French and Spanish too who frequently make the border crossing to enjoy the unrestricted nightlife in this unique Catalan snow-filled Tijuana. 

The skiing at Pas was first developed in 1957 by Francesco Viladomat, a local businessman. Iit started with only one draglift and gradually grew with more lifts introduced every year. The station was on one mountain only, the Peak of Envalira, until 1976; by the 1980s it had spread to Monmalus and the Peak of Cubil up to the area of Cercle de Pessons and the Cortals d'Encamp.