Pajares with plenty of snow.

snowy mountain hush
Originally uploaded by MarquiBeck

The mountains are always a mystifying experience, in particular with few people around and somewhat funny skies.

Pajares on January 2nd was such an experience: not far from home and still a universe away ... I finally made it there to learn that it wasn't such a tough road, nor such an expensive experience as it was in Cataluña. Over there you had to pay the gas, the toll-fee, the lifts, and so on. Here it's 1/3 of the gas for the runs are 66Km from Oviedo. Though I'm not sure how this might be on a snowy day... it was a very nice day, well most of the day, still the road was pretty icy (and narrow on the final stretch).

There is only one place to rent your gear, lucky me mine that had been left untouched for more than two years was still in reasonable shape. Two places to purchase your lift pass, but only one was open. People just took it as normal that they had to spend 30+ mins in line on the snow. (and it was pretty empty!)

The coffee shop at the base has acceptable coffee, the tenders were friendly. We shared our usual claims about the carrier Movistar not being worth a dime, much less the money we pay if they're not able to provide coverage at one of the main winter attractions in Asturias.

The lifts were okey, not too fast, not too slow, I've seen better and I've seen worse. The runs are all right ... not very extended but we enjoyed the options: crowded and easy going on the sunny side "del Sol", icy and bare on the shady side "el Tubo". Personnel were charming at all times, skiers mostly guys (where are the lady skiers in Asturias?), not so communicative as they can be in the Andes, though I did manage a brief conversation or two.