Winter & Ski Home Ski Resort Reviews Pyrénées Piau Engaly

The highest skiing in the Pyrenees...

Sunday morning skiers, on the last weekend of the season – the snow cover, meanwhile, just goes on and on...

The purpose-built ski station of Piau Engaly lies beside the Franco-Spanish border at the upper end of the Aure valley and boasts the highest skiing in the French Pyrénées. The well-planned selection of groomed pistes will particularly appeal to skiers who enjoy scenic cruising, with a few steeper sections thrown in to keep the reactions focused. Access is relatively simple from Pau and Lourdes airports, and the snow record here is good enough to provide a long season and a snow guarantee.

The choice of accommodation is between the innovatively-styled modern ski apartments in the ski village and the more traditional setting of Saint Lary Soulan, a 20min drive down the valley. Either way, the mood is laid-back, rather than riotous.

You won’t need a guide here unless you venture off-piste – the potential is there but requires specialist knowledge.

The highest skiing in the French Pyrenees is snow-sure, pretty compact but with some exhillarating terrain. The whole point of skiing here is having fun, so there’s a safe children’s area, some enjoyable blue-graded scenic cruisers (including a seamlessly linked succession of Blues offering a remarkable 1100m vertical drop) plus some steeper sections. After heavy snowfalls, and when temperatures drop, the lower runs give the village a mid-mountain feel.
Although almost surrounded by the tightly-protected landscapes of the Parc National des Pyrénées, a project is steadily advancing to add new lifts and 8km of return pistes close to the exit of the road tunnel which has long brought Spanish skiers to Piau. This new direct access (with beginner terrain and dedicated parking areas) will shave 10km off the present journey, and remove the need to drive up to the village.

The village centre is compact, with the same relaxed vibe we encountered on the mountain.

Talk of adding much-needed hotel accommodation has so far failed to materialise, so for now your options are currently limited to (mostly self-catering) apartments booked via the Office de Tourisme website. The remainder of Piau’s highly-distinctive low visual impact apartments have owner-occupation. The village heart is similarly compact, with a friendly vibe, particularly at weekends when the local skiers head up for a fun time. The best feature, though, is a mid-mountain setting – snow cover permitting, you can regard it as truly ski-in/ski-out.

The modern, high-capacity lift system is well-planned and spreads skiers out nicely.

This is an affordable and fun place, but not exactly in the Val d’Isère league for entertainment. And it’s much friendlier. Terrain-wise, there’s something for most levels, and the natural setting is sensational – don’t expect future expansion, as the surrounding landscapes are protected nature reserves. Families and mixed-ability groups will appreciate the accessible debutant areas, well-equipped snowpark, plus activities like télémark, freeride, monoski, skibiking, snowscoots and kite-skiing. Finally, Piau’s own ESF ski instructors offer accompanied off-piste and freeride sessions.

There are times when passing through Saint-Lary Soulan en-route to Piau Engaly can be slightly unnerving for a powder-hungry skier. In late April, for example, it’s looking predictably leafy and springlike, but as we begin the final climb towards our much higher-altitude destination it’s not long before we hit the longed-for snow-line and breathe a heartfelt sigh of relief.

Fresh snowfalls can be heavy, keeping the grooming teams busy.

In fact, for the last weekend of its long season Piau still manages to deliver almost unblemished snow-cover, thanks to sustained late falls. And today there’s no shortage of skiers determined to make the most of it. All the regulars are here, some of them having crossed the nearby border from Spain to take advantage of the better conditions on the North-facing French side of the mountains.

Perfectly formed

Our mid-afternoon arrival finds energy levels winding down, though, so we wait until the following morning when the snow beneath our skis will be at its best.

Some of Piau’s Blue-graded scenic cruising terrain.

When we set off the winter sun is just beginning to soften the overnight ice, although things still feel pretty crisp at 2528m as we slip off the Pic de Piau six-seater lift. So for our first runs we play safe until things feel a little less lively underfooot.

“The resulting 1108m of vertical drop is the highest in the French Pyrenees...”

Coming this late in the season means that not all the lifts are open, and the springtime snow-line denies us the pleasure of sampling one of Piau’s star attractions, but fortunately there's still plenty of choice. The pistes fan-out from the lift in different directions, before reuniting for the final schuss back to the lift.

The Big Blue

A few weeks earlier we’d have been able to explore the full 6.5km of the Grande Bleue piste, which begins at the Pic and drops down to Piau 1750, along the way picking up the Paou and Forêt pistes and continuing down through the treeline to Piau 1420. The resulting 1108m of vertical is the highest in the French Pyrenees. Next time, for sure.

The last weekend of the season features special events such as the water-splash.

Meantime, there’s plenty to keep us entertained, particularly the Perdrix Red piste before the sun has thawed the overnight ice. Reactions suddenly awakened, we drop down behind the Pic to the different world of the Vallée de Badet. Half-way down I swerve to avoid a large marmot casually crossing the piste, before the gradient eases and I have time to take in some of the amazing scenery of the Parc National des Pyrénées unfolding around me.

All too soon we see ahead of us the Mouscades I chairlift, which we join for the gentle return haul up to the village of Piau 1850. The rest of our time in Piau is spent repeating favourite runs like these and filling in the gaps in our knowledge by skiing those we missed. When the time finally comes to leave we do so with regret, aware that we’ve just laid our last tracks of the season. But there’s something else: we’re going to miss the mood of relaxed fun we’ve enjoyed everywhere on and off the mountain during our all-too-brief stay.

© Roger Moss