All Images: Courtesy of Aymar Navarro | Skier: Aymar Navarro
Winter is taking it’s sweet time hitting much of North America, but in Spain, the season is off to a historic start. The Spanish Lleida Pyrenees Mountains, sitting in the country’s Northernmost region near the French border, received the brunt of a massive storm that delivered incredible conditions after a relatively slow start to the season.
One of the primary ski resorts in the region, the iconic Baqueira-Beret has seen 40″ of snow in recent days according to Open Snow. You might recognize the name from the location’s prominence in recent years of the Freeride World Tour. Competitors are often met with steep and technical terrain here, though the stop was canceled last season due to poor snow conditions. With the Tour expecting to return this year from January 18-23, nobody is hoping for a repeat of last year’s circumstances. Judging by the current conditions, it’ll be smooth sailing.
Legendary Spanish freeride skier Aymar Navarro happened to be at his home mountain when the storm hit. If you’re not familiar with Navarro, chances are you’ve seen his clips circulating the internet. Give this full line a watch to get a sense of the speed and… insanity that he usually skis with.
During this storm cycle, Navarro wasn’t hucking cliffs into the abyss. Not yet, at least. The Freeride World Tour veteran was simply indulging in the deep end. Like any sensible person, he grabbed the snorkel and took a dive. To say that the snow was good would be the understatement of the century. If you don’t believe us take a look for yourself. “It has been a slow start to this season,” Navarro told us, “but winter has arrived with some intensity!”
The forecast suggests that this recent bombardment might be over, but hopefully, this is just the first of many pow days we see from our friends at Baqueira-Beret. As for Navarro, he’s clearly enjoying his time away from the Tour. He retired from competition, leaving behind a legendary career and opening up a new chapter in his life as a skier.
Of course, he’s still ripping blistering lines and sniffing out every couloir and cliff known to man. We can’t wait to see what he cooks up this year!
