Peyragudes ski resort [N'PY] — Attraction in Saint-Gaudens

Absolute cracker of a resort. Little known in the UK, it has around 60km of mainly above treeline pistes with a wide variety of terrain especially suitable for confident intermediates & beginners. There are two resorts on opposite sides of the mountain - Peyrasourde is bigger & has more facilities, whilst Les Agudes, which we used, is smaller & more intimate but still has fantastic skiing and enough bars, restaurants & hire shops.

I first skied Les Agudes 12 years ago and it looked a bit drab. Since then, there's been considerable investment which has turned this small station into a pleasant place in which to base yourself.

We skied as a family and our boys were made to feel very welcome - the ski school even shuffled their lessons so they could provide my boys with an English-speaking instructor.

It's got a modern range of lifts which all link up well and the all-round scenery is fantastic - when you reach the first crest of the mountain as you go up the main Cap de Pales chairlift, the views are stupendous as the main ski area and ring of surrounding 3000m peaks are revealed.

I skied the off-piste 6km Vallee Blanche run a couple of times - you end up 200m below the resort & get picked up by the ski bus - this backcountry run gives 900m+ of vertical. Equally, the red Panoramique run on the Peyrasourde side takes the skier away from the main lifts for 5km of breathtaking scenery.

We went in Feb 2018 half-term and due to the French half terms being staggered & the efficient lift system there was very little queuing. Everyone was very friendly and the lift passes were cheaper than the Alps for an equivalent level of skiing. Weather was great apart from 1.5 days - we'll...

Very rude and unhelpful staff, do not recommend going here at all - go to Baqueira instead. I visited today with my friend and when we asked for the conditions we were told it was all good and skiable, however, when we took the gondola up we were shocked with the very poor icy conditions. I went down to return my ski pass and was told that returning my pass wasn’t an option, they were neither willing to give me a pass valid for another day or offer me a partial refund. They’ve given me a voucher worth of 10€ that I can get discounted if I spend 150€ here. Ridiculous way to have a leisure place. Will never visit again and highly recommend anyone else to stay away. Please see attached photo in the gondola to understand the lack of snow at this resort still charging a large pay to trick...

It was a great experience going to a ski station for the first time. The courses were very well designed (at least for me, as I went for the beginner's). You can rent equipment for as little as 15€ (if you take the n'py bus and then you have 50% off), but you can't rent the glasses, so I advise you to take your own.

One downside is that at some point it was very overcrowded and if you're starting then you have to get a 30 min line to climb the course again (or you can climb by foot). And it took me some time to rent the equipment as the store too was very crowded.

All things considered, I'm looking forward to go again. I'm only giving 4/5 because of the...