Soldeu

Soldeu (Catalan pronunciation: [sulˈdew]) is a village and ski resort in Andorra in the Pyrenees mountains, located in the parish of Canillo.

Soldeu
Soldeu in July 2010
Soldeu in July 2010
Soldeu is located in Andorra
Soldeu
Soldeu
Location in Andorra
Coordinates: 42°34′37″N 1°40′2″E
Country Andorra
ParishCanillo
Elevation
1,710 m (5,610 ft)
Population
 (2012)
 • Total1,109
Soldeu is located in Europe
Soldeu
Soldeu
Location in Europe

Overview
The town and ski resort base in March 2007

It comes alive in the winter months as a ski town, and is part of the Grand Valira ski resort, the largest in the Pyrenees with 205 km (127 mi) of ski runs.[1] According to The Sunday Times, Soldeu is one of the three best budget skiing resorts in Europe.[2] The ski area links to Encamp, Canillo, El Tarter, Grau Roig and Pas de la Casa. The Soldeu Ski School has a large number of native English speaking instructors and has won awards for the quality of its tuition.

The village is at an elevation of 1,710 metres (5,610 ft) above sea level and the top of the ski area is at 2,580 m (8,465 ft). The gondola from the village rises to 2,250 m (7,380 ft), where the ski and board schools as well as restaurants are located. From there, it is possible to ski to the top of the El Tarter gondola or the village of El Tarter itself via the blue-rated 'gall de bosc' run.

The village has various hotels, bars, restaurants, as well as ski and snowboard shops. It is more family orientated than neighbouring Pas de la Casa. The native language is Catalan. English is spoken in many shops and restaurants.

World Cup racing

Soldeu hosted World Cup alpine events for the first time in February 2012. Three women's races were scheduled, two giant slaloms and a slalom. The additional GS was due to a cancellation at Courchevel in mid-December,[3][4] but was also cancelled at Soldeu due to extremely high winds on Friday.[5] Women's races were hosted again in 2016: a super-G and a combined in late February.

The World Cup finals (nine events) of 2019 were held Soldeu in mid-March. The men's downhill course began at 2,435 metres (7,989 ft) and finished at 1,725 m (5,659 ft), yielding a vertical drop of 710 m (2,329 ft) and a length of 2.598 km (1.61 miles).[6] Dominik Paris won in 86.8 seconds, yielding an average speed of 107.75 km/h (66.95 mph) and a vertical descent rate of 8.18 m (26.8 ft) per second. These finals will be repeated in March 2023. There is also a possibility to host Alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics with other events in nearby European countries in 2030 or later.

References
  1. Grandvalira, Soldeu, Grandvalira, grandvalira.com, 2011.
  2. S Newsom (2009). Three of the best budget resorts—Europe's top ski resorts are hideously expensive—but we have a solution, The Sunday Times, 4 October 2009. (Last accessed 2009-10-08)
  3. worldcupsoldeu.com - 2012 World Cup races - accessed 2012-01-31
  4. FIS Alpine.com - 2012 Soldeau races - accessed 2012-01-31
  5. Ski Racing.com - Strong winds cancel women's World Cup GS in Andorra, slalom rescheduled - 2012-02-10
  6. "World Cup Finals - men's downhill results" (PDF). FIS. 13 March 2019. Retrieved 15 March 2019.

Media related to Soldeu - el Tarter at Wikimedia Commons

42°34′37″N 1°40′02″E

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