Easter skiing: 19 resorts in Spain open for holidays

GIVEN that bright sunshine and warm temperatures may not be on the cards this Easter, cold-weather activities for the next four days may suddenly come back into fashion at an unusual time of year - but luckily, 19 ski stations across Spain will remain open for the holidays.

According to ATUDEM, which covers ski resorts in Spain, Andorra, Portugal and in the French Pyrénées, says snow in parts of all four countries in the last few weeks have meant some stations expecting to close by early April at the latest are still busy.

These include 60% of resorts in Spain.

In total, on the Iberian Peninsula, 26 will be trading between now and Easter Monday inclusive - 19 in Spain, three in Andorra, three in the French Pyrénées and one in Portugal.

The snow is quite thin in some of them - only 10 centimetres, or four inches - but enough to prevent patches of mud, grass and rocks appearing to pull you up dead and unbalance you halfway down the slope.

In others, it is up to three metres (9'9") deep.

Three ski resorts open over Easter in Aragón are those in the Pyrénéen province of Huesca: Formigal-Panticosa, Astún-Candanchú, and Cerler (pictured); those in the province of Teruel - Javalambre and Valdelinares - closed on March 24 after one of the shortest and warmest seasons in their history, having not opened until nearly January and skiers sweltering in temperatures of up to 24ºC in the shade and with the only snow all winter having come from cannons as there had been less than four inches of 'real' snow all year.

The Sierra Nevada (Granada province) and the Snowzone in Madrid are open, for those who do not want to venture too far north - although the latter only has 2.2 kilometres of slopes on two pistes as opposed to over 103 kilometres in the former.

For Cantabria on the north coast of Spain, the stations of Alto Campoo, Fuentes de Invierno, Puerto de Letariegos, Oca Nova, Manzaneda San Isidro and Valgrande-Pajares are open over Easter - and if the weather does suddenly warm up, a skiing session in the morning and an afternoon on the beach are perfectly feasible since the drive between them is very short.

In Spain's northern limits, Valdezcaray, with just 10.5 kilometres of piste open, in La Rioja will be trading over Easter, meaning visitors can combine fun on the slopes with a visit to the world-famous wine regions.

Close by, in the Pyrénées of Catalunya, six resorts are open until Monday inclusive: Baqueira Beret, Boi Taüll, La Molina, Masella, Port Ainé and Vallter 2000.

For Nordic skiing - which covers disciplines ranging from cross-country skiing, an endurance format largely on the flat, Telemark, and ski-jumping, the stations of Llanos del Hospital (Huesca province) and Larra-Belagua in the land-locked region of Navarra are open this Easter.