Soldeu () is a village and

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In Nort ...

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

in the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...

mountains, located in the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

Canillo Canillo () is one of the parishes of Andorra. Canillo is also the name of the main town of the parish. The parish is considered the religious center of Andorra with the Sanctuary and Chapel of Our Lady of Meritxell, patron saint of Andorra, and co ...

Overview

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 of ski runs.Grandvalira
Soldeu, Grandvalira
''grandvalira.com'', 2011. According to ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...

'', Soldeu is one of the three best budget skiing resorts in Europe.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) The ski area links to

Encamp Encamp () is one of the parishes of Andorra, located on the Valira d'Orient river. It is also the name of the main town in the parish. Other settlements include Vila, El Pas de la Casa, Grau Roig, El Tremat, La Mosquera and Les Bons. As of 20 ...

, El Tarter,

Grau Roig Grau Roig () is a sector of the Grandvalira ski resort in Andorra, located in the parish of Encamp. It includes alpine skiing and cross-country skiing tracks. It is the only sector in Grandvalira which does not have a populated settlement. The ne ...

and

Pas de la Casa El Pas de la Casa (; french: Le Pas de la Case) is a ski resort (part of the Grandvalira resort), town, and mountain pass in the Encamp parish of Andorra, lying on the border with France. Overview Its name literally translates as "the pass of th ...

. 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 The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

of above sea level and the top of the ski area is at . The

gondola The gondola (, ; vec, góndoła ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull, ...

from the village rises to , 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

. The native language is

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

is spoken in many shops and restaurants.

World Cup racing

Soldeu hosted

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

alpine events for the first time in February

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

. Three women's races were scheduled, two giant slaloms and a slalom. The additional GS was due to a cancellation at

Courchevel Courchevel () is a French Alps ski resort. It is a part of Les Trois Vallées, the largest linked ski areas in the world. Courchevel also refers to the towns of Courchevel 1300 (Le Praz), Courchevel 1550, Courchevel 1650 (Moriond), and Cou ...

in mid-December, but was also cancelled at Soldeu due to extremely high winds on Friday.Ski Racing.com
- Strong winds cancel women’s World Cup GS in Andorra, slalom rescheduled - 2012-02-10 Women's races were hosted again in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

: a

super-G Super giant slalom, or super-G, is a racing discipline of alpine skiing. Along with the faster downhill, it is regarded as a "speed" event, in contrast to the technical events giant slalom and slalom. It debuted as an official World Cup event d ...

and a combined in late February. The World Cup finals (nine events) of

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

were held Soldeu in mid-March. The men's

downhill Downhill may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Downhill'' (1927 film), a British film by Alfred Hitchcock * ''Downhill'' (2014 film), a British comedy directed by James Rouse * ''Downhill'' (2016 film), a Chilean thriller directed by Patrici ...

course began at and finished at , yielding a vertical drop of and a length of .

Dominik Paris Dominik Paris (born 14 April 1989) is an Italian alpine ski racer, who specializes in speed events of downhill and super-G. He was the world champion in super-G, as the gold medalist in 2019 at Åre, Sweden. Racing career Pari ...

won in 86.8 seconds, yielding an average speed of and a vertical descent rate of per second. These finals will be repeated in March 2023. There is also a possibility to host

Alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics Alpine skiing has been contested at every Winter Olympics since 1936, when a combined event was held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. From 1948 to 1980, the Winter Olympics also served as the World Championships in Olympic years, with sepa ...

with other events in nearby European countries in 2030 or later.

References

External links

Official website of Grandvalira - Soldeu, Andorra
{{coord, 42, 34, 37, N, 1, 40, 02, E, region:AD_type:city, display=title Populated places in Andorra Canillo Ski areas and resorts in Andorra Pyrenees