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Mercedes Navarrete
Granada
Wednesday, 2 October 2024, 07:20
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It is not every year that a brand new gondola lift can be inaugurated, as last season was a historic one in terms of investment, but the machinery to improve Granada's Sierra Nevada does not stop. The company that manages the ski resort, Cetursa, has carried out maintenance work on the ski lifts and various infrastructures throughout the summer and is now working on a series of projects worth a total of seven million and which will result in a dozen new features for the 2024-2025 season.
Last year the Junta de Andalucía took advantage of the NextGeneration European funds to carry out the most ambitious investment programme ever seen in the history of the resort, with more than 32 million euros in a single season and the new Al Andalus gondola lift - which was renovated after 33 years - as the star investment.
This year, Cetursa will continue with its 2020-2030 Strategic Plan, which includes making the winter resort more profitable, more accessible and at the same time more sustainable and realistic in view of the threat of climate change. The plan envisages a global investment of 150 million euros in different phases until 2030 to transform and continuously improve the resort's infrastructure and also increase its accommodation.
The renovation of the Borreguiles gondola lift cabins, with an investment of more than two million euros, will be one of the most visible improvements for the coming season, but there are also other aspects including the installation of new snow cannons and the reorganisation of Borreguiles.
In addition, the Veleta chairlift and the Zayas ski lift will be modernised. What will have to wait until next summer is the renovation of the Nevasol restaurant in Borreguiles. Cetursa had originally planned to put out to tender the demolition of the old restaurant, which has been closed for four years, and the construction of a new one on the same floor, but the work will be postponed "due to delays in the processing of environmental authorisations". The same reason will also delay the installation of a new mechanical slope for beginners.
The gondola lift that runs from the area between Plaza de Andalucía and Pradollano to Borreguiles is getting a complete facelift. For weeks now, the eighty cabins have been undergoing renovation in a factory in France. The work will change all the elements, except the structure, so that next season skiers will travel in a much more comfortable way - eight per cabin - and surrounded by panoramic windows.
The cabins will have the same aesthetics as the Al Andalus, which opened last year, and will include padded seats and new polycarbonate windows, as well as the replacement of all the safety elements. Cetursa expects the finished cabins to arrive in the Sierra Nevada at the end of October.
The renovation of the surrounding structure of the Stadium chairlift is also being contemplated, in order to match the image of the lift with the rest of the resort's mechanical equipment and the installation of curtain walls to achieve maximum light inside, according to Cetursa. It will be covered with Sierra Nevada stone and the work is half finished and will be completed in early November.
Among the new features for beginner skiers is a new boarding platform for the Borreguiles 1 chairlift. The new boarding mat not only makes it easier and more comfortable to get onto the Borreguiles I chairlifts, but it is also expected to increase its transport capacity by 20 per cent.
Among the most outstanding investments of the season are the twenty 20 new snow cannons (high and low pressure), eight of which are installed on the Superverde piste, which starts at the top of Borreguiles I and, after descending the left side of the beginners' area, ends at the bottom of this lift. "It is a route that, although it already exists in practice, will be incorporated with this name, Superverde, to the piste plan this season", Cetursa explains. The new Superverde canyons will facilitate, at the beginning of the season with little snowfall, the opening of the beginners' area with a greater skiing offer than up to now. The works have passed their halfway point and will be finished by the end of the year.
The Plaza de Andalucía car park has also been improved with 38 charging points for electric vehicles (33 of 22 kilowatts and five of 65 kilowatts) which have already been installed on floor -3. In addition, floor -2 of the car park will be resurfaced during October.
One detail that skiers are sure to appreciate in the new season will be the 300 new automated ski lockers that will be installed in the Al Ándalus gondola lift, as the demand for this service has grown a lot in recent years. Most of the lockers will be located in the upper station, which has been new and very spacious since the opening of the new Al-Andalus last season. Users will be able to rent a locker either by the whole season or by the day, and the work will be ready for the opening of the season.
Among the minor projects currently under way is also a new fast food outlet at the top station of the Al Ándalus gondola lift, near the exit of the building at Borreguiles, which will be completed in October. In addition, new toilets are also being built in the Quesos de Suiza restaurant, located on the terrace of the Stadium chairlift, at the top of the El Río slope.
A new step in this area is the complete renovation and modernisation of the adapted ski transition room in the upper station of the Al Ándalus gondola lift, which will also be inaugurated next season. "The facility will have all the necessary elements to facilitate the work of the foundations and make the use of adapted ski equipment more comfortable and agile for users with disabilities," Cetursa points out.
Finally, the list of improvements includes new information screens. In addition to the twenty or so existing screens, new ones have been added at the entrances to the car park, in Pradollano and Borreguiles. There are six new screens with ski lift access control times in the Borreguiles and Al Ándalus cable cars, and in the Jara, Laguna, Monachil and Stadium chairlifts.
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