THE ultimate weekend of October 2024 – just before Halloween – brought 10cm of snow to the Sierra Nevada ski resort. This gives it a welcome coating of “white stuff” well before the ski season starts at the end of November.
Popular nationally and internationally, the Sierra Nevada resort offers 112.5km of winter sports terrain, distributed over 134 slopes. It has the highest skiable gradient in Spain (1,200 m). However, not all the slopes are open for the full season – this depends on weather conditions (such as snow cover, wind, and storms).
In 2023, the Sierra Nevada resort opened on 3 December. On this date, it offered between 20-40cm of snow, depending on the exact location. The season closed on 28 April, 2024, making it the longest amongst winter sports resorts in southern Europe. It opened for a grand total of 149 days.
A long season at Sierra Nevada
The 23/24 season closed with 1,100,945 users – the seventh highest attendance in the resort’s history. This was despite a lack of rainfall in early winter, meaning little snow, followed by heavy spring storms that produced ample snowfall but closed the facilities for 14 days. This long closure was unusual in the resort’s history.
When there isn’t enough precipitation to make real snow, the Sierra Nevada resort uses its “state-of-the-art snow making centre”, equipped with artifical snow machines. This keeps many of the popular slopes active.
Open all year round…
In the midst of the 2023/24 season, hotel occupancy stood at 70%. Notably, these days, Sierra Nevada isn’t just a winter resort: it offers options during the summer for those who want to chill out – literally. Pradollano provides an “oasis of freshness”, with sunbathing, a swimming pool, and various outdoor activities on the (non-snowy) slopes. Tourists can escape the baking temperatures of Granada city and its surrounds.
Another bumper run?
If the weather forecast continues in its present vein, the ski slopes might see more coverage ahead of the official season. Rain is forecast into Halloween and early November, with snow due to fall above approximately 2,600 – 2,700m.
Snow on the south side
Even the south face of the Sierra Nevada saw some snowfall on Sunday 27 October, which is a dramatic change to the “shorts and skirts weather” that has prevailed until recently. People are now reaching for their coats.
The locals are hoping for more than the perennial “dos gotas” to fill the ‘acequias”, aquifers and reservoirs.
Best places to enjoy snow this winter
Hoya de la Mora – above Pradollano at the Sierra Nevada ski resort, in the municipality of Monachil at 2,250m.
Above Capileira – in the Alpujarra Alta.
Puente Palo – in the municiality of Cáñar at 1,800m.
Puerta de la Ragua – in the Alpujarra Almeriense at 2,041m.