Pas de la Casa

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The pass and resort, looking towards France

The pass

El Pas de la Casa is a ski resort (part of the Grandvalira resort) and mountain pass in Andorra, lying on the border with France. Literally "the pass of the house", the pass marks the watershed of the Pyrenees and at an elevation of 2408 m, is one of the highest points on the European road network. The pass is bypassed by the Envalira tunnel.

The ski resort of Pas de la Casa sits below the pass on the side closest to France. Its first ski lift was opened in 1957 and currently it counts 31 lifts, 100 km of pistes and 6.26 km² of skiable terrain. The highest point is 2640 m. Its popularity has grown with the burgeoning ski and snowboard industry in the principality: it is the highest resort in Andorra, boasts the best snow record, and is the easiest to get to from Barcelona or Toulouse airports. Consequently it attracts a large number of British and Irish winter sports enthusiasts, as well as French and Spanish. It is also favoured for its southern latitude and duty-free status, which for many overcome the drawbacks of the long airport transfer times and brazen modernity of the place.

The nightlife is particularly youth-oriented, and a prevalence of red pistes perhaps makes the skiing more suited to intermediates than beginners or the most advanced.

A recent lift link to Soldeu via Grau Roig has created a linked skiing area ranging over almost 10% of Andorra's land area, though not all is skiable.

A secessionist movement based at Pas de la Casa has a very limited local support. The Front Envaliran de Libération, [F.E.L.], proposes a state in association with France. The F.E.L. is not recognized by the Andorran authorities, or by France, or any other country. Such limited support as it commands locally revolves mainly around local perceptions of administrative shortcomings and the area's relative geographical and linguistic isolation from the rest of Andorra: French is particularly widely spoken. [See 'External link', below.]