FGC will introduce mountain biking at its Pallars ski resorts

en years ago, when Espot Esquí hosted one of the stages of the Catalonia Downhill Mountainbike Championship, bicycles had to be carried on the lift chairs themselves — one bike per chair. This created a complex logistics system that significantly extended the time between races. Ten years later, the Catalan ski resort is making a new commitment to two-wheel activities, but this time with the aim of making equipment transport much faster.

The goal is to avoid repeating that image of bicycles loaded one by one onto the lift chairs, and instead allow the chairlift to carry three mountain bikes at the same time thanks to an adaptation of the lift system, which will be fitted with a specific new component once the ski season ends.

The objective is that cyclists and their mountain bikes can now go up together. At the same time, the project seeks to diversify Espot Esquí’s seasonal offer, enabling summer activity as well. In this context, the ski resort in the Lleida Pyrenees has secured funding through NextGenerationEU granted by the European Union under the Tourism Sustainability Plan in Destinations programme. One of the first planned actions with this funding will be the construction next summer of a Bike Park and several downhill trails adapted to different levels of riding experience.

In addition to these circuits for MTB, Enduro and family cycling tourism, charging points for electric bicycles will also be installed — now considered an essential feature for developing this type of tourism.

The project is being promoted by Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya, the Ajuntament de Sort and the Consell Comarcal del Pallars Sobirà. Each of these entities will be responsible for a specific part of the initiative:

• Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya will adapt the La Roca chairlift at Espot Esquí and the Jet Cim lift at Port Ainé to transport bicycles, and will also create MTB and Enduro routes at both resorts.

• The Ajuntament de Sort will build a pumptrack next to the skatepark and municipal swimming pools.

• The Consell Comarcal del Pallars Sobirà will design a network of family cycling tourism routes throughout the region.

In this way, the two ski resorts in Pallars Sobirà join the two resorts in Val d'Aran in developing this new mountain biking activity. Baqueira Beret has already consolidated its offer through lift-accessible routes and newly built trails, while the former facilities of Era Tuca have also featured a pumptrack and mountain bike area for the past three years.