mountain

Catalonia's iconic site houses one of the oldest publishers in the world alongside Oxford and Cambridge

Helicopter offers service 365 days a year from Andorra-La Seu d'Urgell Airport and Tírvia heliport

Travel restrictions boost domestic tourism, but emergency services urge caution after deadly summer season

Catalonia also saw success in MotoGP, kayaking and mountain running this weekend

The incident in northern Catalonia did not cause deaths or injuries, but some pieces were found at 2,200 meters altitude

Investigation underway as new cases are reported

The three victims who perished with local guide in Andes mountains were from towns near Barcelona

Accommodation sells out in many areas while pastry chefs hail a “spectacular” year for traditional ‘mona’ cakes

Almost 100% of accommodation booked in the Pyrenees, with 1 in 4 rooms available by the sea

64-year-old Catalan mountain climber, Òscar Cadiach, returns home after conquering his fourteenth 8,000-meter peak without oxygen

Núria Picas was born in Manresa, in central Catalonia, 39 years ago. She considers herself a “daughter of the Montserrat mountain”, where her parents brought her climbing as a child. Since she was little she established a strong bond with nature and is now the ‘number 1’ woman in mountain trail running. Last year she won the Ultra Trail World Tour, a competition with ten races (twelve this year), of at least 100 kilometres each. Last season, Picas ran four of these races winning three times and coming runner-up in the fourth. In 2015, however, her “main goal” goes beyond the running world. She is on cloud nine with her new challenge and will soon be literally closer than ever to the clouds: in the spring she is going to attempt to climb an 8,000-metre peak in the Himalayas.

The Andorra-la Seu d’Urgell Airport kicked off its public and commercial activities on Thursday, and is able to host aircraft of up to 40 seats. The old La Seu d’Urgell’s airfield, in the middle of a Pyrenean valley and only 15km away from Andorra, has been updated to go beyond being a facility merely used by recreational light aircraft. From now on, small commercial airliners, charter flights and air taxis will be able to operate from this mountain airport very close to Catalonia’s and Andorra’s main ski resorts. The new facilities will be managed by the Catalan Government and Andorra, which will meet half of its operational costs. The Catalan Executive is currently negotiating with 8 companies that may be interested in flying from the airport. Furthermore, the permits needed to host flights from outside the Schengen Area are expected to be granted by the Spanish authorities during 2015.

Ski and snow lovers across Catalonia will be able to hit the slopes this weekend for the first time this season, but not all the doors to powder will be open, due to weather conditions. The unseasonably mild winter has meant that most ski resorts will be operating at "half gas" this weekend, with some important resorts such as Baqueria Beret choosing not to open at all. Others, such as Boí Taüll have said they will open on Saturday but only at 50%, and the first ski resort to open its doors has been Vallter 2000, which was operational as from this Friday with 4 lifts and 4 runs. Other resorts expect to open some of their runs, but the final decision will depend on weather conditions in the near future. During the 2014-2015 season, Catalan ski resorts invested a total of €17 million. Baqueria Beret invested the most, over €11 million, due to its size and to commemorate its 50^th anniversary.