El Morredero
A municipal ski station in the Montes Aquilianos above Ponferrada that stopped in 2008 when its main drag lift broke and the city could not afford to replace it; Ponferrada voted in 2020 to demolish what is left.
- Region
- Castile and León
- Country
- Spain
- Status
- abandoned
- Year opened
- late 1980s
- Year closed
- 2008
- Reason for closure
- The main lift failed in February 2008 and the city council, which owns the station, had no money to replace it. A December 2008 plan to renew the lifts, add a chairlift and expand the skiable terrain to 14 km was shelved as unviable, and the station never reopened.
History
El Morredero sits in the Montes Aquilianos in El Bierzo, in the province of León, on land belonging to the city of Ponferrada near the villages of Peñalba de Santiago and Bouzas. It was a small station: two drag lifts, around 3.5 km of piste graded as two green, two blue and two red runs, between roughly 1,700 m and 2,135 m, with cleared and wind-fenced slopes, huts at the top of the hillside and at the foot of the tows, and a large paved parking apron. The main lift broke down in February 2008 and the council could not fund a replacement, so the station simply stopped. A modernisation and expansion plan put forward in December 2008 - new lifts including a chairlift and 14 km of piste - was abandoned as unviable, and successive winters passed with the buildings and towers left standing and progressively vandalised, a state repeatedly documented by the local press. In 2020 Ponferrada city council announced it would dismantle the station entirely, though the work has been slow to arrive. Individual run names are not recorded, and the year the station first opened is given only vaguely as the late 1980s.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed lift | Surface lift | One of two drag lifts serving the station; the breakdown of the main lift in 2008 ended operations. Names, lengths and manufacturers are not documented | |
| Unnamed lift | Surface lift | The station's second drag lift, with a small conveyor lift on the beginner terrain |
Sources and further reading
- https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estaci%C3%B3n_de_esqu%C3%AD_de_El_Morredero
- https://www.lugaresdenieve.com/?q=es%2Freportaje%2Fdoce-estaciones-espana-donde-no-volveremos-esquiar-nunca-mas
- https://www.nevasport.com/noticias/art/57034/El-Morredero-la-estacion-de-esqui-olvidada-de-Ponferrada/
- https://www.infobierzo.com/bierzo-noticias/asi-se-encuentra-la-estacion-del-morredero-ponferrada-en-grave-estado-de-abandono_751593_102.html
More in Spain
Location
42.4054, -6.5283