History
At the very beginning of the 20th century skiing started to become a recreational and sports activity. La Molina has been one of the main protagonists over this period of one hundred years and, as one of the country’s leading ski resorts, over the last 100 years it has been committed to renovation, to maintaining its position at the forefront of skiing and to providing skiers with new and restructured services, as well as giving an added value to tourism.
The first skiers
The first mention made of skiers in this area was in 1908, as stated in the Bulletin of the Cataluña Hiking Organisation Centro Excursionista de Cataluña (CEC). The first skiers used the telemark turn and the Stemmbogen. The men were dressed like real Arctic explorers and the women wore skirts.
Although the first skiers had been around for quite a while, La Molina wasn’t a busy place for ski lovers until the winter of 1923-1924, when skiing became much more popular, thanks to the opening of the train line to La Molina in 1922.
The slopes of Fontcanaleta were also discovered in that year: "smooth plains, with no trees and full of snow", were how they were described by the pioneers who dared to move further away from the train station and to go through the Perdiz woods. The fame of the Fontcanaleta slopes was such that in February of the same year the first competitions were held: The 10th Winter Sports Competitions and the Catalan Championships.
La Molina owes part of its history to the Chalet the CEC opened in December 1925 which became the first accommodation of the resort.
In 1940 the country’s first medical assistance service was installed at La Molina for people injured while skiing.
The first ski lifts.
On 28th February 1943 Spain’s first ski lift was opened on the Fontcanaleta slopes. In those days this was amazing and highly innovative. And just a few years later La Molina also pioneered the installation of chair lifts, with the inauguration in the 1946-1947 season of the Turó de la Perdiu chair lift.
The true extent of the skiable area of La Molina came from 1954 onwards, when a two-seater cable car travelled up to 2,280 metres altitude at the Puig de Alp. After a year this line was extended to the peak of Tosa de Alp with a ski lift. At the top of Tosa de Alp the Eagle’s Nest mountain shelter was built, offering restaurant and bar services with a large terrace for sunbathing.
At the end of the fifties, La Molina already had five chair lifts, two ski lifts and two cable cars, the result of the work of two large companies that had equipped the different areas of La Molina.
In just fifteen years (1955-1970), La Molina became a reference point for the world of skiing throughout the whole country, as it had some of the most modern installations of that time. The skiable domain was also extended towards Puigllançada, equipped with ski lifts and chair lifts.
A new drive
In the eighties skiing had become notoriously popular with all segments of society. Additionally, the ups and downs of the companies that up till then owned La Molina led the Generalitat de Cataluña, in 1985, to buy the assets of the resort’s skiable domain through Ferrocarriles de la Generalitat de Cataluña (FGC), which has been managing them ever since.
This new drive meant that, once again, La Molina became a pioneer in its field and it acquired the first artificial snow production plant using a high pressure system. Also, in 1986, the country’s first four-seater chair lift was installed. Between 1987 and 1991 three new four-seater chair lifts were built.
Today
Nowadays, at La Molina you can find all the services of a great resort in unbeatable natural surroundings.
In the 08-09 season La Molina was the first resort in the Pyrenees to hold the Women’s Alpine Skiing World Cup. The Disabled World Cup and the Snowboarding World Cup were also held.
We have made history and we’ll carry on making it!
