Amidst the majestic mountains of the Huesca Pyrenees and under the watchful eye of Pico Aneto, lies the Benasque Valley, a gem that—despite its nickname of 'The Hidden Valley'—is well known to the thousands of tourists from Spain and Europe who visit it throughout the year. There's no shortage of reasons to visit: nature, tranquility, spectacular landscapes and routes, culture, gastronomy... and sport, lots of sport. The valley has made a name for itself as a sporting destination for skiing, paragliding, and the numerous events it hosts each year, such as the Great Benasque Mountains Marathon, the Great Aneto Posets Trail, the International Chess Open, and the Valle Escondido Basketball Tournament, the twelfth edition of which will be held between June 20 and 22. One of the venues hosting matches in this tournament is the pavilion in the valley's capital, Benasque, whose Mondoelastic flooring with a Mondo beech wood finish has just been sanded and varnished.
The Valle Escondido Tournament is organized by the Alta Ribagorza Basketball Club—also promoters of the Valle de Benasque Basketball Campus and the 3x3 Pirineos Tournament in Castejón de Sos—and brings together more than a thousand basketball players each year (from pre-mini Benjamín to cadet boys and girls) and their companions. The matches are played in municipalities such as Cerler, Anciles, Sesué, Castejón de Sos, Chía, and Benasque, whose sports center has been equipped since 2004 with a top-level Mondo flooring system: the Mondoelastic system with a beech wood finish, which this year has been sanded and varnished to return it to optimal condition. The Benasqués pavilion also features several Mondo telescopic stands arranged in modules of six rows each.
The playing surface of the Benasque Arena, the Mondoelastic system with a beech wood finish, offers excellent athletic performance. This area-elastic flooring is FIBA Level 1 approved and certified according to the UNE-EN 14904 standard for sports surfaces. Mondoelastic is ideal for hosting all types of competitions, including those at the highest levels, and stands out for its extremely high dimensional stability.
The system is composed of two transverse layers of phenolic plywood, screwed and glued together with a wood finish treated with a high-resistance varnish. An internal air chamber allows the rubber supports to compress and recover quickly, providing a perfect balance of energy return, impact absorption, deformation, and ball bounce. The supports are fixed in a pattern that ensures uniform response at any point on the surface. This structure allows air circulation beneath the flooring, allowing the system to better withstand moisture and also allows its use with radiant heating systems.
If the Benasque Valley has gained immense popularity among youth basketball, it is also a benchmark for the country's best professional players. It has become a tradition to enjoy the presence of the Casademont Zaragoza men's (Liga Endesa) and women's (LF Endesa) first teams in the valley. Summer after summer, they gather in Benasque and use its sports center to prepare for their respective preseasons.