Ski and Snowboard Switzerland
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Where to Ski and Snowboard in Switzerland By Nic Oatridge Copyright © 2017 by Nic Oatridge All rights reserved. Design by Nic Oatridge No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review. Although every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this book was correct at press time, the author and publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause. Nic Oatridge To contact me, visit my website at oatridge.com First Printing: Dec 2017 Blurb Contents Contents .............................................................................................. 1 Introduction ........................................................................................ 3 Why Switzerland? .............................................................................. 5 Main Swiss ski and snowboard resorts ......................................... 8 How to read the resort guides ................................................... 10 Adelboden-Lenk .............................................................................. 12 Airolo ................................................................................................. 16 Aletsch Arena .................................................................................. 19 Alt St Johann, Unterwasser & Wildhaus ................................... 22 Andermatt ........................................................................................ 25 Arolla ................................................................................................. 28 Arosa ................................................................................................. 31 Braunwald ......................................................................................... 34 Brigels ................................................................................................ 37 Chamonix ......................................................................................... 39 Champéry (Portes du Soleil) ........................................................ 42 Crans-Montana ................................................................................ 46 Davos ................................................................................................. 49 Disentis.............................................................................................. 52 Engelberg........................................................................................... 55 Feldberg ............................................................................................. 59 Flims-Laax-Falera (LAAX) ............................................................. 62 Flumserberg...................................................................................... 65 Glacier 3000 ..................................................................................... 67 Grimentz-Zinal ................................................................................ 70 Gstaad Mountain Rides.................................................................. 73 Hoch-Ybrig ....................................................................................... 78 Ischgl & Samnaun............................................................................. 81 Jungfrau (Grindelwald, Wengen & Mürren) ............................. 84 1 Klewenalp ......................................................................................... 90 Klosters ............................................................................................. 93 Lenzerheide ...................................................................................... 96 Les Diablerets .................................................................................. 99 Leysin ............................................................................................... 101 Lötschental ..................................................................................... 104 Malbun ............................................................................................. 107 Meiringen-Hasliberg ..................................................................... 109 Melchsee-Frutt .............................................................................. 111 Moléson ........................................................................................... 113 Nendaz ............................................................................................ 115 Obersaxen ...................................................................................... 118 Pizol .................................................................................................. 120 Pontresina ....................................................................................... 123 Saas-Fee ........................................................................................... 126 St Anton .......................................................................................... 129 St-Luc/Chandolin ........................................................................... 132 St Moritz ......................................................................................... 134 Savognin .......................................................................................... 139 Scuol ................................................................................................. 142 Sedrun ............................................................................................. 144 Sörenberg ....................................................................................... 147 Stoos ................................................................................................ 149 Verbier ............................................................................................ 152 Villars-Gryon .................................................................................. 156 Zermatt ........................................................................................... 159 Zweisimmen ................................................................................... 164 Best of the Rest ............................................................................. 167 Index of Resorts ............................................................................ 171 2 Introduction This book is intended to serve various audiences: . Independent travellers looking to make their own way to the slopes from outside Switzerland, particularly if their itinerary does not fit into the usual cycle of transfer windows or is intended to include several resorts . Expatriates living in Switzerland, looking for suitable winter sports destinations . Package holiday-makers who might want some deeper insight into their holiday location than the tourist brochures provide . Winter visitors to Switzerland who want to know what else to do apart from ski or snowboard It won’t help people looking to go ski touring, but does cater for skiers and snowboarders looking for lift-served off-piste. For ski touring, if you don’t read French or German, I recommend the recently updated “Alpine Ski Mountaineering 3 Vol 1 - Western Alps” written by Bill O'Connor and published by Cicerone Press or get a map from swisstravelcenter.ch. The main part of this book concentrates on the several dozen significant ski resorts in Switzerland, organised alphabetically. I have also included some resorts outside Switzerland, but easily reached from Switzerland – for example the Black Forest resort of Feldberg is the nearest sizable resort to Basel. There are over 200 ski resorts in Switzerland. However around half of these have relatively short seasons unless snow conditions are particularly good, or they rely entirely on surface lifts to access the terrain. On the whole I have excluded these resorts unless they have some particularly attractive characteristic. There are also a number of small communities that have access to good ski areas, but offer limited accommodation and have poor access to the ski area they are associated with. These too have been excluded. The resorts I have omitted are not entirely overlooked. The penultimate section of the book summarises the lesser ski resorts I think are worth an honourable mention, organised by region. More details can be found at the companion web site, SwissWinterSports.com, which also provides more in depth and time-sensitive information about the resorts that are featured here. I have visited all the resorts covered in this book and all the content is mine. I have tried to be fair and accurate, but welcome any corrections and insights which will help improve the quality of this publication in subsequent editions. In addition, if you are reading this some time after publication, it is likely there are some modest changes, so please do check online for up-to-date information. Nic Oatridge SwissWinterSports.com 4 Why Switzerland? Switzerland is the home of both Alpine skiing and winter holidays. It has declined in favour amongst tourists in recent years as the Swiss Franc has appreciated against every major currency. However it still remains the destination of choice for many, and there are several reasons for this. The most