Alpine Winter Sports – Page 62 – Everything you need to know about skiing and other Alpine winter sports

13/04/201113/04/2011

Weather Outlook (6 days)

The weather system over the Alps falls into several distinct regions, where typically most resorts in one region share the same overall weather. However, the unpredicatability of weather systems as they pass over the Alps plus the effect of micro-climates wreck havoc with many forecasts.

I have found the reports from Snow-Forecast.com to be amongst the most granular. They provide a premium service, but also a free six day forecast for hundreds of resorts. Here are a few links to their reports for the main Alpine resorts in each region of Switzerland:

Adelboden, Gstaad and the Bernese Oberland
http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Adelboden/6day/mid

Andermatt and East Central Switzerland
http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Andermatt/6day/mid

Champéry and Les Portes du Soleil
http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Champery/6day/mid

Crans-Montana and the North of the Valais
http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Crans-Montana/6day/mid

Davos-Klosters
http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Davos/6day/mid

Engelberg and West Central Switzerland
http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Engelberg/6day/mid

Lenzerheide/Flims and Central Graubunden
http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Lenzerheide/6day/mid

Leysin and the Vaud Alps
http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Leysin/6day/mid

Pizol and North Central Switzerland
http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Pizol/6day/mid

Scuol and East Graubunden
http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Scuol/6day/mid

St Moritz and the Engadin
http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/St-Moritz/6day/mid

Verbier
http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Verbier/6day/mid

Wengen and the Jungfrau
http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Wengen/6day/mid

Zermatt, Saas-Fee and Southern Valais
http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Zermatt/6day/mid

11/04/201105/06/2020

Ski Maps of Switzerland

Piste maps are fine, but they rarely give enough information for the more adventurous skier or snowboarder. Increasingly freeride areas are shown on piste maps, but the more adventurous freeride areas don’t figure. Which is a shame, because there are many relatively safe freeride areas away from the main pistes that can be undertaken without a guide. The Gemsstock and the Laub (off Titlis) are two of the best examples you can explore without donning skins or snowshoes you’d bring from shoe hero. Whilst the pistes go one way in Zinal, Verbier, Glacier 3000, Lenzerheide and many other resorts, you just need a little local information to flip off the other side of the mountain and experience untracked snow.

So where do you go for more information if you don’t speak the language well?

Although the best guides for ski or snowboard touring and freeriding Switzerland are in German, there are two map series that show all the information you need to plan a route with English annotations. One is produced by Freeride Maps at 1:25,000 and the other is the Federal Office of Topography Ski Tour map Series 1:50,000 series (for which a separate, free English-language list of the conventions used is available). Both are good, but expensive at about SFr 25 or so for each map.

I had hoped that the Atlas of Switzerland would provide this information but it doesn’t, and the user interface is not intuitive, the documentation is poor, it only works down to 1:100,00 and includes relatively little useful information for the winter sports enthusiast (although you can figure out slope inclines). Nice idea, not so well executed. And I can’t reproduce the rather neat 3D images you CAN produce with it because the copyright restrictions are pretty Neanderthal.

If you use a GPS there are some great tools for you. Garmin have about 100 resorts in Switzerland mapped, although off-piste is not addressed. Don’t knock Google Maps, either. It has some useful information including the locations of most significant lifts. BTW Switzerland insists on using it’s own mapping system, the Swiss coordinate system (or Swiss grid) is different from the usual latitude/longitude system used elsewhere.

Finally, a disclaimer. Go off-piste only with a guide if you are not an experienced freerider. The mountains are indifferent.

21/03/201113/09/2014

Glacier 3000

Glacier 3000 is a dysfunctional resort. It is halfway between Gstaad and Les Diablerets, and is claimed to be part of both their local ski systems; it reckons itself to be in Vaud but much of the ski area is in the Bernese Oberland and Valais; it promotes itself for it’s glacier skiing, but the more adventurous skiing is not on the glacier. In essence it is two areas, the north-facing area below the glacier with terrain down to Reusch, Col du Pillon and even Gstaad if the snow is good, and a glaciated plateau with dizzying views over Valais and beyond.

There is little to commend the glacier skiing. Flat blue runs, bitterly cold in Winter, inevitably serviced by t-bars and only accessible via a long schuss from the cable car – and most skiers and snowboarders will find they get insufficient speed from the very steep incline off Scex Rouge to make it across to the first lift (surely a case for a rope tow). However the glacier has a superb snow record and a long season, and there is some lovely, gentle off-piste, especially when there is fresh snow. If it has snowed overnight get to the top as soon as you can to make it to the off-piste outside and between the runs from Quille du Diable.

The runs away from the glacier are tough. The red run to Oldenegg would be a black at most resorts.There are also some trails and a range of demanding off-piste, including a devilish drop-off from the back of the eponymous Mario Botta-designed restaurant at Scex Rouge. Talking of eating, there are a good range of hostelries on the mountain, and the view from the terrace at Refuge L’Espace is one of the most breath-taking in the Alps. The Botta Restaurant sports Formula 1 images, reminding diners of Bernie Ecclestone’s investment in the resort.

Gstaad Mountain Rides classifies Glacier 3000 as sector 4 in that system, and it is priced for 2010/11 at CHf 60 for an adult for one day, only slightly cheaper than the main sector 1 area. There are a courtesy ski bus and a scheduled post bus linking Glacier 3000 with Gstaad and Les Diablerets. From the gondola station servicing Isenau in Les Diablerets it is possible to ski on a red run down to the Col du Pillon base station at Glacier 3000. The other lift system in Les Diablerets, Meilleret, which connects up with Villars and Gryon, is about a 15 minute walk from the Isenau base station, and the railway station in les Diablerets is equi-distant between the two lift systems.

Glacier 3000 is rarely crowded, even at weekends, although if you are driving it is worthwhile getting there early to get a good parking space. Parking is free.

Glacier 3000 is a bleak resort when it is cold, and would not be a destination I would normally choose over the nearby Rinderberg/Hornfluh, Videmanette/Eggli (both Gstaad Sector 1), Meilleret, Leysin or Chateau D’Oex slopes. However for early season excursions or on sunny Spring days it provides the best (or only) skiing and snowboarding in all the Vaud resorts, and on a clear day the views from the top make it worth a trip.

Details on the resort in Dutch are at the Swiss WinterSports web site.

17/03/201116/12/2019

Late-season Skiing & Snowboarding

Ski Sunday abandons the season in February, the FIS World Cup season climaxes in March (this season at Lenzerheide, on 20th March) and most of the continent stows away skis and snowboards after Easter. So what for those who want to prolong the season? is there decent skiing anywhere through April and May?

The simple answer is yes. For many freeriders this is the best time of the year to tour, and for those who prefer to stick to the pistes or use lifts to get off-piste, there is still fresh snow. Essentially the very best places are high, so resorts with lifts to about 3000m are promising. The Aletsch Arena, Belalp, Val D’Annivers, and Lauchernalp are not well known but passes are relatively cheap, they are rarely crowded and make good destinations for families, beginners and for weekend escapes. All you have to do is get on the best site for sports gear on the internet, get the appurtenances, and start right away. Val D’Annivers is a little known gem, with Zinal in that area offering the most challenging off-piste and Chandolin the best pistes. Samnaun gives access to the huge Silvretta Arena which has all but the valley runs over 2000m and consistently has good snow conditions throughout April. The Jungfrau stays open until after Easter with good pistes still available down to Wengen, Mürren, Kleine Scheidegg and Holenstein through until mid-afternoon. Diovolezza in the Engadin, near Pontresina, is the highest valley run in Switzerland, with a bottom station above 2000m and lifts open until late May. Davos and Klosters should offer good skiing on the higher runs on the Parsenn until the lifts close on 1st May. The 4 Vallées (centred on Verbier), Flims/Laax and Les Diablerets have glaciers and stay open until early May this year, and Engelberg will stay open until the end of May – although I doubt the valley run will last quite that long. St Moritz, Saas-Fee and Zermatt offer the very best late season skiing, with Saas-Fee and Zermatt providing some limited glacier skiing right through the year. Once you decide on the place you are going, make sure you capture all the exciting moments. The best way to do that is using a drone. Don’t forget about radio, check this comparison to decide which one is better for you.

There are other things to do in the tail-end of the winter sports season in Switzerland. Over the week ending 20th March are the FIS World Cup at Lenzerheide, the Zinal Freeride contest and the Nissan Freeride World Tour 2010 in Verbier (on the Bec de Rosses). On 19th March the longest torch-lit downhill skiing procession in the world takes place down the 2000m, 12 km descent from Titlis to Engelberg – meeting point is at the Valley Station at 6pm with dinner on Mt Titlis at 9.30 pm.