rail – Page 12 – Alpine Winter Sports

07/01/201509/02/2019

Back country skiing in the Engelberg valley

I have often heard it rumoured that in the Engelberg valley lurk many hidden stashes of lift-served back country off-piste. From Titlis itself there are several areas of off-piste, the Laub being the most famous. There is also one route off Klein Titlis itself down towards Trübsee via the Steinberg some friends of mine have skied, although I have not tried it myself.

I know you can ski from the top of the Fürenalp cable car – again I have not tried it, but I know there is a trail back down to the valley floor which I guess presents at least one option. The lift company identifies a 1000m toboggan run, a 1500 winter walk and snowshoe trail as well as ski touring options at the top. There is also a restaurant. One to add to the list for sure.

Anyway, I came across an article at Worldcrunch which finally addressed the rumour. Apparently there is a lift, Sesselbahn Brisen, which ascends the Haldigrat below Engelberg to provide access to a large unprepared area of snow from 1937m.
Sesselbahn Brisen - photo: raffaconzinu via Instagram
The owner of the lift, Kurt Mathis, is quite famous, apparently, and the lift is possibly not as obscure as I had thought – even featuring in a film and having its own website. The lifts operate 9am-4pm at weekends and on public holidays in the winter season. Kurt’s wife, Antoinette, runs a restaurant and guesthouse at the top. A webcam is here. To get to the Haldigrat by train, take the Engelberg service from Luzern and get off at the request stop Niederrickenbach Station, just after Dallenwil, then take the cable car to Niederrickenbach itself and take a sign-posted 30-minute walk on a broad and well-maintained path to the valley station of the chairlift from Alpboden up to the Haldigrat. There is parking at the bottom of the Niederrickenbach cable car. Although there are no recorded fatalities or significant avalanche risks, the ski area is not only unprepared but also unpatrolled.

03/01/201503/01/2015

Let it snow!

Visitors to French ski resorts faced chaotic conditions last week when the snow finally arrived, and are probably concerned as they face the return trip. The good news is that the weather outlook is that the authorities seem better prepared and the weather is milder. Apparently on transfer day last week around 29,000 cars and coaches were left stranded for the night in 80 emergency centres in France and thousands were left stranded at airports.
Chur Railway Station
I was in Switzerland at the same time, and broadly the same weather conditions hit the areas I visited, but there were no delays and no problems that I was aware of. As the Daily Telegraph succinctly put it:

Swiss resorts reached from Geneva airport caught at least the same amount of snow last weekend, but the Swiss managed to keep roads clear. The trains too – from Geneva to Martigny for Verbier and other resorts – ran to their usual clockwork schedule.

Snow conditions now look promising as the season gets fully underway. However warmer temperatures in the next few days mean that the freezing level may rise as high as 2000m. Although well prepared pistes below that level should be OK, lower slopes may see rain rather than fresh snow.

17/12/201417/12/2014

Christmas Ski Conditions

I reported last week on the English Show that the warm weather and dry conditions were hitting the ability of resorts to make a decent base, and that even a cold snap in mid-December would be followed by unseasonably warm weather. A week later, my prognosis seems to have been borne out, and even Courchevel in France has cancelled events because of poor snow conditions. My advice remains “go high”. You can find which resorts have the highest runs at the Swiss Winter Sports and Snow and Rail websites – on the resort finders you can click on the columns to sequence the tables by any field. High resorts like Zermatt and Verbier, for example, benefit from high glaciers and villages above the ski line, so you can be sure you can ski all the way back into the village. Freezing levels seem to be hovering around 1500m, so any runs above that altitude looks fine, although the snow forecast for the next couple of days comes with warm weather so the snow may turn to precipitation on even some middle stations. The temperature then dips a little and gives way to a period of sunny weather over Christmas where you can be sure the resorts will desperately be churning out the artificial snow on runs where they can establish a base. The good news, or bad news if you plan to ski over the New Year, is that the weather will change after Boxing Day, with blizzards expected by New Year’s Eve and, although the temperatures will still be a little on the high side, this should ensure good snow cover right down to the high valleys into January.

Austria has some glaciers but on the whole the resorts and runs are low, and the country has suffered from too little or not enough snow, with temperatures too mild to use snow-making machines. Italy has fared a little better, and I have had good reports from Cervinia. France should be OK if you go to somewhere high like Tignes.

It is a shame for many resorts, as some visitors will surely cancel plans to ski or snowboard. There seems to have been something of a resurgence too, with most resorts reporting higher levels of planned hotel occupancy over Christmas than last year, especially in Switzerland.

Ski Pizol
I’m spending Christmas in Bad Ragaz for Pizol. The valley run to Wangs probably won’t be open or much fun if it is, but since I am on the other side of the mountain, that is no great loss. There is also an easy backcountry run from the top of Pizol you can walk up to without skins, although you will need to carry your skis or board beyond the last lift. I also plan to spend a few days in Chur which has easy access to some of the best resorts in Graubünden ahead of the New Year – plenty of altitude nearby in resorts like Flims/Laax.

Many pages at my web site have webcams so you can check out the snow conditions for yourself. If they don’t follow the links to the resort web sites in case they have any other web cams set up.

07/12/201409/02/2019

Indoor skiing in the Netherlands

Researching for my new Dutch language ski website, I found that the Netherlands has a few indoor ski and snowboard areas. Of course, they do not compare to the Alps, but they have real snow and give you a good opportunity to try out a couple of turns. What’s more they are relatively inexpensive and try to have something of a ski resort ambiance.

There seem to be ski areas in a number of areas – see Skihal.com. Most convenient for me is the Snowworld ski and snowboard centre at Zoetermeer, on the route between Den Haag and Utrecht, so I checked it out one lunchtime.

The ski area is well signposted once you get to Zoetermeer, and boasts three slopes – a blue run, a park with rails and jumps and what is classified as a red run (20% incline). There are nine lifts and good long opening hours throughout the year. Conveniently the Snowworld web site is in English as are some of the brochures. Four hours would set an adult back 40 Euros, and a child or senior 34 Euros, with equipment hire between about 4 and 12 euros for the same period depending on what you want etc. As you would expect there are bars, restaurants, various discounts, specials, ski and snowboard school and even a hotel if you want to stay over.

The downside? Well for an experienced skier or snowboarder only the rails and jumps would set your pulse racing, and the runs are too short to really improve an already advanced technique, but it is good for finding your ski legs or for checking out some new kit. It is real snow, and so it is cold and you do need to bring a hat, gloves and winter clothes if you want to avoid getting cold. And, of course there is no sunshine – the entire complex is roofed.

For beginners, early intermediates and people wanting to perfect their technique in the park, however, it is ideal, and a nice way to prepare for the real thing.