 Poster: A snowHead
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minx,
Sorry the holiday was bad. I have just got back from Zermatt having last visited about fifteen years ago. My own experience was pretty positive. Last week the queues were non existant. The snow was good though the weather was not the best. The area is much better connected than before. I guess at busy times the links would be crowded but in low season there were no problems. There were a lot more Brits than previously and though I like my resorts to have a less British feel they were less intrusive than in many othe resorts. I did not go to the bars afterwards though as I was with my family and may have avoided the worst of the offenders.
The main downside for me was that it was a lot more expensive than I remember, probably the weakness of the pound but the prices were high for a family of four.
Still the stunning mountain scenery made it ab it special.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Interesting comments on Zermatt. I was there the week before Easter. It was the most crowded that I've ever seen it. Solved that by starting early, breaking early for lunch, taking a mid-afternoon break, and either downloading at the end of the day, or taking the long way home to get back to town. Being an American, the Brits all sound the same to me, so I wasn't able to focus on or be put off by the upper class antics. I can't understand what they're saying anyway.
Since my last trip to Zermatt, the lift system has been upgraded substantially, so I found it enjoyable to to plan out routes that where impossible last time. The lift lines to the Klein Matterhorn from Trockner Steg were absurd at certain times of the day. There are plenty of good alternatives. You don't have to go to the top of the mountain to find great skiing. Only rode the bus once (Sunegga to KM) , and didn't have any issues. Staying within easy walking distance of the KM lift took the bus out of the equation. There are some great places (steep, uncrowded terrain) to ski, if you know where to look. Riding red pistes is not the answer.
With the new tunnel for faster access from the north (and good snow), there are many more Swiss coming to Zermatt this year.
I'm amazed that they don't do a better job of filling chair lifts to capacity. Odd to see a high speed quad with a person riding alone. Singles lines must be a US thing. I'm headed back next year. It will not be on a holiday week which should make it a bit less crowded. All things factored in (and I've skied virtually every major resort in North America and Europe), Zermatt gets more things right than anybody else. Not perfect, but the best of the big area bunch. There are better places if you just want to ski, but putting it all together, I can't see how you can top Zermatt.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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red 27,
My own impression of the Big Z is echoing with what some other members have said in this thread - great village, average skiing. So by staying in Cervinia... what do you achieve 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Turns no no no.... the skiing in Zermatt is not average, it is right up there with the very best, especially for the better skier. It's the crowds and connections that sap the spirit.
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red 27,
I ve been once, average snow (Feb last year), "free skiing" area (don't remember the name now) was closed during entire season. NO crowds. Skied all open pistes (time and time again...) including Cervinia. Quite liked Sunnega. Missed an opportunity to go off-piste with a guide. Maybe you are right to say it is the connections that spoil it. I had a feeling that I spent more time carrying my skis around on my shoulder (from gondola to gondola, cable car to cable car etc) than actually skiing. Or maybe... the expectations were too high. It is personal for each of us after all.
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| Axsman wrote: |
| minx, "Knobocracy" excellent label will use it in future. Fortunately there weren't many like that in Ischgl |
agreed - Ischgl was a delight from that perspective. Not busy, and seemingly few 'turkeys' of any nationality. Lech was the same.
Fortunately Zermatt isn't a place that's on my radar for more than a day of sightseeing. And I think I'd do more than steal the forks of the Knobocracy. Their wallets perhaps? Manchester heritage showing thru - sorry 
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You def get a better class of money in Lech!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Agenterre, He must be hiding. It's got an entrance in the small shopping arcade across the road from the station with another in a side street off it. Don't think Shaun (Potter) is a she though  Cheapest beer in Zermatt when I was there, 5 Fr a pint.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I really don't get some peoples attitudes
Rude=rude
No excuses for that whatever the context or relative wealth.
But to slag people off because they go on holiday with their family and have the "arrogance" to call their mother Mummy ?
To feel agrieved because their name is Arabella and their father is known as Papa?
What is that all about?
Overtly public school?
Would people express the same degree of "me too, can't stand them either" if you had said "overtly pakistani"
I'm not overtly public school, but my daughter seems to have picked up a rather posh accent at school.
Does that give you sufficient reason to slag her off too, and to hate riding a chair with her?
I'd suggest prejudice=prejudice, and it is an ugly thing.
I'm really dissappointed with parts of this thread
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Minx. When you run into a snob and you don't like what they say or do just say "bite me" and when and if they give you a quizzing look say "you know just bite my back bottom"
From the states.
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You know it makes sense.
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Whatever you do - don't go to Zermatt. What a load of rubbish. If you actually ski or snowboard, Zermatt is not for you. If you swank around in designer labels and ski 2 runs a day with a long expensive lunch in between then Zermatt is right up your street. I've been skiing for 20 years and have over 50 weeks of skiing under my belt and I've never been so disappointed in a resort. Zermatt is living on past glories - oh and the fact that there's a pointy mountain at the end of the valley!! It takes an age to get there and it's not even a pretty place - it's grey and dull. We had good snow while we were there but even that didn't make up for it. The lifts are incredibly slow to open and then close if there's the slightest puff of wind. All this means every tourist is skiing in about one quarter of the whole area. Finally if you do ignore my advice and still decide to go then please, please avoid Reihold Perren Sports - they have the most expensive ski hire prices in the world, and that was with 10% off becuase my wife was having ski lessons with the ski school down stairs. The place is one big rip-off. Use the Intersport shop instead. If you this this a rant - you're right! L'Espace Killy is 1000 times better!!!!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Not bad philhitch, 4 posts and all exactly this same rant about Zermatt. Can we expect some variety in the future?
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Poster: A snowHead
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You may have guessed that I want to get the message out there. Zermatt is not for anyone who is into skiing. Zermatt was on my wish list and now I wish I hadn't bothered. What a waste of a precious week. The more people who know about it the better. It's now 2 months since that trip and I still feel stringly enough about it to spend my time putting the message "out there"!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Quote: |
It may even have the opposite effect by winding people (ie me ) up.
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I'm pretty sure it already does.
He dredge up some rather old thread about Zermatt back from Janurary, which had otherwise dropped to the bottom of the page and put it back on top!
So as far as anyone can see, there's lots of interest in Zermatt. So it must be a good place to go! 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Hmmm Rude English knob's. Whilst in Les Arcs at Easter in a mountain restaurant near the VE, I went inside with my ski boots on and very nearly ended up on my back bottom the floor was that slippy (Slippery when wet !!). The next people to go inside were English and I warned them about the floor, his reply (not even looking at me) was "really you don't say".
To mine and my wife's delight this rude arrogant ignorant Knob did end up on his back bottom.
KNOB
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| minx wrote: |
Hmmmmmmm a mixed week in Zermatt, partly good partly bad.
The Hotel ( Butterfly) was fantastic, highly recommended - fabulous food and great, attentive service in the dining room. Bedrooms were a good size. Good location - opposite the Hotel Alex so just off the main street.
Zermatt itself is a beautiful village with some great bars and Hotels. We particularly enjoyed tipples in Potters, The Fireside Bar in the Hotel Pollux - a lovely Pinot Noir, The Lounge bar in The Alex and The Brown Cow - part of the Hotel Post. The Matterhorn is stunning and the scenery all round is breathtaking.
The skiing we were a little dissappointed in. It was very busy 10-20 min minimum waits at most lifts. We also thought it was very difficult to get around and seemed to take an age and was a real faff to get from one area to another. It has never taken us so long to get up a mountain and get skiing. Most of the runs we did were great once on them but there were too many flat and uphill bits on reds - I've never gone uphill or had to pole or skate on a red before  As I say once on a run - great, getting to that run and then to another - not so great. We feel Zermatt has rested on it's laurels - which it can do and if it was mine I'd wipe the slate clean and replan the whole ski area. It takes far too long to get up the mountain from wherever you decide to go from. An example on the last day - left hotel at 8.15am in a taxi to Klein Matterhorn gondola - 3 gondolas up and finally put skis on at 09.35 to ski across to Italy.
The only skiing we were not dissappointed in was Cervinia  we had an absolute blast here. No queues just up, down, up down, up down - you get the idea. Cervinia was great.
Whether we have been spoilt by skiing across the pond on our last 2 trips we could not believe how rude and ill mannered the clientele. Lift queues, bars, hotels it didn't matter where we were but I have never encountered so many self obsessed, self important, arrogant hooray henrys in my life. It seems to attract the worst pompus knobs from every nation. We had to keep ducking from the amount of air kisses going around and if I heard one more 27 year old, 6ft 3" bloke ask his "mummy" if she wanted another glass of champagne I was going to kick shins  I think two of many encounters summed it up. As we were leaving a mountain restaurant a lady barged past me so she could call across to her late 20 something daughter " Arabella darling, do go over to the table and see what Papa has for you". Another woman marching ( well the equivalent on skis) over to a woman we met and were skiing with - she was a timid boarder on her 2nd week and told her that she needed to stick to just one side of the piste as she was getting in her childrens way This all lead to the invention of a new word to describe the clientele - Knobocracy - they weren't aristocracy they were .......
This was all topped off with me having an accident on the first night, which resulted in me missing the 2nd days skiing and my lesson booked with Summitt, living for the next time I could take painkillers and smelling gorgeous as I was plastered with either Radian-B or Ibuprofen sray and a nice 3 hours in Casualty last Wednesday after we got home.
In Summary we had a strange old week, loved it and hated it at the same time |
You are right. The lifts and skibuses in Zermatt absolutely suck. They are overcrowded and slow. They are a disgrace.
But you are wrong about Cervinia. The skiing there is average at best.
And you are wrong about the yah-yahs. They are a civilized bunch who make Zermatt a more pleasant environment.
Your posting smacks of class-envy. That is rarely a good look.
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Welcome to the PC world of Snowheads.
Lets face it there are some very rude people who frequent the mountains and a high proportion of these are British. It makes no difference to me if they are called Rupert or Richard as long as they do not cause offence to other people.
But to compare moffatross to a racist is absolutely absurd, I have shared chairlifts with people who are clearly middle class and have had a pleasant discussion and no class distinction has been made either way. On the other hand there are the "Hoorays" who are an absolute pain whether they are on the piste, in the bars or restaurant's. If you cannot recognize this it more than likely means you are one of them.
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Pros:
+ The most tear-inducingly beautiful scenery I have ever seen.
+ The best, most varied and interesting challenging skiing I have ever experienced.
+ Lovely little town.
+ An awesome lift system with the only "serious" queue all week (this was New Year week...) being about 10-12 minutes for the Kleine Matterhorn cable car. Avoid those stupid rubbish cog trains though obviously.
+ Incredible signposting, literally impossible to get lost on piste.
Cons:
- Staggeringly, disgracefully, expensive.
- Dog-ugly old Russian women in hideous fur coats dribbling over jewellery shop windows all over the place.
- Aformentioned hateful punchable Eton-set clogging the place up with their general air of superior rudeness. Quite a few rude employees of the local service industries too, we noticed.
- Electric taxis nearly silently killing me every 5 minutes or so in town. "Traffic-free village" my arse.
- Dangerously impatient speeding skiers on the resort's tiny handful of blue runs.*
- Cervinia. Which genius chose to build a ski resort where the runs are mainly flat or actually uphill?
Summary:
= Best place I've been. Want to go back, right now.
* In case the gentlemen who told me to 'get out of the middle of the fucking piste" whilst hooning past at 60mph mere centimetres from me is reading this, I had just really badly hurt myself, you twat. Next time try 'are you ok?' or simply say nothing. If I'd been able to get up and catch you, you bastard...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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paulio, top report! Hope you recovered from your fall.
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I'm ok so long as I sit on a rubber ring.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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paulio, oh dear! Get better soon.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| paulio wrote: |
Summary:
= Best place I've been. Want to go back, right now. |
And another snowhead sees the light Funnily enough, I didn't think it was too expensive at all this year, avoid buying spirits in the bars and yer laughing.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Charlatanefc wrote: |
| paulio wrote: |
Summary:
= Best place I've been. Want to go back, right now. |
And another snowhead sees the light Funnily enough, I didn't think it was too expensive at all this year, avoid buying spirits in the bars and yer laughing. |
We ate in, and drank in, all week. The food and drink prices just looked horrendous, even if I adjusted them to a previous x-rate. At today's, they're extortionate.
The lift pass, and ski hire were both eye-wateringly pricey. Plus we drove there and because it's 'traffic free' (i.e. full of traffic) I had to park in Tasch instead because Zermatt is "traffic free" (meaning that it is dangerously full of traffic) which costs a fortune, and makes grocery shopping a real pain (since you have to walk through the "traffic free" town with heavy bags, whilst avoiding being run over by all the traffic).
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Dunno, try an ESOB in VT at 7-8 Euros a pint and it soon balances out The liftpass was a bit OTT, but that was down to the £ rate. Was cheap as chips at 2.30chf's to the £ last xmas.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Colin B, I did half term a few years ago with no appreciable lift queues and did an Easter week last year which was fine. I liked the improved access to Gornergrat. One of my all time favourite resorts and if you want to drink/eat cheaply try the North Wall bar for a pizza and a pint. 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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geepee, Thanks, yes I found the North Wall last year, good place. It will be just me and my 13 year old daughter who won't complain about pizza, etc.
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I think the knobocracy are hilarious - I could watch them for hours. And usually they aren't quite as rich as they make out. I heard a little girl - all of 7 - shrieking at her ski instructor 'But daddy says we're eating in the fondu restaurant.'
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Colin B, My son is 16 and he had pizza most nights over our New Year skiing. I see you live in Peterborough, I lived there for over twenty years in the Longthorpe and South Bretton areas. I still miss Ferry Meadows.
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The good news is that we've got a lads' trip to Zermatt this weekend and have got a great deal on a chalet for a week - half board included.
However, the following is somewhat disconcerting:-
| Quote: |
Cons:
- Staggeringly, disgracefully, expensive.
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Any  s ou there who can advise us what we can expect to pay for a half litre of beer and for food on the mountain? Will we need to take out a mortgage from our Swiss bankers?
I've been to Zermatt a few times in the past but am wondering what current exchange rates will do for our budget....
Thanks in advance.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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We stayed in Cervinia two years ago. We also thought the infrastructure in Zermatt to be disjointed and out-dated. Cervinia, by contrast, was modern and efficient.
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FAQ
Bet 'she' didnt say HI to me !
