 Poster: A snowHead
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Resort: Fiescheralp
Country: Switzerland
Domain: Altesch Arena
Date: 20-21 April 2019 (Easter)
Our holiday: Weekend, end of season getaway.
Website : https://www.aletscharena.ch/en/
Basics : 20 Minutes east of Brig along the Furkastrasse
Lift system : Newish, well run gondolas, chairs and a few T-bars
The terrain : Pistes came down from the top ridge (2890m) to the resorts (around 2200m)
The snow : Beautiful corn snow.
Off-piste : Untracked between the pistes, lovely in the PM after the crust had gone.
The resort : 6 Hotels a few chalets restaurants and bars ( no ATM)
Food : We ate at the Jungfrau - Great food 140CHF for 2 pax.
Accommodation : We stayed at the Jungfrau, super friendly staff, very relaxed and helpful. Nice Sauna, good breakfast including chocolate bunnies.
Costs: Hotel CHF180 per night, lift pas free with PdS Season Pass.
Conclusion: Great place for a weekend.
Now going off-piste:
Just got back from a great 2 days in the Altesch Arena ski area.
The top of the lift system offers amazing 360 views, with the Rhone valley one way, the Altesch glacier, Jungfrau, Eiger, Monch the other way, and the Matterhorn across the way.
SATURDAY
We parked in the 250 place car park below the Eiggishorn cableway, and paid CHF14 for 2 days. (Only 1 of the machines takes cards, and its the one nearest the short stay car park).
The staff in the Cableway exchanged our vouchers for lift passes and we paid CHF2.5 for the rechargeable cards. They spoke Swiss German and a bit of English, but NO French.
It always amazes me that they have 2 languages in the same canton (Valais) French from Morgins - Sierre, then German thereafter, with most people refusing to speak the other.
The hotel was less than 5 minutes walk from the top of the cableway. You can rent carts to carry your stuff, but we just had a board bag each, so did nor bother.
The check in was the most informal ever - we went into the bar as there was nobody in reception, and the lady just said "You key is hanging up in reception, breakfast is between 8 & 10" ( it was the only key there). That was that.
The room was lovely and warm with a balcony that looked over the piste and terrace, and into the evening sun.
All of the runs are above the tree line, so you can see the whole area pretty well.
We took the drag right by the hotel, then a chair, then the cablecar to the top station (2890m).
There is a little restaurant at the top with a nice terrace, but they do not take cards, so bring cash.
The run from the top is a gentle black run, starting with a road with a couple of hairpins ( not steep, but about 5m across), this then winds to a ridge and a safety fence appears on each side of the ridge.
As there is a short steep schuss then a longer road, and as we were on boards and don't like walking, we just went from the top, but on skis you can take a more measured approach.
After a short pitch, this feeds into the main resort runs.
All the runs were well groomed, with great corn snow, and plenty of bits to go at between the pistes.
There was a small boarder-x, and a video run but no park.
We did all the stuff in Fiescheralp that afternoon, and planned to "do the whole domain" the following day.
SUNDAY
We paid CHF5 for a locker at the Eiggishorn cableway for our non boarding stuff so we could leave the hotel ( although the hotel were fine with us leaving it in the ski room). The locker had heated boot warmers (2 pairs) in it, which I though was pretty neat.
We started by going to the extreme eastern end of the lift system, which is only 1 run from the middle of Fiescheralp.
We then worked our way across towards Bettmeralp ( lots of lifts and runs). From here we took the Bettmerhorn up to the viewpoint at 2647m, and took the high piste to the other side of Betmeralp, and down the the village. This run has some uphill bits so is easiest on skis, but they are pretty short and not to bad, but you do need to unclip.
From here we took the Blausee and then the Hohfluh up to another observation point (2227m). The pistes were empty with good snow all the way across to Western most installation, the Riederfurka.
The small village of Riederalp was charming and unfussy.
On the way back we went via the Moosfluh (2333m), and there was and decent park below this in Bettmeralp, which was also hosting a waterslide competition next to the main lifts in the village ( where there is an ATM).
The only downside was that the tunnel run was closed at the top of the Bettmerhorn which we were going to ride on the way back across, so instead took some lower routes.
To go across and back took about 4 hours, even with walking and the like.
While some of the smaller lifts closed at the end of Sunday, the larger ones are running for another week, so if you have a PdS season pass, and fancy another day or two this season, it's not too late for some free skiing.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Great report
One of my favourite Swiss areas
More of a family place so loads of untracked off-piste after a dump
Amazing scenery
Would recommend staying down the valley in Fiesch for cheaper prices and an authenic Swiss village ambience
Fiesch/Fiescheralp best of the 3 resorts IMHO
Couple of pointers for the record -
The valley run back to Fiesch is narrow and bumpy so take the next one along down from Bettmeralp if needed
As mentioned the link from Bettermeralp back to Fiesch is tenuous i.e. very flat or uphill in places
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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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Great TR
Had three great days in the area 2 seasons ago - 2 out of Aletsch Arena and 1 at Belalp.
Belalp, although smaller, was our favourite.
Out of interest the food covered what please? All your food for your stay?
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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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@Mike Pow,
The 140CHF was the evening meal:
2 beers
1 bottle of wine (CHF50)
2 starters, mains and desserts
breakfast was included in the CHF180 room fee.
(Lunch eats into boarding time)
Pretty reasonable for Switzerland.
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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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Unless there is some odd local dialect you might want to check your spelling....
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Mike Pow, yeah loved Belalp too. Big vert and great off-piste all the way down to Blatten. Just a shame about those prices!
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| WindOfChange wrote: |
@Mike Pow,
The 140CHF was the evening meal:
2 beers
1 bottle of wine (CHF50)
2 starters, mains and desserts
breakfast was included in the CHF180 room fee.
(Lunch eats into boarding time)
Pretty reasonable for Switzerland. |
Yeah that is pretty good
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| hd wrote: |
| @Mike Pow, yeah loved Belalp too. Big vert and great off-piste all the way down to Blatten. Just a shame about those prices! |
The tunnel run is magic.
We stayed in Brig which wasn't a killer.
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FAQ
