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Looking for a dummies guide to Switzerland skiing

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Helloooo. I'm looking to learn about Switzerland. I'm planning a trip in 2024. Went to Saalbach last year, going to Val Thorens in '23, previously adored the Italian Dolomites and Whistler. We love skiing.
Anyway, we've never been to Switzerland and I don't know where to start!

I'm extremely aware it's going to be very expensive. We're planning so far off as that's our first year mortgage free Laughing
Anyway, two singles, not interested in partying hard. We get up early, we ski, we eat, wander around a bit and sleep. We like a little bit of off piste as well as a lot of groomed pistes and some bumps too. Eating out is preferable to self catering. Hotels are good. The Four Seasons is not.

I know nothing about anything Swiss to if you can point me in any useful directions I would be v grateful.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
What month are you going?

Switzerland doesn't have to be expensive.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Can be flexible, usually go around end of Feb
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It is expensive. Even if you’re used to London prices. And the exchange rate is punchy.

However, it is also brilliant and offers so many great skiing experiences. How long do you want to go for?One place only? Drive/fly/train?
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Around a week, we like exploring by ski while staying in the same accommodation. Well probably fly.
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Wengen/ Grindelwald would tick alot of your boxes. Easy train from Geneva or Zurich.

I also really like Lenzerheide and AletschArena is a hidden (to Brits) gem.
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Late Feb I'd go to Wengen.

Also consider self-catering to keep costs down: you can always eat out in evening if you can't be bothered to cook.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
I've only skied in one Swiss resort- Zermatt. It is extremely scenic, has fantastic restaurants and the lift system is now much improved. It is also very expensive. I found it very amusing that a single merchant banker who lives in Kensington (the posh one in London, not the scuzzy one in Liverpool) in his mid fifties thought it was expensive. I last went in early January 2022. The skiing wasn't as good as I'd hoped- but that was due to the snow conditions. On the icy side of very hard and off piste / ungroomed runs not possible / open.

We've visited lots of Switzerland in the summer and also stayed in Saas Fee. Switzerland is as a whole very expensive. Anything that involves a human will cost a lot of money, they pay high wages to everyone. Quality is almost always somewhere between very very good and excellent, value perhaps less so- but it just depends on how much do don't mind parting with your cash!

I'd certainly recommend Zermatt but on the understanding that it is very very expensive. Saas Fee is a pretty village- I think it is very cold early season. I'd love to visit Wengen / Murren and the Val d'Annivers looks interesting.

Have fun.
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Thank you, I will look into your suggestions.

Do you have any suggestions for finding accommodation? I only know Crystal and Inghams but there might be more independently owned places i'm missing out on this way?
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Zermatt is only expensive if you like to eat out a lot or stay in fancy hotels.
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Saas Fee - Hotel Allalin.

I was there in 1972 and loved it.....which gives little idea of what it's like now.....but I'll throw it into the mix anyway.

If there is a ski instructor there with the surname Lomatter - he will likely be related to Peter Lomatter, who supervised my first tentative efforts.

Happy Days.
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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.
HilbertSpace wrote:
Zermatt is only expensive if you like to eat out a lot or stay in fancy hotels.

I do like both of those things.
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Check out the reviews for Swiss resorts here: https://welove2ski.com/ski-resorts
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
bobcat wrote:
Thank you, I will look into your suggestions.

Do you have any suggestions for finding accommodation? I only know Crystal and Inghams but there might be more independently owned places i'm missing out on this way?


If you should go to Wengen I can recommend the hotel Edelweiss, I've stayed there for the last few years (I'm a Wengen regular) and it's good value for Switzerland. Their prices start from CHF90 per person per night including breakfast, and they offer the option of a good 4 course evening meal for CHF35 extra, which is much cheaper than a comparable meal eating out. Easy to book direct with them.

Travel wise I usually either fly with Swiss to Zurich, or Easyjet to Basel. From either airport you can then travel on to Wengen by train, the best ticket to get is the SBB Saver Day Pass. You can buy the Saver Day Pass from 60 days before the date of travel, it gets more expensive the closer you get to the travel date. It's totally flexible for travel on the rail network anytime during that day, so you're not tied to any particular time train should your flight be delayed etc. There is a somewhat cheaper Supersaver ticket available but that's only valid for the particular time train you book, so I prefer the flexibility of the Saver Day Pass. If you fly into Basel then the Saver day Pass also covers you for the bus ride from Basel airport to Basel main train station (Zurich airport has its own train station). From Basel there's usually a direct train that goes all the way to Interlaken Ost, if you fly into Zurich then you have to change trains at Bern to get to Interlaken Ost. From Interlaken Ost you change trains to Lauterbrunnen where you again change on to the final mountain train up to Wengen.


Last edited by You know it makes sense. on Sat 15-10-22 6:41; edited 2 times in total
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Alastair Pink wrote:
bobcat wrote:
Thank you, I will look into your suggestions.

Do you have any suggestions for finding accommodation? I only know Crystal and Inghams but there might be more independently owned places i'm missing out on this way?


If you should go to Wengen I can recommend the hotel Edelweiss, I've stayed there for the last few years (I'm a Wengen regular) and it's good value for Switzerland. Their prices start from CHF90 per person per night including breakfast, and they offer the option of a good 4 course evening meal for CHF35 extra, which is much cheaper than a comparable meal eating out.


Wengen and surrounds is a must ski area of Switzerland.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
bobcat wrote:
Thank you, I will look into your suggestions.

Do you have any suggestions for finding accommodation? I only know Crystal and Inghams but there might be more independently owned places i'm missing out on this way?

Every resort will have a tourist office where the hotels are listed.
Accommodation is very easy to find without using tour operators.
Many tourist offices have a request search where you put in your requirements of dates and numbers of people and the hotels email you with availability.
If you are in any way budget conscious and are staying in a hotel go for the half board option.
Eating out tends to be very pricey, half board is usually a (relative) bargain.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Problem with Ch is the enormous spectrum the resorts and skiing cover.
St Moritz at one end to Habkern at the other. Don't even look at Habkern.
A unfashionable town which is certainly worth a look at is Zweisimmen. This is a small town which is primarily agriculture and timber industry, naturally there is a good selection of trains as well.
The gondola from town takes you onto some good terrain then the links run across into the Gstaad region! The greater Gstaad area is fragmented so the outliers have to be accessed using bus and train.
Heading from Zweis' on the local train you can get down to Lenk in around 10 mins.
The main LenkAdelboden area is vast with great variety of skiing and some fabulous scenery.
Options in Switzerland are endless, have fun with the research and always come back with resort specific questions.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
bobcat wrote:
Thank you, I will look into your suggestions.

Do you have any suggestions for finding accommodation? I only know Crystal and Inghams but there might be more independently owned places i'm missing out on this way?


Good range of places available here https://www.interhome.ch/en/switzerland/ obviously not tied to any hospitality, meaning you've free choice to eat anywhere as you wish. It can offer really good balance of costs between accommodation and eating out.
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T Bar wrote:

Every resort will have a tourist office where the hotels are listed.
Accommodation is very easy to find without using tour operators.
Many tourist offices have a request search where you put in your requirements of dates and numbers of people and the hotels email you with availability.
If you are in any way budget conscious and are staying in a hotel go for the half board option.
Eating out tends to be very pricey, half board is usually a (relative) bargain.


Thank you! I don't know why I didn't know about going to the tourist office but it feels like something I definitely needed to know as a basic ski life skill!
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@bobcat The official Swiss Tourism website MySwitzerland.com may be worth browsing through, to survey some of the candidate resorts. The site also often has special offers. Sometimes, these combine accommodation and ski passes. You can also order paper brochures for your coffee table, while you wait for the holiday to arrive (or download the digital version). The official Swiss railway website SBB.ch also has holidays and offers.

A lot of people are put off Switzerland by a general feeling that it's expensive. Well, so is Courcheval 1850 or Vail (we've skied both, which were more expensive than our New Year week in a hotel in Verbier). But if you give some thought to booking your holiday, and are aware, then you can avoid getting caught out. Of course, the recent devaluation of the £GBP against the CHF won't help, but it's dropped against the $USD and €, so any mountain ski holiday is going to be more expensive than staying at home.

As with other Alpine countries, if you're on a budget then it's worth considering 'satellite' resorts - places linked by lifts and pistes to a better-known 'hub' but costing less for accommodation. Obviously, the price you pay is that you aren't in the hub, but that's the trade-off. Here's a Swiss example from an old Guardian winter article 'Satellite Ski Resorts - how to get Verbier snow for half the dough' (I'll declare an interest here - the satellite described is where we have our own apartment: this is just an example).

Generally, car hire is looking expensive everywhere at the moment. So I think it's useful to have at least one candidate resort where you can get there easily by public transport from Geneva or Zurich. EVen if it's just to compare costs against other options. The SBB website also has a travel planner where you can test out accessibility by public transport (for Geneva airport, set from as 'Genève-Aéroport'). For both our upcoming trips to the 4 Vallées in December and January, we're getting an SBB Saver Day Pass for CHF 52 each way, versus a rental car from GVA. A resort like Verbier is arguably actually easier overall by public transport versus driving a hire car.

As mentioned by T_Bar, when we stayed in Verbier in a hotel we went for as much all-inclusive as possible. Subsequently, for all our holidays we've gone self-catered - as much for the extra space and flexibility of an apartment as the lower cost. As a guideline, our 68m² 2-bedroom apartment in a satellite of Verbier costs € 733 to € 1,456 a week outside the school holidays (€ 1,751). This comes with an underground parking space and electricity and heating inclusive and a coin-operated washer/dryer and sauna in the basement. You may never cook or reheat a meal in your apartment but compared to a suite of the same size in a hotel it's vastly cheaper, especially if you plan to go out to eat most evenings anyway.

If you're absolutely certain about a hotel, then choose a resort and just look at some websites for typical costs, and perhaps contact the resort TOurism Office with your requirements and let them do all the work. Here are the links to the TO for our satellite of La Tzoumaz and its hub, Verbier.
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Zweisimmen would be good. Quite a low area, just over 2000m, so probably best by late Feb. But Glacier 3000 close. A fun ski safari along the valley to Rougemont and back on the train. Gstaad immaculate corduroy but many just sat in the sun looking very rich.
Lauterbrunnen with easy access to Muerren, Wengen and Grindelwald on normal lift pass inc local buses and assorted trains - compare that with Tasch - Zermatt train!!
Anywhere with a campsite as the campsite restaurant will probably be good value. Camping Jungfrau restaurant in L is.
Actual food/drink shopping is not too bad and the overall shopping basket is not that different to UK. Eating out is often a different ball park.
Tourist offices helpful.
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I’m not a big fan of Wengen. The “lift” system, aka trains, are amusing but rather inefficient. That said, the scenery is outstanding and the skiing is good. And of course, the chocolate box pretty villages.

I’ve only been to one other Swiss resort, St Moritz. The town itself is a bit of a let down in terms of “chocolate box” appeal. But many of the satellite villages fits that bill. On the flip side, walking around town is interesting as it’s steep in ski history. Half board hotel with ski pass package are quite typical offering from many hotels.

The skiing is unlike France. It consist of 3 separate areas. You can theoretically ski from one to the other but the connection is again inefficient so I quickly figured out it’s best to stick to one or the other sector for a given day. That seems to be very typical of Swiss ski resorts, separate sectors of skiing with very basic (aka slow) connection to get you to a section in the morning, stay there for the day and then get back to your lodging at the end of the day. Not so much to ski back and forth between sectors.

The part I like the most about St Moritz is the off-piste skiing. There’s a ‘ski route’ that winds its way down the glacier and ends at a cafe at a train station! Many other pretty obvious in-between piste opportunities too. Also some decent skiing below the tree lines for white out days.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
I have skied St Moritz, Zermatt, Verbier, Flims, been to a few other resorts but not skied. (due to weather)

If you are not going out drinking in the evenings then you will not find it that expensive. I have stayed in Hi hostel in Zermatt, which was good, warm, cheap, quiet and friendly (not for people who want to party in the evenings).

I would probably return to Zermatt or Verbier if it was my choice alone. I could compromise on St Moritz and Flims if I was going with a less experienced skier.

For me, I would probably opt for Verbier for the skiing. You just have to suck it up and pay for the lift pass, but for the rest you can make cut backs. Little Angel

If you only ski on blue sky days, you could only pay for lift passes on the day or afternoon/morning you ski. This works out more expensive if you are going to ski in bad weather because you are only there for a week. (in which case get a weeks pass)
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abc wrote:
I’m not a big fan of Wengen. The “lift” system, aka trains, are amusing but rather inefficient. That said, the scenery is outstanding and the skiing is good. And of course, the chocolate box pretty villages.


Apart from the trains up to Kleine Scheidegg area with its several lifts there is of course the cable car that takes you straight from the centre of Wengen up to the Männlichen ski area with its lifts.
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Alastair Pink wrote:
abc wrote:
I’m not a big fan of Wengen. The “lift” system, aka trains, are amusing but rather inefficient. That said, the scenery is outstanding and the skiing is good. And of course, the chocolate box pretty villages.


Apart from the trains up to Kleine Scheidegg area with its several lifts there is of course the cable car that takes you straight from the centre of Wengen up to the Männlichen ski area with its lifts.


And of course it's just a train ride or a couple of cable cars to get up to Murren. I've actually done that as a day trip from Grindelwald with ski club groups on more than one occasion, and even from there it gets you a decent days skiing. Need to get everyone organised for an early start, but from Wengen you don't even need to do that.
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If you’ve been to Whistler And the 3V I doubt Switzerland will be significantly more expensive.

Even in Verbier, arguably the best ski resort in the world for good skiers, it’s possible to eat out relatively cheaply.

My kids get a crepe at the Dahu self for 8chf and the water is free. A ham and salad roll is similar, burger and cups probably 15-20chf.

Happy hour beers in the Pub Mont 4chf for a pint and 15chf for a massive plate of nachos and toppings or burger.

Beer/wine in the supermarket no different to UK prices.

Lots of hotels to choose from, from pretty reasonable to the W or the Lodge. Also check airbnb fir apartments.

But everyone gets the same lifts and skis the same powder, however much money you spend!

If you’re interested try Hotel Bristol in Verbier or budget option is Una lodge in Le Châble.
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Picking up on St Mortiz I can highly recommend the youth hostel there, bus stops right outside, the public areas are very nice, the private rooms are good, the shared accommodation is what you would expect from a youth hostel, the food wasn't bad either.

Have skied Gstaad as well nice village though teh skiing areas are a bit spread out, nice train ride from Geneva very picturesque, the hotel we used has changed to the Huus Hotel Gstaad, the old hotel would lay on shuttle busses to the various ski areas.

Davos have also skied Davos which has two good ski areas and a bit of off piste, the town isn't very attractive.
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radar wrote:


Davos have also skied Davos which has two good ski areas and a bit of off piste, the town isn't very attractive.

Town not the most attractive but the valley is very attractive with plenty going on.
Klosters accesses the same skiing and is a bit prettier.
Neither place is cheap though.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Alastair Pink wrote:
abc wrote:
I’m not a big fan of Wengen. The “lift” system, aka trains, are amusing but rather inefficient. That said, the scenery is outstanding and the skiing is good. And of course, the chocolate box pretty villages.


Apart from the trains up to Kleine Scheidegg area with its several lifts there is of course the cable car that takes you straight from the centre of Wengen up to the Männlichen ski area with its lifts.

But that’s just it, the area above Manlichen can’t be “lapped” as the train only comes every half an hour.

It really is 3 disjointed ski areas, 1st, Manlichen, Murren. Better to stick to one or the other. They don’t connect well. Same as St Moritz. Hence my impression of Swiss ski “resorts” being thinly linked collection of small’ish individual resort.

I have no problem with that setup. But someone who mostly ski in France may find it frustrating.


Last edited by You know it makes sense. on Sat 15-10-22 23:41; edited 1 time in total
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Missed Verbier, did it with the Warren Smith Academy, we stayed in a Chalet with Powder White , the hotel used by the academy is La Rotonde good value three star https://www.kvhotels.com/en/hotels/hotel-la-rotonde.html.

Reasonably linked area, plenty of challenges on and off piste, you can get there by train from Geneva and then the cable car ups
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 Poster: A snowHead
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@bobcat,
otp.co.uk
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Try booking.com
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We went skiing in La Tzoumaz/Verbier (4 valleys) last February half term and found these ski resorts very affordable. Lift passes in February this year were £826 for our family of 5 for the whole Verbier ski area. This is much less than a lift pass for the 3V, which is about £1225 for our family this year. We found eating in the mountain restaurants in both La Tzoumaz and Verbier surprisingly affordable. The only thing we found expensive was ski hire and ski school in La Tzoumaz.
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For accommodation searches try airbnb as well as booking.com for independent chalets and apartments like us. Tourist offices who carry rental listings in Switzerland don't always work well with small operators except for those who are happy to let the TO completely control everything (i.e. the calendar isn't synced with your own central one) so I'm sure there are a lot of people like us who don't want to pay extra for the privilege. And in general those who are on Tourist Office or another central rental agency tend to be more the bog standard, apartment-block, completely managed types, rather than more attractive and cared-for places with their own USP.

Well, that's how we see it anyway snowHead
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@Chaletbeauroc, nice pitch wink and I fully agree. Over my dead body would our TO have control of who stays at our place.
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Thank you! I'll spend some happy browsing time on your suggestions now. Very Happy
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BobinCH wrote:

My kids get a crepe at the Dahu self for 8chf and the water is free. A ham and salad roll is similar, burger and cups probably 15-20chf.
Happy hour beers in the Pub Mont 4chf for a pint and 15chf for a massive plate of nachos and toppings or burger


If you get paid in CHF that is a bargain.
It is also basically the same price as when I lived in CH (some 14 years ago now!).

Today's exchange rate is 1.1CHF to £1.
Translate those prices into £ (£8 for a crepe / £15 for a burger / £4 a pint) and its no longer such great value.
Particularly as you wont find anything cheaper...

So I would agree : Switzerland not necessarily "expensive".
However the British-peso won't go far these days...
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
re: Switzerland...
IMHO: its the best country in Europe for skiing.
In terms of terrain, snow, scenery and mountain towns / culture.

The big resorts (Verbier, Zermatt, Engelberg, Arosa Lenzerheide etc) are pretty well known.
All of them an entirely different experience to the big "ski-factory" resorts in French Taranteise.
Though some of the best skiing is found by venturing off the beaten track just a little.
Switzerland a country full of hidden gems and small / medium size stations.
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@Haggis_Trap, Point of order: While I love Engelberg, having lived there for ten years, in no way can it be described as big.

There's loads of epic off piste terrain, sure, but by numbers of lifts and km of piste it's tiny. One of the reasons we moved away to be honest. We'd often wait till late morning to go out skiing if there were queues (before the new lift up to Stand was built - our apartment was just 200m from they lift station so we could see it from our window) and still ski the whole area before lunch.

Not knocking it, and it's great that it seems much more on the map these days, just don't want anyone going there under false expectations of size.
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Just to contribute a data point here, my son and I went to Verbier a couple of seasons ago in late December. We got in 9 days of skiing for right around £100 per person per day, including absolutely everything. It was one of the least expensive ski trips I've ever taken. We did that by staying in Siviez (a really easy lift and gondola up to Verbier and a beautiful ski back down), self-catering in a relatively basic apartment, and booking early with flights. We even got in 2 days of private lessons with a Warren Smith instructor for that price. We had an absolute blast, I completely see the appeal of Verbier.

We've also had a very inexpensive 12-day skiing holiday in mid-February in Arosa-Lenzerheide, that one was about £115 per person per day. Again, just incredibly beautiful and fun, I'd go again in a heartbeat. Beautiful villages and farms around there too.

I know that Switzerland can be exceptionally expensive, but it doesn't have to be. Flights are usually very affordable, train fares are very reasonable given their speed and reliability, lift tickets are sometimes cheaper than the equivalent French resorts. We've certainly spent more in the 3 Valleys and Tignes.
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