Looking for different resort where my wife can go winter hiking

A snowHead

My wife and I have been going to Wengen for a week over Jan/Feb because the skiing is reasonable and my wife (who no longer skis) can go winter hiking on the many groomed paths on the actual mountain,which usually involves walking down from Kleine Scheidegg at 2000 metres to Brandegg, Wengen or Grindelwald, or Mannlichen to Grindlewald, or along a shelf above the valley from Grutschalp to Almenhubel. On all these routes she feels very safe.

However, I would really enjoy a change of scenery and wonder if anyone has any suggestions of resorts with similar mountain walking on safe groomed paths (rather than valley walks) which also has a good extent of reds, blues and easy blacks (I don't go off piste). All suggestions welcome.

A snowHead

I have only walked the Chamonix "balcons" in summer - between lifts, more or less on the same contour, so no nasty knee-destroying walking downhill. Are they groomed in winter? Les Saisies has some good groomed walks but neither the walking, scenery or range of skiing is in the same league/extent as Chamonix. Would snow-shoeing be an option? Lots of trails, and guided walks.

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@DixieDean, I don't know of anywhere which beats the Jungfrau domain for someone who wants to hike rather than ski and still be able to meet up with a skiing partner for lunch and/or apres. That said, my non-skiing partner enjoyed Chamonix BUT used the car quite a lot to get around and find places to walk in the wider region. Many years ago we went to Arosa, which was lovely for easy skiing and walking, but was quite small. I think it's linked to other resorts now, though, so that area might be worth exploring.

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@DixieDean, you might care to look at Ortisei in Val Gardena. There are walking paths on the Alpe di Suisi/Seiser Alm which you reach via a gondola on one side of the town, and on the other side of the town there is the Resciesa funicular which goes up to the Alpe Resciesa where I believe there are also hiking trails.
There's also a gentle walking trail that goes up the valley from Ortisei to St. Christina that follows the route of an old disused narrow gauge railway.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Yes - I've not spent a lot of time in Chamonix but always had a car, winter or summer. There could be some good possibilities up round the St Gervais tramway - worth exploring but I know nothing about them. Lots of St Gervais experts here, with brains just waiting to be picked.

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We had similar and around Kirchberg/Kitzbuhel/St Johann im Tyrol there were some nice valley walks. Train and bus to get around.

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Thanks guys. Will have a look at those suggestions - please keep them coming!!

After all it is free

The great thing about the Chamonix "balcons" is that they're not valley walks - you really do feel up there in the mountains. I guess in some weather they could be pretty gnarly, and probably best not done solo, unless you're very well equipped and experienced. There are good winter walks in Saisies - particularly up towards the Col de Joly (which overlooks Les Contamines). More manageable for somebody not properly into winter mountain walking, never too far from a lift and an escape route. https://en.lessaisies.com/snowshoe-walk-itinerary-les-saisies.html

@pam w, I have tried responding to your suggestion for St Gervais winter walks but each time I press "submit" the dreaded Security Hamster blocks me. I am hoping by reporting it he/she/it might notice and tell me what my error is.

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The Chamonix walks are not really walkable in winter ...

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I was going to say Val cenis also, if you have transport there are a lot of walking/nordic trails a very short distance up the valley too that are really good

You know it makes sense.

[quote="davidof"]

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

I think majority of big ski resorts have some sort of walking routes on resort, often they are marked as snowshoe green routes. The easiest way is to pop in the tourist information center and ask for the advice.

One of most scenery one, is in Cervinia, from Plan Maison, its whole day route just in front of Matterhorn (Cervino). There are also should be a route from Zermatt, about Schwarzsee.

A snowHead

1. St Moritz
2. Aspen
3. Garmisch

In St Moritz, you can hike the snowy forest and frozen lakes.

Plus the Cresta Run. The last (and oldest) natural-ice sled in the world.

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I agree that St Moritz would be ideal. Your wife will spend all your money in resort while you ski! Laughing

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I'd suggest La Rosiere - I think La Ros/La Thuile should be OK for you and there is plenty of walks for the Mrs
https://www.larosiere.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2023_Plan-Rando-La-Rosiere_WEB.pdf

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Consider Zermatt, Switzerland, as an alternative destination. It offers excellent winter hiking on safe groomed paths with breathtaking views of the Matterhorn. Additionally, Zermatt has a wide range of ski runs suitable for all levels, including reds, blues, and easy blacks, providing a perfect balance for both you and your wife's preferences.

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@pam w, the Security Hamster did me the honour of coming out of his hutch and sending me a PM about my attempted post which got blocked. Apparently it was due to the injudicious (but perfectly grammatical) use of a semi-colon!

Anyway, this is the message slightly modified to avoid upset to hamsters:

I'd not ever thought about winter walking off the tramway, but I imagine that if you got off at Col de Voza the walk down to Bionassay village wouldn't be too bad (it is a vehicle track, so may even be cleared). The question is whether walking onwards from Bionassay to the bottom of the valley to access public transport home would work, normally via Champel and La Gruvaz. It is not that high or steep and much of it is forested so there might not be too much lying snow. In fact one route to Champel is a forest track that shouldn't be hazardous, and you could take the road from there down to the bus connection.

The tiny hamlet in the woods where the tramway stops halfway to Col de Voza, Montivon, is somewhere it is certainly possible to walk to in the summer but the hill is pretty steep around there and it might not be fun with snow around.

On the Mont d'Arbois side of the valley (St G ski area) there is an established cross country/snowshoe/walking route which roughly follows the contours from Bettex (top of the gondola out of town). In one direction it goes all the way to St Nicholas (return via navette) and in the other I believe it connects with the Princesse gondola mid-station which would take you to the top of Mont d'Arbois with a walk across to the return gondola into Bettex and St Gervais.

My guess is that all of those would be interesting challenges, and you would need to allow the whole day since walking through snow can be fairly slow. It would wise to be equipped with light crampons just in case, and/or snow-shoes.

One walk which is rather easier - and which we have done at the end of the season when the snow was slushy and we wanted a change from trying to ski - is along the valley bottom from Les Contamines back to St Gervais. Get off the bus at Les Contamines centre and find the path at the back of the car park by the Tourist Office. Alternatively you can do half the walk by taking the La Gruvaz navette from St Gervais to its end-point and walking along the road a couple of hundred metres more to Tresse where there is a lane down to a river bridge where you can join the path which is on the other side at that point.

I think I have seen guided walks advertised in the winter (I think normal walks as well as with snowshoes) but you would have to enquire in the Tourist Office.

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we had a non skier with us in Saalbach in March, they enjoyed daily walks both up and down the main valley as well as along side routes, a number of trails are available on a map in resort - maybe even the piste map, I can't remember

After all it is free

Davos has a large selection of walks.
I think many of them are valley walks though some are up the mountain.
The Davos valley though is high and wide and it feels like you are up in the mountains rather than in the valley bottom.

I'm not sure about remote walks on her own. What if she had a fall. A friend of mine even broke a leg snow-shoeing.
An option might be a resort where you can do walks but also do excursions. Eg from Kitzbuhel, (which has a lovely town centre) to Salzburg for the day (which my wife did).

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@DixieDean, I am aware that you and your wife are regulars in Wengen from your remarks on the Jungfrau thread.
Working on the basis that Swiss prices don't intimidate you it may be worth looking at Adelboden .
I haven't looked into the walking details myself as we both ski and ski tour.
In addition, Adelboden is linked into the Lenk ski area so for yourself there is a very large selection of skiing to explore.
Just thought I would flag it up, Swiss areas don't get huge comment here on Snow heads.

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St Moritz was my first suggestion and I can see many others have already made it. I’d also add in Engelberg

The Baroque monastery at Engelberg is worth a visit.

You know it makes sense.

@DixieDean, When I read the title I thought you wanted a different resort to where you were going to where you could pack your wife off to.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

“we had a non skier with us in Saalbach in March, they enjoyed daily walks both up and down the main valley as well as along side routes, a number of trails are available on a map in resort - maybe even the piste map, I can't remember”

Worth perhaps bearing in mind that the Saalbach ski area has the largest number of gondola cable cars of any resort in the world and offers a cheap walker’s lift pass. It also lends itself to mountain top rendezvous, as there are over 60 good mountain restaurants dotted around the ski area, with one at virtually every bottom, mid-, and top gondola station.

A snowHead

Schladming - Dachstein

A snowHead

Other half walks whilst I ski.

Most limited was Obergurgl.

Saalbach - mostly up and down the valley. So is Mayrhofen but she found that more interesting. Zell am See - she walked round the lake and to Kaprun - all flat. A couple of walks up the mountain. Sella Ronda was pretty good (based in Selva)

Most varied was Lauterbrunnen. Walks up the valley both sides around Murren and Wengen, plus the stunning valley itself. For skiing though, possibly the worst of all the above.

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Another one for looking at Kitzbühel. (Or Kirchberg if you want accomodation a bit cheaper.)
It has about half a dozen mountain top routes. To access them you'd have to use the bus/drive to the relevant lift base. Of these one is on the Kitzbüheler Horn (a smaller side area) and one on the Bichlalm (snow cat served ski route plus single valley blue run). The others are off three of the peaks in the main ski area, so skiing to meet for lunch is perhaps more attractive.

The town itself is well worth a walk round, very pretty and some lovely old buildings (and very expensive shops!). The christmas market is one of the best if you happen to go 22/11/2023 to 26/12/2023.

A good bus service will get you up and down the valley. And the train from the town means a day trip to Salzburg is easily done.

SkiResort.info consistently rates Kitzbühel as the best ski resort in Europe.

But accommodation is probably the most expensive in Austria. Kirchberg a little cheaper.

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SkiWelt is also worth a look - see https://www.skiwelt.at/en/winter-footpaths-accessible-with-skiwelt-lift-operators.html

But you'd likely want a car (or budget for taxis) as bus service between resorts is not good. You can of course ski around to meet for lunch. But the lift bases to access the walking routes are up to 30 min drive apart, though Soll is more central and bussable to a few of the bases.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

@BigJin, so Ellmau to Pass Thurn and back is tricky? Am staying right by main gondola in Ellmau, and it opens at 8. Reckon I can do it… There’s a short bus at bottom of KiWest isn’t there?

Yes there is a 5 minute bus ride at the bottom of KiWest (each way) and they are frequent. There is a planned lift - but no sign of when it might materialise.

Ellmau to Paß Thurn and back is reportedly doable in a day - just. When I did Hopfgarten to PT, we had a 30 min coffee stop and an hour lunchstop. So can see the extra distance to Ellmau would be doable, if going non stop.

If you managed to get as far as Soll, then I think (but double check!) there are busses back to Ellmau.

The furthest point, by road, is the Hollersbach mid station. About 45 mins from Ellmau. So a taxi back won't bust the bank. But busses from there to Kitzbühel would cut the cost. Westendorf would be the longest away without bus help - about 30 minutes.

In a similar vein, if there's an early morning bus to Soll, that would give you a jump start.

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Help!!

Looking for different resort where my wife can go winter hiking

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