Verbier questions

A snowHead

First time to Verbier next February. Quite excited as it has been a bucket list ski destination for a while.

Some questions for those who are seasoned Verbier visitors:

- We will be staying in a hotel that is about 10mins by foot from the Medran lift. The hotel is right next to the bus stop, so that is an easy option. However, are there public storage lockers at or around the lift base? I have in mid to walking to the lift in soft shoes (carrying kit), then leaving the soft shoes in a locker for the day.

- Any recommended apres bars at or around the lift base, or between the Medran base and what looks like the big roundabout in the centre of town?

- Any recommended lunch spots in the 4V area? I assume it is French style small-ish mountain restaurants rather than self service places.

- I will have some beginners/early intermediates in my group. I've been recommended to start them in the area between Attelas and La Chaux. If the snow is good, is the area down to Les Ruinettes and them to Carrefour reasonable for that level of skier?

- To give me a sense of scale, how wide is the 4V (from say Les Masses to Le Chable) compared to say one edge of Vd'I/Tignes to the other, or one side of the 3V to the other?

TIA

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

All good advice above, to which I would add
2- farinet apres ski for live music and dancing on the tables or Fer a Cheval for a cosier apres beer
3- Chez Simon and Marmottes on the savolyeres side
4- Savolyeres for the more timid or newer skiers is quieter and gentler, plus has trees if weather comes in.
5- area may be similar size but a lot less pistes than espace killy, the gems are in between! wink

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Thanks both - this is all vv useful. Time to start studying the map!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Here’s a topographically correct plan map of the 4 Vallées that I’ve done for clients. Definitely not meant for use as a piste map but more orientation for main locations in the area, alongside the piste map.

Regulars on here won’t be surprised that I give a +1 to the buvette Chez Simon on the La Tzoumaz side of the Savoleyres sector (see map).

Where I can recommend the vin chaud and tarte aux pommes as the best I’ve had at any resort:

Finally, how do you plan to get to/from Verbier? If you’re flying into Geneva, the train and télépherique connection is excellent and arguably easier than driving and parking. An SBB Saver Day Pass bought in advance is CHF 52 adult and covers almost all public transport travel for the nominated day, including trains, téphériques and PostBus routes. The public transport gondola that connects the Le Chable train station with Médran runs approx 7am to 11pm. Journey time is 2h31m airport to Médran, and trains run at least once an hour, sometimes more often.

You'll need to Register first of course.

@LaForet, Great map. May I compliment you on your cartography

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

Thanks, it took some time to lay out from the proper topological map but not make too cluttered, which is why I gave up putting in the contours, and just showed the top of the pistes in lighter blue. I would like to have included the Brunson zone but it just doesn’t fit in well even in landscape format. I’m not a fan of perspective maps: they work well if everything faces the viewpoint but they can dreadfully foreshorten slopes that face away (like the runs from Savoleyres towards Carrefour on the official piste map).

After all it is free

That map looks brilliant - thank you.

I am in a small group going for a time-pressed long weekend, so we have booked private transfers using alpinefleet.

@greg66 Ah right, I understand the preference for a fast private transfer. But just a tip if your group are arriving on different flights: if someone is severely delayed, being in Verbier means everyone who has arrived can just take the transfer, and the later person can easily follow on the train/gondola. I was in a group where all but one had arrived and the transfer bus was ready, and we had to wait 4½ hours for the last person to arrive, which is really annoying. If we'd been in Verbier, he could just have followed on later (as long as it's before 11pm when you get to Le Chable).

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@LaForet, the best Tarte au Pommes in any resort?

You are under selling it!

It's The Best, there is none better anywhere at all.

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For the train/télépherique timetable go to the SBB timetable and make your ‘from’ Genève-Aéroport and your ‘To’ Verbier, Médran and the date and time.

You may find the last connection is relatively early in the evening, and in that case make the destination Martigny, gare, nearby in the valley. A badly delayed traveller might then have to get a taxi up to Verbier from Martigny, which is the largest town near to Verbier. They may find that a journey outside town will be a fixed price, although like anywhere, not cheap. Worst case scenario, if it’s really late would be to stay in a cheap hotel near Martigny station and come up first thing next morning (short train hop to Le Chable, then the télépherique up from the station to Médran).

Based in my experience, I’d agree beforehand about just how long you’re prepared to wait for a delayed flight. And give everyone the logistics of where the SBB station is inside GVA, and what ticket and destination they need to get. And where the taxi rank is outside Martigny Station. And perhaps the name of a couple of hotels near to the station in Martigny. Then everyone knows where they stand, and what to do if they are going to be seriously late.

Lots of great advice here!

I have been in a similar situation with beginners/intermediates and just wanted to reiterate what @gilo said: la Tzoumaz is a really good spot for a group like this. You might discount it initially since it's a bus ride from where you will be. And the lift up is an antiquity. But it's way quieter than Verbier, and the pistes are mostly broader. It's north facing so there's good and bad with that. But well worth a go!

To your last question, comparing to e.g the 3V in terms of size (I live in Verbier but spend a lot of time in the 3V): when you come to Verbier from e.g. the 3V, you need to reset your expectations. The Verbier area is big, but it's not well connected. In the 3V, the areas are connected from the summits. So you don't even "think" to go from one area to the other, especially if you are in Meribel. It's just one giant (like... giant) area.
In Verbier, going from one place to the other can be a bit of a pain and you need to "commit" to it Smile

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That means, quite frankly, the incentive to go to other places (besides La Tzoumaz, and Bruson when the weather is bad) is limited. I know a lot of folks who *live* in Verbier and have never been to the other areas Smile

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But here is the thing: it's totally ok. Exactly like @gilo said again: the gems are in between! But it's well worth getting help from local folks to find these gems. They are off piste and not always easy to find (and they can be dangerous).

It took me one season to figure this out Very Happy

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If you can, book a guide one day. It will completely change how you see this place.

And to be clear: I am not saying it's worse / better than e.g. the 3V. It's just different, really!

You know it makes sense.

With regard to the sectors in my map, I’d say that if your’e Verbier-based, on a short stay, then consider limiting yourselves to Sector #1 (Verbier + Savoleyres/La Tzoumaz) and Sector #2 (Siviez, Combatzeline and Plan du Fou). In my personal opinion, it’s not worth taking the time needed to get out/back to the satellite areas of Nendaz (#3) and Veysonnaz/Thyon (#4) unless you’re theyre for a week+. And this would be for an intermediate - for novices I’d probably say, as above, that they might quite like #1 as it’s usually quieter and more gentle, and all the routes on the northern side end up at La Tzoumaz:

where there’s a fast modern gondola up to Savoleyres, and if people are skied-out or the weather turns bad, they can just hop on the old gondola down back into Verbier.

The view from the Savoleyres café:

In the Verbier sector, one of my favourite stops is at the Cabin du Mont Fort (below) on the run from the eponymous glacier at the Col des Gentianes down to Le Chable. But this is an intermediate/expert run, as the initial section is pretty steep.

You can in fact stay here overnight but need to book and demand is, as you might expect, high. The building on the right, in the middle distance is the Jumbo lift station, from Le Chable up to the Col des Gentianes. The big gondola itself can be seen in the photo’, to the right and below the flag.

Apps

You might pre-load you mobile with some relevant stuff before you go. I find the MetéoSwiss app the most accurate for Swiss local weather forecasts. You can sign-up for alerts and set it up for the Verbier forecast. The radar forecast (‘Animations’) can be particularly useful in showing approaching snowstorms.

Set up the Verbier Webcams on your browser. This lets you see what conditions are like higher up. There’s often a temperature inversion in the mountains, where it’s cloudy lower down but bright sunshine up on the slopes. Cloud can also be very localised e.g. the bowl Verbier’s in might be cloudy but the La Tzoumaz north slopes sunny and clear etc.

The SBB app for the trains/télépheriques/PostBuses might be useful if anyone is delayed and wants timetable info.

Help!!

Verbier questions

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