 Poster: A snowHead
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Hello Snowheads!
Yank here ready to make another trip across the pond. I have gotten very good information here for two previous trips (Val d'Isere in 2017 and Dolomiti Superski in 2022) so I am back for more!
I am thinking the Jungfau the first week of February. I have never ever skied in Switzerland, just looking to cruise the pistes, and I hear the scenery is among the best. Airfares are a bit lower that usual, I found affordable lodging in Lauterbrunnen, I can ride the steepest cable car in the world and take a train to the Top of Europe! Well, not really, it is 3456m but looks like a neat experience.
According to the Schilthorn 20xx Project website, the Birg - Schilthorn cable car is in the process of being removed and the first track of the new Funifor is scheduled to open in March of 2025. For Murren - Birg, only one track of the new Funifor will operate this season, the second track is scheduled to open in November 2025. Does these dates look correct?
What am I missing without access to Piz Gloria? I do like James Bond, I am sure the museum is interesting, but that movie was made in 1969! And it looks like there is just a single black piste from the top.
Do I need to be concerned about only one track running between Murren and Birg? Certainly with Birg - Schilthorn not running this will see less traffic, but will it be enough less to prevent big queues?
Last question for today: is sledging fun or just a way for this old guy to hurt himself?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@blueroom, welcome to SH.
I've done it this February and the views are amazing, felt nicer than Zermatt to me from this aspect.
Can you switch to an accommodation in Wengen or in the next valley, Grindelwald?
I reckon it would cost more but your access to the most interesting slopes is much better.
And also to the sledging part which was clean fun and nothing too daring.
Jungfraujoch has nice views on sunny days but it's a novelty, skiing from Kleine Scheidegg under the Eiger was more impressive in my opinion
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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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@blueroom, you stay with Lauterbrunnen, the best Snowheads live there in the winter!
Schilthorn is terrific however its closure this winter will not detract from the overall experience of the region.
Regarding the sledging you need to talk to Tom_Short, a fellow American Snowheads who is extremely qualified to answer your enquiry.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@blueroom, nothing wrong with staying in Lauterbrunnen, I've done that several times, both on my own and with friends sharing an apartment. OK you don't get onto the slopes quite as quickly as if you were actually staying in Wengen or Mürren, but as it's midway between the two ski areas you have the flexibility of easily choosing which area you will ski on a particular day. From Lauterbrunnen station the train up to Wengen goes every 30 mins and takes about 12 minutes to reach Wengen. You can then either get off the train and take the cable car from Wengen up to Männlichen, or stay on the train up to Kleine Scheidegg.
From Lauterbrunnen there's two ways to get to the Mürren ski slopes. Quickest is to take the cable car from Lauterbrunnen (it's opposite the train station) up to Grütschalp where a connecting train meets you and goes as far as Mürren but most skiers get off at the intermediate stop at Winteregg where there's a chairlift that takes you into the ski area. Again the cable car goes every 30 minutes and the combined cable car and train journey Lauterbrunnen to Winteregg takes 14 minutes.
Alternatively you can take the skibus from Lauterbrunnen to Stechelberg at the end of the valley and take the brand new cable car directly up to Mürren.
Lauterbrunnen has several nice evening eating places, and if you fancy a snack when you get back down from the slopes the Airtime cafe has good coffee and home made brownies https://airtime.ch/
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Tue 3-12-24 7:01; edited 1 time in total
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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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| drporat wrote: |
| @blueroom, the most interesting slopes |
Which slopes are the most interesting?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| blueroom wrote: |
Hello Snowheads!
What am I missing without access to Piz Gloria? I do like James Bond, I am sure the museum is interesting, but that movie was made in 1969! And it looks like there is just a single black piste from the top.
Do I need to be concerned about only one track running between Murren and Birg? Certainly with Birg - Schilthorn not running this will see less traffic, but will it be enough less to prevent big queues?
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A couple of answers. The run down from the Schilthorn (Piz Gloria) is one of the absolute classics of the alps, and it’s a shame we'll all miss it for much of this winter. There's still plenty of challenging skiing elsewhere though.
With the new, bigger cable car from Mürren to Birg it’s very unlikely that there will be big queues. Access to Mürren is difficult, so most visitors go to Wengen or Grindelwald to start their skiing day.
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@Alastair Pink, and @Rogerdodger of course: I love Jungfrau ski domain for the views and the overall tranquility feeling one gets on the slopes and in the evenings, but the ski areas are rather disjointed and need planning to quickly reach what one really fancies.
Yes, I know that if you want to speedly hop in - hop off from piste to piste, Jungfrau shouldn't be one's first choice and that slow train travelling and window gazing can be fun, but I still try to reach my favorite bits as fast as possible.
There's nothing wrong with staying in Lauterbrunnen but IMHO there are better options if one comes that far.
BTW, for budget conscious travellers there are cheaper deals. Staying in Interlaken and coming daily by train https://freizeit.sbb.ch/en/stories/snownrail-jungfrau-ski-region )
To me, Lauterbrunnen always felt more commercial and distant from the main happening as opposed to Grindelwald which seems to me a real Swiss mountain village (I know, enough souvenir shops there as well but dispersed on a bigger area), not to mention Wengen (my favourite) and Murren.
Skiing related, the only advantage Lauterbrunnen has is quick access to Murren, which won't offer its usual goodies this winter.
Wengen and Grindelwald offer way more pistes at a shorter notice.
Wengen is relaxed and majestic on the mountain, with a train to Kleine Scheidegg so I can ski the Lauberhorn or descend towards Grindelwald on the long red.
And the big (congested in the morning) cable car taking me to Mannlichen. My favourite spot for lunch on the mountain, renting a sledge or fine red pistes towards Grindelwald terminal.
First time I've been there was in Grindelwald at Bernerhof - simple and rather fast bus access to First and to the terminal, so to Kleine Scheidegg and Mannlichen
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| blueroom wrote: |
| drporat wrote: |
| @blueroom, the most interesting slopes |
Which slopes are the most interesting? |
The black pistes from Schilthorn, serious stuff.
Reaching Kleine Scheidegg. It is so quiet and majestic under the Eiger. I enjoy the descents towards Grindelwald Terminal, and then taking the bus to First.
In Bort area, taking right to reach a rather slow slope between the trees with lateral glimpses to the other side of the valley
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From Murren to Birg for this winter 24/25 there are 3 x cablecars running,One of the new ones and the two old ones
So its an increase in capacity to Birg
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| blueroom wrote: |
| Hello Snowheads!] Last question for today: is sledging fun or just a way for this old guy to hurt himself? |
| Rogerdodger wrote: |
@blueroom, you stay with Lauterbrunnen, the best Snowheads live there in the winter!
Schilthorn is terrific however its closure this winter will not detract from the overall experience of the region.
Regarding the sledging you need to talk to Tom_Short, a fellow American Snowheads who is extremely qualified to answer your enquiry. |
The best Snowheads indeed! Another Yank here, Blueroom. Our first ski trip to Switz was last January, staying in a friend’s condo across the street from Rogerdodger and his lovely wife. They were gracious enough to show my wife and I around LB and the mountains for the whole time we were there and we had a blast. My wife doesn’t downhill ski and the Nordic situation was nonexistent down in the valley for her, so she gave the sledging a whirl. Check out this NYT article on it: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/06/travel/swiss-alps-extreme-sledding.html?unlocked_article_code=1.h04._GNB.OP8uOW873H0S&smid=url-share (gift link - no sub required). This came out just before we did our trip - very inspiring.
Wifey had a great time on the sled and really got the hang of it. We met up on the mountain a few times for lunch at one of the chalets that we both could get to - she on her sled, me on my skis. It was terrific.
After seven days in a row of skiing I decided to give myself a break and take a day off and go sledding with her. Being a natural-born speed demon, I figured it would be no trouble at all to let the sled run a bit once I got the hang of controlling it. How hard could it be after following Rogerdodger and his wife around off-piste as well as shredding some black runs on my own?
I was so lucky there was a doctor out for a snow hike just down the hill from me on the run where I crashed. She heard my almighty howl worthy of a Yeti as the mountain attempted to tear my lower leg completely off at the knee after crashing into the hillside covered with deep snow while traveling at an imprudent rate of knots on my railed death machine. Now laying on the piste writhing in pain, the doctor made her way up to my side, even as my wife descended from above on her sled. A natural-born slow poke, she had no idea what had just happened and wondered why I was laying on slope with some strange woman standing over me.
The doctor’s office in town was less than 100m from our condo. An exam was made, crutches were procured, and a full medical report was forthcoming for the insurance company (trip insurance, my friends - don’t leave home without it).
So that was my experience with sledding.
| blueroom wrote: |
Hello Snowheads!]
What am I missing without access to Piz Gloria? I do like James Bond, I am sure the museum is interesting, but that movie was made in 1969! And it looks like there is just a single black piste from the top. |
Rogerdodger probably has more scoop on this than I do. I can say that I liked the James Bond-themed bathroom up there - that was really the highlight for me in terms of the Piz Gloria lodge. Couldn’t be bothered with the museum - long line of foreigners wearing tennis shoes waiting to get in.
There was fresh pow to be had, and I had my 112s with me. A nice chap in the cable car queue accepted my request to join him on a powder line down from the top, so I followed him and his three friends off the cable car. We stepped over a rope and descended iron steps to a snow covered narrow path that led us under the side of ski lodge. A slip to the left would’ve been Bond-esque bad guy death slide. This spilled out onto a snowy knife-edge ridge with a small area to put on skis and prepare for the drop in which offered two options: the A option was to ride straight onto the roof of a maintenance shed and fly off the top of it followed by a 10 foot drop onto a very steep pitch. The B option was to jump turn down the side of it.
Before we all dropped in, my new friend/guide, who opted for the A route, pointed to a beautiful mountain vista and valley to skier’s left and told me to say well to the right of that because somewhere closer than it looks is a 1000 foot unmarked cliff. Good advice that.
The reward for this somewhat hairy start was a thigh-deep untracked powder run and much mountain whooping.
There appeared to be other lines down from up there on the other side of the ridge - I saw some family units hitting them on our ride up and they looked pretty extreme.
So, yeah, if there’s been a good dump of fresh, Piz Gloria has merit. I don’t think I’d do it again, though, without avalanche training and proper kit for it (which I didn’t have at all).
Enjoy your trip - I can’t wait to go back!
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