 Poster: A snowHead
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To celebrate reaching the age of 60 I decided to take 3 weeks off and visit some of the expensive resorts in Switzerland. The resorts I got in mind were Davos/Kloster and St Moritz, each I booked 5 nights. They are rather far away from Amsterdam so I need a nearer stop-over place so I chose Engelberg, which is 555 miles from Amsterdam, making a day’s driving sufficiently relax, so that I could warm up a couple of days there. I heard some good reports on Flims/Laax/Falera which is voted No. 1 Swiss resort by Bergfex so I also tried 5 days there. Davos has been an expensive venue for many world events. St Moritz is one of the oldest and upmarket skiing resorts.
I booked my accommodations through the information from the Bergfex web site which I found unbiased and reliable in the past. Typical in every trip I crossed the channel from Newcastle to Amsterdam on an overnight ferry drove to each resort. I always carry a set of snow chains on my 4x4 but this trip was the first time I had to use it in 7 seasons, for getting out of a steep ramp in a hotel car park in Flims. I keep a set of newish all-season tyres for such the skiing trips.
The statistics of various resorts are
Resort - Total length of Piste - Notes
Engelberg - 82
Malbun - 23 - 6 lifts. A small resort in Liechtenstein
Arosa - 60 - did not ski due to bad weather
Films/Laax/Falera - 220 - As one resort fully linked
Lenzerheide - 155 -on both sides of the valley, linked at one point
Davos Rinerhorn - 38 - Lifts are 100% drag lifts plus one gondola
Davos Jacobshorn - 61 - Drag lifts are in minority here
Davos Pischa - 16 - All lifts are surface drags, the smallest of the 5 areas
DavosDorf Parsenn - 114 - Section between DavosDorf to Kloster, biggest area
Kloster Madrisa (KlosterDorf) - 53 - Claims to have 315km piste including Davos
Savognin - 80 - On the way from Davos to St Moritz
St Moritz-Corviglia piz Nair - 350 - Largest in St Moritz. The entire area has a total of 350km
St Moritz-Corvatsch Furtschellas - 65 - second largest area in St Moritz
St Moritz-Diavolezza Lagalb - 17 - smallest of the 3 main areas
Livigno - 110 - In Italy side
The distances of the resorts are
From - to - Distance (m)
Flims - Flims - 0
Flims - Malbun - 42
Flims - Davos platz - 44
Flims - St Moritz - 55
Flims - Arosa - 30
Flims- Savognin - 30
Chur -Chur - 0
Chur - Films - 13
Chur - Arosa - 19
Chur - Lenzerheide - 10
Chur - Malbun - 33
Chur - Kloster - 30
Chur - Davos-Platz - 36
Davos-Platz - Kloster Dorf - 8
Davos-Platz - Davos dorf - 2
Davos-Platz - St Moritz - 51
Davos-Platz - Savognin - 25
St Moritz - St Moritz - 0
St Moritz - Savognin - 25
St Moritz - Livigno - 26
Engelberg (82km piste)
Very steep mountains, consistently with one of the best snow records. A nice town. Areas are rather divided, not linked and each has its own ski pass. The main area is Engelberg Titlis. The Brunni area has two lifts and 3 runs but costs more in the ski pass. There is a beginner area called Kloster which we gave a miss. We therefore concentrated skiing our two days in Titlis.
The place is rather cold with plenty snow. We found the runs from Klein Titlis rather narrow and twisty due to the hilly terrain. Part of the downhill run is a ski route which could be too steep to groom. We thought the red runs alone are hot enough for a warm up.
Engelberg Titlis does boast the world first rotating cable car allowing the passengers a 360 degree view from the ride.
Mabun (23 km piste in Liechtenstein)
This is a small resort in Liechtenstein. The resort is in a valley accessible via a tunnel so it is unspoiled. It has an excellent beginner area. We visited Malbun before on a day trip from St Anton, found the snow rather poor and didn’t ski it. This time the area was well covered by snow so we skied a half day when we changed camp from Engelberg to Flims.
We skied Malbun for the sake of beefing our skiing CV as we could claim to have skied one extra country in the Alps!
Flims/Laax/Falera (220 km piste)
We were surprised to see this resort voted the most popular Swiss resort by Bergfex. Flims, Laax and Falera are three different areas linked together. This is a modern resort, as good as any reputable French, Italian or Austrian resort, with decent chairlifts all round. The runs are well laid out and very enjoyable. As an overseas visitor I would agree with Bergfex that Flims/Laax/Falera does stand out because it is larger than an average Swiss resort, has a modern infrastructure (because most Swiss resorts like PDS and Davos still believe in drag lifts) and a flat but wide mountain system with good snow.
One major bad point of Flims is it has a couple of cow pens right on the main street where the main station locates. Thus skiers going to and leaving from the base gondola station are constantly reminded the strong smell of nature.
Davos/Kloster (325km piste)
This is a funny resort. Davos was hosting the World Economic Forum on the day we left and was the venue of G7 last year so the place is full of designer shops and 5-star hotels. One would have thought the skiing facilities would be the top notch.
The skiing is actually divided into 5 unlinked areas of Pischa, Jokobshorn, Rinerhorn, Parsenn and Madrisa. Only the largest area Parsenn is world standard with modern facilities. If one goes up the gondola or cable car to Pischa, Rinerhorn, and Madrisa one can only find one chairlift among these three areas. The rest is all surface drag lifts!
Hey skiing resorts nowadays transport their clients to the top of the slope with seats so that they can rest their legs and put the skis on the footrest. If the route is windy they provide lift with bubble cover to protect their clients against snow and rain. In cold places the lifts are heated too.
I was very surprised to find dated lifts in a place like Davos.
Parsenns didn’t disappoint though as it links Davos Dorf with Kloster and that is a decent distance apart. Proper chairlifts are abundantly available here too. What is more one can ski the 17km run from the top of Weissfluhgipfel at 2844m to Kublis at 810m to enjoy a 2 km vertical drop. The last section is not returnable by lift but by train.
Davos/Kloster is endowed with an excellent bus and train systems so it is pretty easy to go around the 5 areas. Parking has to be paid in most areas except Pischa.
I found Parsenn enjoyable but didn’t make to Pischa by bus when the lift stops at 16:00. I am not a fan of drag lifts and when they are the key transport in a resort the queues, which is uncommon in Switzerland, become unavoidable.
Lenzerheide (155 km piste)
My wife has an issue with fog and snowing and does not enjoy skiing with poor vision. Thus she turns any snowing or foggy day into a rest day in which I would drive around scouting the neighboring resorts. We have two snowing days so we visited Arosa and Lanzerheide. When we arrived at Lanzerheide the weather improved so we skied half day there.
It was a windy day and the upper half of the mountain chairlifts were all closed on both sides of the valley. We skied it because the ski pass was sold with a 50% discount.
This is a decent size resort in Switzerland but a most complicated ski map showing 3 sections; one for each side of the valley and the third map is the plan view of the valley indicating the sole link and the bus route.
We did try the link but ended up with a fair bit of walking as the area is rather flat at the linkage point.
Livigno (110km piste in Italy)
We skied Livigno on the day we moved from Davos to St Moritz. We went there as Livigno seems to be a popular place and it was novelty to us to try another country while skiing in Switzerland.
Livigno is a funny place too. It has 3 access roads. Apart from the east which is linked to the rest of Italy the south access is closed in winter so the remaining access from outside Italy must be via the north which is a single lane tunnel owned by the Swiss with a toll booth at the middle of a dam.
Going from Davos to Livigno was expensive because the Fuela Pass is closed in winter so we have to pay 35 CHF for driving the car onto a train linking Kloster with Lavin as the other alternative is driving through the long way via the Julier Pass.
The single-lane Swiss tunnel also demanded 40 CHF for a return trip.
Terrain wise Livigno is a complete opposite to Engelberg. It has a long valley flatly laid out. Initially we thought Livigno is just a small beginner resort but found it a decent skiing resort.
Similar to St Moritz, which is close by with frozen lakes, Livigno has a frozen reservoir, stunning scenery and fantastic snow. It is almost the Italian version of St Moritz if not for the overcrowding with skiers.
The two sides of the Livigno valley are not linked and rather far apart, This makes going round the resort rather difficult if not time consuming.
Livigno for being relatively flat enjoy good sunshine when the weather is good. My first impression was it is similar to a French mega resort with loads of inexperienced skiers going a speed beyond their capability. It was the first time I felt the need of wearing a helmet.
Due to its small size skiing wise Livigno surprised me as a resort much better than I first thought. It was voted by Bergfex as the top No. 7 Italian resort. It is a good cruising country. The flat valley does have some decent red slopes and a couple of easy blacks. According to a SH an easy black run is an Italian black.
St Moritz (350km piste)
St Moritz has three major skiing areas of Corviglia, Corvatsch and Diavolezza. The Corviglia is the largest and by far the best.
Diavolezza is almost like a joke because it has two cable cars, Diavolezza and Lagalb, serving two sides of the valley but skiers can ski only in one direction from Diavolezza to the Lagalb. The return is by a bus.
If that is not bad enough Lagalb has no lift except the cable car. So a piste user must undo the skies or snowboard to board the cable car for each run.
The situation is slightly better in Diavolezza as it has one chairlift near the top in addition to the cable car. This chairlift is right at the bowl of the glacier so there was no wind and no sunshine.
The runs in Diavolezza are pretty limited but this area is a haven for off piste. St Moritz boasts a 10 km ski route through the glacier in Diavolezza.
When I skied the black run in Diavolezza I was the only skier in the whole piste. Skiing the red run I encountered another 2 piste users. That should tell the length of the queues.
Both Diavolezza and Lagalb are bare mountains with base stations above 2000m above sea level and the peaks are at 2978m and 2893m respectively. It is impossible not to have adequate snow in the winter there.
Corvatsch has plenty long runs but I hate its drag lifts which could not be avoided if one goes around the resort. The 3303m peak had no wind but sunshine on the day I skied it so skiing was fantastic.
Everyone skiing St Moritz complains it high food cost so I do the same. We had the most expensive dinner for the trip there paying 150 CHF for a waitress serving us two rounds of deer steaks. Meals in the mountain are slightly more expensive than the rest of Switzerland which is already more expensive than Austria, Italy and France. We normally had some light for lunch and that is about 35 CHF for the two of us.
I have never been to any European city, let alone a small, that boasts so much on luxury goods than St Moritz. Its main street in St. Moritz Dorf has every designer shop on jewellery, fashions, watches, mink coats and anything that is ridiculously expensive. There must some seriously rich people there with an excellent train service and a nice airport close by.
Savognin (80km piste)
I skied Savognin while it was snowing in St Moritz in a typical wife-enforced rest day. Savognin is about 25 miles from St Moritz but the journey took us past the Julier Pass which is an experience for us even on a full fledged 4x4. The mountain pass was kept clear by snowploughs but it was still like driving in a different world where everything is white and the depth of the snow is higher than the roof of the vehicles.
Now Savognin was a disappointment to me. The town has about 3 times more houses than St Moritz but its resort is only 1/3 or ¼ the size of St Moritz. The result is the piste is over-trafficed. How the hell I found myself skiing on grass in the middle of Switzerland when it was not unusual to see 6” snow fall in a day I did not know. Mind you at the top of Savognin it was snowing and so foggy that the only way to survive was to ski from one marker post to the next with extremely poor visibility. The return run to the base station had snow cover over the full length but the skiers removed all the loose snow at some busy sections exposing grass and gravel.
Swiss resorts – a personal view
It might just be me but I found Swiss resorts are usually not beginner-friendly because most of their runs are red. They do groom their black runs which are not particularly challenging, more like the standard in Austria, Italian and certainly not like the French. If runs are not groomed they call them ski routes which are recommended off piste routes with marker posts.
The Swiss also do not appear interested in expanding their resorts possibly due to difficulties in supporting the expansion with roads, accommodation and other services. Thus they are very happy to keep their drag lifts and not interested in upgrading them to attract the international visitors. Just like the German and the Austrian there is no purposely-built huge compartment blocks in their resorts.
I was rather surprised to see the St Moritz car parks dominated by the Swiss cars and foreign registered cars are in a very small minority.
That said I found Swiss resorts are seldom crowded. People are very respectful and courteous. There is a feeling that skiing in Switzerland is safer because most skiers are competent and seemingly disciplined.
Any way the above are my personal impression of the Swiss resorts as I have skied all the Swiss side of the Porte Du Soleil, Jungfrau’s Wengen/Mirren/First, Verbier, Crans Montana and Zermatt before the current trip.
For better value for money and a better skiing I would favour Austria or Italy. However between St Anton/Zurs/Lech, Zermatt, Ischgl/Samnaun and St Moritz I would say St Moritz and Zermatt are my all time favourite.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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saikee,
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We skied Malbun for the sake of beefing our skiing CV as we could claim to have skied one extra country in the Alps!
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I just love your statistical approach! Do you like cricket?
Anyway, it sounds a most interesting trip and you have added masses to your already deep mine of information. Do you not get tired with all the driving and the packing and unpacking? I know I would.
Congratulations, by the way, on your important birthday. May you keep on whizzing round the ski resorts of the world for many years yet! 
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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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Hurtle,
Don't think I ever got tired of driving myself as the wife doesn't take the wheel on European roads. I found after a day skiing it is rather refreshing sitting on a heated car seat, in comfortable shoes and having a drink, as within 15 minutes of unclipping the skies I would be in a hot shower.
There was very little packing to do as we could leave the skis and boots in the car but nearly every accommodation offered ski room to take them. I actually carried a two step ladder for the wife to sit on when putting the boots on and off.
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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luigi,
So you had a contact of the nature as well?
Mind you I couldn't remember any other resort can offer such aromas. I had to carry wife's ski and it was hard work and needed a few deep breath from time to time. Thus the aromatic Flims made a deep impression on me. We even later went to check the cow pens and satisfied there were cows inside.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| saikee wrote: |
luigi,
So you had a contact of the nature as well?
Mind you I couldn't remember any other resort can offer such aromas. I had to carry wife's ski and it was hard work and needed a few deep breath from time to time. Thus the aromatic Flims made a deep impression on me. We even later went to check the cow pens and satisfied there were cows inside. |
We enjoyed some natural aromas in the small austrian resort of Going am Wilden Kaiser, part of the SkiWelt area, again cows were the culprits.
In Selva, we came across some Alpacas from the Andes, but the smell wasn't as strong.
All adds to the rustic charm and a reminder of the traditional occupation of mountain communities, I suppose!
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saikee, First of all, happy (belated) birthday. Sounds like an intersting trip, would you do it again and if so which areas would you like to do next ?
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When walking into Radstadt at night we would pass a barn. Virtually in the middle of the town and it looked like a house  I would often linger outside as the smell was comforting, warm, and not at all unpleasant.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| luigi wrote: |
| All adds to the rustic charm and a reminder of the traditional occupation of mountain communities |
Quite, without the cows you wouldn't have the local cheeses on the mountain
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masmith,
I would definitely try St Moritz again. There is something magical about this place which I suppose typical for any resort with a frozen lake, for example like Are (Sweden), Livigno (in Italy with a large resevoir) and Zell am See, Galtur (with a resevoir)...
Mind you there is nothing wrong with Davos/Kloster or Flims/Laax/Falera. The latter is a typical well-linked modern Alpine skiing resort of a decent size with excellent snow record.
Davos/Kloster has its own charm. I believe that is the place many British royals skied in the past. It does have the best bus/train transport I know of. I would say the place is reminiscent of seeing Prince Charles on rear entry boots, a boiler suit and on a pair of non-craver skies.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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saikee, thanks, but what I meant to ask was, would you do a similar trip but in a different area, e.g. Austria / Italy etc. I would quite like to do a roadtrip myself, but time, money, children, work and the missus are obstacles to overcome first, and I'd quite like to do a lot of the dolomites and southern Austria, would think there is a decent itinerary avalabile there . . . ? Did you / have you, considered this region ?
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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.
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luigi,
I must have a blocked nose at the time as I didn't up the rustic smell in Going and Selva.
In this trip I booked with a Pension (B&B) in Davos. The owner run a horse carriage service. May be I booked earlier and got the front room. The unlucky lodgers got the rear room which was next to the stable where the 3 horses reside. Differnt aroma but a lot more stronger because of the close proximity. Although everything was white but the owner got a horse re-shoed one day. Only then I realise a horse, like a bird, could not possibly understand what a toilet is all about.
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FAQ
