Meiringen

A snowHead

I'm going to be teaching a school group in Meiringen shortly. Anyone know the area? Got any useful info?

A snowHead

Only been there for hill walking in September a couple of decades ago. They claim it's where the Meringue was invented. On the other side of the valley, you'll find the Reichenbach Falls (of Sherlock Holmes/Moriarty fame). The railway out of the town is the only metre gauge line run by the SBB – at least it was 20+ years ago (the others are/were private). The Hotel Du Sauvage has/had an impressive "Belle Époque" restaurant.

None of which, I'm sure, is of any help to you Smile

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

From Bidmi (where the nursery slopes are), don't take relative novices up the chair without checking the blue (piste 6) really is open: the alternative red can be a little challenging. Also piste 6 is pretty flat. Getting on the 2nd part of the gondola at Bidmi can be quite a queue first thing (hence the temptation to take the chair). Runs off Hochstrass are good for later in the week.

The walking path from Reuti back to the bottom is skiable - but not with the kids as parts through the trees are *very* narrow and it is technically off-piste.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

I was in Hasliberg at the weekend, with 50cm of fresh to play in Very Happy

This was my first time in the area, and it looks a good choice for kids with a fair choice of easy runs to explore with great views. There was a huge amount of fresh snow on the upper part of the mountain, although the lower pistes were getting scrapped out pretty quick. The blue runs down to Twing are a little annoying with a lot of uphill sections, and the antiquated bubble on the way backup has the smallest slots for your skis I have ever come across (ended up carrying them inside). It was still snowing on Saturday and the upper part of the mountain was either closed or covered in fog, but sadly the trees lower down are all out of bounds (nature reserve) despite beautiful steep glades Sad

The restaurant at Magisalp looks a bit off-puttingly modern inside, but the food was excellent; the one at Gummenalp is also good and has more character. If the weather is clear the 360 degree view from the Alpentower is pretty impressive. There are also a lot of sledging options, although sadly I didnt get to try them! Good steep off-piste from the top of the Glogghus lift when it eventually opened on Sunday.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Hi ccl , I’ve spent a few weeks in the past teaching groups at Meiringen so have a little knowledge about the area, although its small compared to some places but there is still plenty of scope for use as an instructor.
The only thing I would advise is that if you have complete beginners or weak beginners the only place to start is at Magisalp, there is a short learner’s area there with a drag lift. Once they are quite happy there then they can move onto piste number 14 which is a fairly gentle green where you will find lots of other instructors and groups ploughing around. Towards the end of the run you have a choice to keep left and get a T bar back to Magisalp or bear right and follow and track around to Bidmi, and from here there is a bubble back up to Magisalp.
The rest of the area is mostly reds although there only short steep sections on these, most of them could almost be classed as blues, especially two of the reds from the Alpentower, pistes 18 and 19 if I remember correctly, they have a couple of steep pitches at the top but then open out into nice wide pistes that are good for getting your clients carving. The black run down from the Alpentower although steep is quite wide and strong intermediates should find it a nice run.
One little word of warning if you are across at Kaserstatt there is a T bar there, lift C I think, the last 150m or so of that lift is quite steep and it’s not unusual to see weaker skiers fall off on this part and slide down and take out a couple of people behind them.

Hope this helps

You'll need to Register first of course.

All very helpful - thanks so much to you all. I'm hoping to get time to recce the area for a few hours and already I am saving time with so much useful info.

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

After all it is free

Wish I knew how to avoid these mutliple postings Embarassed

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

ccl, While it doesn't help to avoid them, if nobody else has posted after you when you ntice, you can actually delete the latest post (then the one before it, etc.), rather than just editing out the text.

Next to the "edit Post" button, there is a "delete post" button - only visible on the most recent post of yours, if it has not been replied to.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Thanks - I hadn't noticed that.

snow reports

Thanks - I hadn't noticed that.

Thanks - I hadn't noticed that.

wink

You know it makes sense.

I don't remember a great deal about the Meiringen slopes, except that the black run down from Alpentower was one of the worst runs I have ever done, being a long, unpisted and mogully black with no way out once you've started on it. I did catch it on a particularly bad day, when the visibility was only 10m or less, but still I really wouldn't recommend it to anyone who's learning.

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

Well, it was a successful week with a group of beginners ending up being able to plough, basic swing and in one instance parallel their way down blue runs without falling over. Thanks again for the useful info. I enjoyed the resort although it wouldn't suit for a personal holiday. The only real pain was queuing for the cable car to get up in the morning and queuing to get down again at the end of the day. The views over to the Eiger and the Mönch were impressive and quite varied depending on the weather.

Help!!

Meiringen

snowHeads Forum Index >>> The Piste