The top of Schilthorn
VALAIS
In a one hundred percent alpine environment and escorted by the silhouette of 45 peaks over 4,000 meters high, the Valais Alps guarantee skiable snow well into spring . In addition, this is the Swiss region that offers the greatest variety of winter resorts, a total of 17, among which some of the best valued by experts stand out, such as the cases of Zermatt, Saas-Fee,Verbier Y crans montana.
Of all these stations, Zermatt is the most desired because it is located at the foot of the Matter Horn –Cervino for Italian speakers– and the glaciers of the Mount Rose . The best view is from Gornergrat (3,089 m), where you can suffer a syndrome of mountaineer stendhal . The ski area is 360 km2 and allows access to the Italian resort of Cervinia. It is also the only station with six ski lifts that reach different summits of more than 3,000 m, including the highest in Switzerland, which goes up to the top of the Klein Matterhorn (3,883 m), from where you can go down to Zermatt. along a track of 'only' 25 km.
Zermatt is known as 'Matterhorn Glacier Paradise'
The town of Zermatt also offers many attractions. It is a charming and cosmopolitan place, very quiet –petrol cars are not allowed, only electric cars–, where life takes place between the traditional and the sophisticated. In the next valley to the east is Saas Fee, surrounded by the highest concentration of 4,000m peaks, specifically 14. The slopes climb to 3,500m, where there is a circular restaurant with breathtaking views. From here you go down a glacier that reveals cracks in the ice on its sides.
Saas Fee is a very young season , with a lively aprésski that begins with the typical chiringuito at the foot of the piste s and extends along the main street, so that you have to go through the door of practically all the bars to return to the hotel, and it is almost impossible not to enter one. Apart from the bars, other activities of aprèsskiy adventure are ice climbing or via ferrata, which runs through a snow and ice-covered gorge from Saas Fee to Saas Grund. The craziest activity is mountain bike glacier descent , which is already in its 11th edition.
The festival that is celebrated to close the season is also not wasted: dj's, costumes, live music … pure fun. From then on, it is time to enjoy cross-country skiing in the surroundings, with the best routes in the country. A total of 140 km of wide and well-groomed slopes descend from the Plaine-Morte glacier to Crans Montana , the largest holiday destination in the Valais. It doesn't lack anything, it has a ski cross track –the most fun type of skiing–, a cross-country ski track on the glacier and a half-pipe professional to enjoy the most daring jumps,
4 Vallées: rest in the sun
The king sport in summer here is the Golf , but in winter its fields become tracks to practice the cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. crans montana it is also an important cultural center: in April the Caprices festival is celebrated, four days of music with groups and dj's front row; and just 5 km from the center, in Lens, is the Pierre Arnaud Foundation, an art center built in honor of the French collector who lived in Crans in his last years.
The ' 4 Vallées ' make up the largest ski area in Switzerland and group under a single ski pass the slopes of Verbier, La Tzoumaz, Bruson, Nendaz, Veysonnaz and Thyon . In total, it offers more than 410 km of slopes with snow throughout the season. The highest point of the resort is at Mont-Fort (3,300 m), from where one of the most beautiful views of the Alps can be seen, including emblematic peaks such as the Matterhorny the Grand Combins . from the top of Mont-Fort starts one of the most difficult black slopes in the Alps.
Expert freeriders, accompanied by one of the resort's guides, can descend the backside of Mont-Fort, an initiation rite that every off-piste lover must do once in their life. While Nendaz It is famous for its snowshoe rides along the bisses (the ancient irrigation canals). Verbier's après-ski is known as one of the best of the alps . Perhaps part of the blame lies with the celebrities who come here to spend their winter holidays unnoticed. Richard Branson, Prince Harry, Diana Ross and James Blunt are fixed, but they have also been seen in these valleys Bono of U2 and Sarah Ferguson.
Nordic skiing in Crans Montana
CANTON OF VAUD/ AROUND LAKE LEMAN
The stations in the Vaud region are the most suitable for family vacation in the snow . Between the 12 of the region they reach 225 skiable km. Any of them is perfect to come with children, not only because up to 9 years old they have the free pass, but also because of the large number of blue slopes they offer, in addition to other leisure activities that the little ones love.
Another incentive to choose this area is the Free Pass Alpes Vaudoises , a pass that offers savings on the daily ski pass of up to 30% and easy access to all the slopes of the main domains in the region: Villars-Gryon ; Les Diablerets-Glacier 3000 and Leysin-LesMosses-La Lécherette , as well as discounts at other French stations such as Chamonix and the main ones in the area of the French Pyrenees.
Leysin is a small south-facing winter resort at an altitude of between 1,350 and 2,200m. Just 125 km from Geneva and just half an hour on the historic cogwheel train that leaves every hour from Aigle, Leysin has 15 tracks totaling 60 km and connecting the summit with practically the same streets of the town. Among the tracks there are for all levels, but most are blues , especially suitable for families . Leysin is connected by bus to the Les Mosses-La Lécherette ski area, with another 100 km of slopes in a large area.
Many people choose this resort to enjoy its leisure activities parallel to skiing, such as Tobogganing Park , an infrastructure full of fun descents and dizzying turns created by Silvio Giobellina, Olympic bobsleigh champion. There are also many who opt for this station to enjoy the views offered by the restaurants such as the revolving one at the top of La Berneuse (2,048 m), from where you can see peaks as distant as Mont-Blanc, Dents du Midi, Eiger, Tourd'Aï and Mayen
Zermatt is the largest ski resort open in summer
Villars-Gryon is a multipurpose station in which 120 km of tracks cross three valleys between peaks and forests, composing a landscape that seems to be taken from a fairy tale. Villars-Gyron is connected to the three stations that make up the domain of Les Diablerets-Meilleret, Isenau and Glacier 3000–, has a snowpark on the Chaux-Ronde slope and is also home to some of the best snow and ski schools of the Alps.
Les Diablerets is a village at an altitude of 1,200 m from which three very different stations can be accessed. Isenau is ideal for beginners and families with children , while Milleret add a bit more difficulty with hints' red ’. Finally, glacier 3000 is the star of the domain, the only station in the area that allows skiing on a glacier during a long season that begins in October and ends in May. Its slopes are among the most spectacular in Switzerland, being one of the favorite destinations for freeriders, skiers for whom the more prepared slopes fall short and need more radical descents or test their skills in the ' big mama ’, a giant jump that is part of the snowpark where you can see more than one professional rider doing pirouettes.
the mythical olden It is a descent of 7 km with a drop of 1,137 m cataloged as one of the longest and most difficult in the area , which at this point is shared with the ski area of gstaad , in the Bernese Oberland, a region with which the station borders.
THE BERNESE OBERLAND
The mountains of Gstaad are combed by 220 km of slopes and represent one of the most exclusive areas, both for the descents it offers and for the elegance and discretion of those who frequent it, a list that includes members of royal families, movie stars and athletes. of Elite.
During the colder months, from mid-autumn to mid-spring, wealthy visitors alternate shopping in the town's pedestrian streets with going down one of the resort's slopes. In total, Gstaad offers 220 km of tracks that run through the nearby mountains and glaciers, descending from 3,000 to 1,000 meters. A few kilometers further to the east is the Jungfrau Ski Region , the skiable area located between the top of the mythical Mount Jungfrau and the spa town of Interlaken (see A vertical journey) , made up of the ski resorts of Kleine Scheidegg-Männlichen, Grindelwald-First and Murren-Schilthorn.
Gstaad, snow with the family
Grindelwald-First It has 60 km of slopes for alpine skiing, to which must be added another 40 km of routes for winter hiking and the longest toboggan run in the world. To get to this you have to take the Cableway in First , from where you have to climb the Faulhorn (2,681m) for two and a half hours until you reach the start of the toboggan run, which is correctly signposted. There are 15 km of vertiginous descent that can be interrupted in one of the mountain restaurants that one finds along the way.
Kleine Scheidegg-Männlichen it is the most impressive of the three Jungfrau areas and its slopes run along both sides of the mountain that stands between Grindelwald and Wengen. If the skier goes down to Grindelwald he will be watched at all times by the north face of the Eiger, one of the most spectacular and mythical walls of mountaineering. If you decide to go down to Wengen, you will do so via the Lauberhorn, a black piste where every year at the end of January the most popular ski event in the country and one of the most chilling descents of the World Cup is held . It has a drop of more than 1,000 m. and a maximum slope of 45%, a real savagery to jump into schuss.
The sector of Murren-Schilthorn It has a total of 54 km of slopes, most of them red and black. The station goes up to 3,000m and extends through different valleys and includes some unconditioned tracks.
To get here you have to take the cable car in First
FREIBURG AND LUCERNE
Perched on the Pre-Alps, to the south of the Fribourg region and next to the historic town of Gruyères, is the Le Moléson resort, which has a total of 30 km of slopes. One of them, the one that descends from the top of the 2,002 m mountain, is named after the winter sports complex, and is of high difficulty.
The views over the lake leman , the Mont Blanc and the mountains of swear from Le Moléson they are spectacular if the day is clear. In winter you are more likely to see infinite space at night thanks to the astronomical observatory installed at the top, which has four telescopes and the largest spyglass in the world, as well as the restaurant of l'Observatoire , where you can enjoy the views while eating.
At the base of the valley, around the town Molésonsur-Gruyères , there is a network of trails for fans of snowshoeing. It is possible to go up to Le Poyet, from where it is possible to get an idea of how nature and man have been sculpting these lands to make them a unique place.
In the surroundings of the lake of the four cantons , 35 kilometers from Lucerne, is Engelberg-Titlis , probably the favorite resort for those who want to combine winter sports and culture. To its cultural heritage (a Benedictine monastery with one of the largest organs in Switzerland is located in the city), Engelberg offers the largest winter resort in the center of the country: 82km of slopes , including one of the longest descents in the Alps, 12 km, and a long season, from October to May, both inclusive.
The offer is completed with the infrastructure to enjoy sleigh rides, 30 km of Nordic ski slopes and 14 trails for winter hiking. Other original activities are the construction of igloos or the Snow Park, a fun facility that allows you to drive a kind of go-kart on the frozen surface of the lake. Trübsee. _*This article was published in the monograph number 77 of Condé Nast Traveler. The Swiss monograph is now on sale in digital format on Zinio. _
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