This is the third in the Swiss dream ski week series, where Nick and Liam Bates, regular contributors to GenevaLunch, see how much great skiing at top Swiss resorts they can pack into one week. Be sure to check their tips at the end, as well as the video from the slopes.
Click on images to view larger – snowboard video at end
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – St Moritz and glitz: it’s hard to separate them, but for two skiers intent on getting the best out of Swiss mountains in a week, the furs and razzmatazz of St Moritz become just a small sideshow.
Skiing father Nick and snowboarding son Liam gave the famous but also very large resort two days, arriving by train from Zurich. The Zermatt-St Moritz Glacier Express would have been a beautiful option, but it’s not for those in a hurry to get to the slopes. And one week for five resorts with as much skiing as possible meant leaving out the 10 km tough Diavolezza to Morteratsch run. 2,978 m to 1,896 m, the “longest secured glacier descent in Switzerland”.
But you can’t expect to do everything in just two days in St Moritz.
The basics: 350km ski slopes, 1,800-3,300 metres
The village of St Moritz has given its name to a cluster of beautiful little hamlets and villages in canton Graubuenden that together offer 350 km of skiing, four large areas and seven smaller ones, reliably some of the best (and surest) snow in Switzerland at 1,800-3,300 metres. First lift opens at 07:45, the rest by 08:00, so if you want the first one on fresh snow, head out early. Four major peaks.
Other ice and snow sports are hugely popular, so there is no shortage of winter sports, from 200km of cross country skiing and long sledding runs to the world-class White Turf horse race on the frozen lake in St Moritz village, in early February.
The Preda to Berguen sled run goes alongside the lovely Albula railway section that is a Unesco World Heritage site, and the bright red rail cars travelling through banks of light white snow is one of the sights of the area worth seeing while you’re out doing sports.
The resort claims to be the birthplace of winter tourism 150 years ago, but there is certainly nothing decrepit about the village or the area around it, and don’t be surprised if you recognize a few royals or headline-makers.
A good thing about the resort’s luxurious approach to life if you’re a skier is that the lifts are in good shape and queues are not a problem.
Skiers’ notes from Saint Moritz
Day 1 – Skied Corviglia mountain
There was a clear blue sky and it was cold, -17C at the top of the peak where we were, Piz Nair, at just over 3,000 metres.
The slopes were steep but very wide and well groomed, so we could ski fast but safely.
There were very few people on the slopes before lunch. By the time we stopped for a much-appreciated hot chocolate at Chamanna cabin at 10:30, it already felt like we had done a full day of skiing.
We had lunch at El Paradiso, a gourmet restaurant with an amazing panoramic view over the frozen lakes at the base of the valley.
We started with a plate of cold meats and cheeses, followed by enormous salads and local specialties such as Hoernli pasta and hunks of beef with carrots and turnips in a rich wine sauce.
The winds were too strong to be able to attack the jumps in the snowpark, while the snow cover on the piste was excellent, it was too thin to do much off-piste. Switzerland’s light snow winter is affecting every resort, it seems.
The snowpark is something fun to do on the way down, but you wouldn’t spend a whole day there.
Day 2 – Skied Corvatsch mountain
Took the bus over to Corvatsch, about 5km away from the town of St Moritz.
The ski lift is just behind the big new hotel complex (Alpine Rock, a new in 2011 four-star hotel at the base of Corvastch) at 1,870m, with the lifts going all the way up to 3,303m. Bus stop: Surlej.
There is a great snowpark half-way up the mountain, with the first-half suited to experienced riders (large jumps and difficult rails), and the lower-half suited to beginner or intermediate riders with some smaller jumps, short rails and funboxes.
The snowpark is a good size and put together in a very creative manner.
Ride it from the top to the bottom and you have several lines you can follow to mix in a good combination of large kickers, down-rails, kinked-rails and boxes.
If you want to do ride park in St Moritz, then Corvatsch is the way to go: the park is far more developed than the one on Corviglia.
We stopped for lunch at a great little restaurant in a quaint chalet on the slopes, the Gian d’Alva, specializing in local fare: roesti, local sausage and barley soup.
In the afternoon the clouds arrived, making visibility very poor. The snowpark was no longer inviting, and Liam took a spill when he could no longer see the difference between piste and powder. The day ended with a bruised shoulder, all part of a hard day’s work on the slopes.
Tips:
- Enjoy the pistes in St Moritz! They are very nicely shaped: they are steep but very wide so you don’t have to worry much about hitting other people. They also have very nice rolls in them, so you keep going up and down.
- Corvatsch has several T-bars, which can be tough for some people to ride.
- Do head for Corvatsch if you’re snowboarding, and have fun at the snowpark.
Swiss ski dream week
part 1, Verbier
part 2, en route by train
Useful links:
- St Moritz resort
- maps of the pistes and area
- practical information in English, including public transport
- snow conditions at the resort
- My Switzerland (national tourism office) page on St Moritz
Video, Liam and snowboard
[…] part 1, Verbier part 2, en route by trainpart 3, St Moritz […]