Long ski seasons at high-altitude Swiss resorts

Jan 19, 2010, 3:27 GMT

Engelberg, Switzerland - Many Swiss ski resorts lie as high as three kilometres above sea level. They include Grimentz, in the canton of Valais, and Avers, Pontresina and Sils, all in the canton of Graubuenden. The ski season in those places often runs well into April.

There are also other Swiss resorts with long ski seasons, such as Les Diablerets, near Lake Geneva, Engelberg, in central Switzerland, and Saas Fee, in Valais. Skiers who were unable to take a holiday around Christmas can hit the slopes at those resorts until after Easter.

A mountain village with about 1,400 inhabitants, Les Diablerets has 125 kilometres of marked ski slopes and 36 lifts. Traditional wooden chalets are nestled all along the foot of the Diablerets massif.

'We're a quiet village without five-star hotels,' said Myriam Degallier, a local tourism official. 'The fancy-schmancy crowd tends to head to nearby Gstaad or to Villars.'

Les Diablerets has three small ski areas to choose from at elevations between 1,200 and 3,000 metres: Isenau, Meilleret and Glacier 3000.

Passengers in the red, egg-shaped gondolas of the Isenau lift are mostly beginners and families. The easy ski runs are exposed to the sun all day, which often makes the snow slushy in the spring, making it best to ski in the morning and sunbathe in the afternoon.

As its name indicates, Glacier 3000 lies at an elevation of 3,000 metres. Weather permitting, it is accessible by aerial tramway. The ski runs are among the highest in Switzerland and mainly designated blue, which means they are relatively easy.

The 10-kilometre Combe d'Audon run, which makes heavy demands on both technique and conditioning, should be attempted by skilled skiers only, however.

The resort of Engelberg is better known than Les Diablerets. The Engelberg-Titlis ski area ranges from 1,050 to 3,020 metres above sea level and has 82 kilometres of marked ski slopes.

A round cable car of the Titlis Rotair aerial cableway ascends above the glacier on Klein Titlis mountain, revolving as it goes. There are 'oohs' and 'aahs' and clicking cameras. Along with winter sports enthusiasts, the car is carrying Asian tourists, some sockless and in sandals, others very chic and with handbags. Several have never seen snow before.

The serious skiers are unmoved. They are focused on the steep, demanding runs beneath them. There, in the shadow of Mount Titlis, they will carve turns on the glacial ice.

Skiing is possible at Engelberg-Titlis into the month of May. Even the 12-kilometre run from Mount Titlis into Engelberg Valley, a drop in elevation of 2,000 metres, is open until Easter thanks to the artificial snowmaking.

Countless tracks in the deep snow on the Steinberg glacier are visible from the Ice Flyer chairlift. Engelberg is popular with freeriders, who find groomed slopes too boring.

'On some days, the deep-snow riders outnumber the piste skiers,' remarked mountain guide Oliver Lustenberger. The fun of freeriding is not without risks, though. Sometimes freeriders fall into crevasses.

A pleasant place for a snack break is the rustic restaurant near Station Stand, 2,450 metres above sea level.

With its wooden walls and tiled stoves, it looks like a traditional ski hut. A - literally - cooler spot for snacks and drinks is the Igloo Bar in Igloo Village, a tent-like room made of snow near the station by frozen Lake Truebsee. Skiers can also spend the night at the village's snow hotel.

A third ski resort with a long season is Saas Fee. It offers 22 lifts, 100 kilometres of marked ski slopes at elevations between 1,483 and 3,600 metres, and a freestyle park for snowboarders and skiers. Freeriders are cautioned to keep on the pistes because of crevasses on the glacier.

Situated on a high plateau at the foot of the Fee glacier, the village of Saas Fee is happy to be totally car-free. It is very quiet and the electric buggies that take skiers' luggage to their accommodation ring a bell to make themselves noticed.

Negotiating the final stage up the mountain is the Metro Alpin, the highest underground funicular in the world. It was constructed by cutting a sloping tunnel of 500 vertical metres through the mountain.

The last station, 3,500 metres above sea level, is Mittelallalin. In sight of Switzerland's highest mountain, the 4,545-metre Dom, snowboarders order coffee in a rotating restaurant whose panorama windows allow an unobstructed view of 13 peaks at least 4,000 metres high.

In the area around Felskinn, the intermediate station, skiers, snowboarders and telemark skiers put their skills to the test on slopes designated mostly red, or moderately difficult. There are hardly any beginners on the steeper slopes.

Be they in the Laengfluh or Spielboden areas, winter sports enthusiasts always have the nearby glaciers in view. But the masses of ice are shrinking in Saas Fee, too. They are receding upward at a rate of more than a metre per year.