My last post focused on the first part of our summer 2006 trip to Switzerland. Now it’s time for the second part!
We stayed in this farmhouse in the tiny village of Hondrich, Switzerland.
After Fribourg, we tried something completely different: a farm stay near the town of Spiez in the Berner Oberland. I had never heard of the village of Hondrich, but it became our home base for several days. We started each day with a hearty farm breakfast, with many elements (including the mint tea!) sourced from the farm itself. Our host even shared some amusing ads from one of his farming magazines!
At Kleine Scheidegg, looking towards Grindelwald (the mighty Eiger on the right).
Our first day trip was to Wengen, which I consider to be my “home” ski area. We took the train from Lauterbrunnen up to Wengen, and then further up to Kleine Scheidegg. While we continued to be cursed by cloudy weather, we still saw enough of the legendary Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau mountains to make it a memorable day. At Kleine Scheidegg, we were greeted by a couple of goats who were employed to greet tourists outside the train station.
Hiking down to Wengen…they were selling Alpkäse here.
After the obligatory goat photos (sadly, they weren’t very photogenic), we hiked down to Wengen. We retraced the route I have taken on skis hundreds of times…except the steep slopes were replaced by gentle paths and contented farm animals. It was hard to believe that this same terrain hosts the fearsome Lauberhorn ski race (and its 40 metre Hundschopf jump) every year.
The town of Spiez, as seen from our boat on the Thunersee
The next day saw us explore the nearby towns of Spiez, Thun, and Frutigen. We cruised on the Thunersee (Lake Thun), bought some classic R&B music on the Atlantic label (as one does in Switzerland), and ensured hydration through ice cream. Just for fun, we decided to have dinner in the “Cafe Restaurant Bad” in Frutigen. Named for the thermal baths in the region, the food was naturally quite good.
Cafe Restaurant Bad, in Frutigen (Switzerland)
Our next day was spent on a whirlwind tour of my ancestral valley: the Simmental. We started in Weissenbach: we would stay here in my grandfather’s chalet during family vacations in the 1970s and 1980s. We then hiked to the nearby village of Boltigen (getting licked by a cow en route), where we caught a train to Zweisimmen and then another one to Lenk.
My grandfather’s chalet (straight ahead) in Weissenbach, Switzerland
Lenk, as you may know, is my Heimatort (place of origin) in Switzerland. We hiked partway up the massive Simmenfälle (see also the photo at the very top of this post), where my ancestors probably wandered hundreds of years ago. It felt great to go “goating” here, and I wish we had more time to explore the beautiful mountains. Alas, we had to make sure we got back to our farmhouse before it was too late.
The Swiss Alps are dangerous, and I barely survived this close call at the Simmenfälle above Lenk
I won’t try to objectively rank the best ski areas in Europe… there are far too many for that! But why not try to rank the ones I know?
The question: in which resort would I most want to spend an entire week of skiing, without regard to cost? Everything else can be considered: the skiing, the town, the atmosphere, and the food are all fair game. I tried not to assign too much weight to the particular place I stayed: if I did, one otherwise fine Italian area wouldn’t have been on the list…as our hotel was located next to what seemed to be a sewage plant. Let’s start the countdown to #1!
The insane “Swiss Wall” starts at the French border, in the Portes du Soleil ski region. As you can see, some parts have a 90% gradient!
10. Morzine (Portes du Soleil), France. Full marks for the extent of this region: it’s the second biggest in the world, with 13 different resorts and 208 ski lifts! Some of the resorts are in Switzerland, and it is fun to ski back and forth between countries. I wasn’t as keen on the sheer numbers of skiers, and some of the resorts (Avoriaz in particular) are purpose-built with little or no character. The Swiss resorts are smaller and more inviting, but the skiing on the Swiss side is also relatively limited. But there’s always the Swiss Wall…
Believe it or not: this is on-piste in the afternoon above Borgata (Sestriere)
9. Sestriere (Via Lattea), Italy. Italian for “Milky Way”, the Via Lattea includes 5 Italian resorts and one French resort (and 70 lifts). But getting to the French resort is not easy, especially when conditions are less than ideal. Still, we found some spectacular pistes…that made us forget about the sewage plant beside our hotel. Fortunately, most hotels are located away from that plant. Sestriere is another purpose-built resort, but it is old enough to still be interesting (a cylindrical hotel, anyone?).
Lots of choices, high above Lenk and Adelboden (Switzerland)
8. Lenk, Switzerland. Linked to the resort of Adelboden, this is a sentimental choice. It’s my Heimatort (place of origin) in Switzerland, and I can ski with family members here. While not as extensive as the other places on my list, it still feels very Swiss and I didn’t find crowds to be a problem. It’s also a quick train ride away from St. Stephan, which is part of the separate Gstaad ski area (and home to more skiing relatives). I had one of my best powder days ever here.
Madonna di Campiglio
7. Madonna di Campiglio,Italy. Not as extensive as the Via Lattea area, but scores higher on things like atmosphere and food quality. Like Lenk, it caters more to a domestic crowd. Perhaps for that reason, I really felt like I was on vacation when I was skiing here. I don’t think I heard any English during the entire week. We also spent an entire morning at an outdoor cafe!
Stuben at night
6. Stuben (St. Anton/Arlberg), Austria. The Arlberg ski region is another vast area, including 7 different resorts (perhaps more by now!). I enjoyed tiny and remote Stuben, which retained some Tyrolean character, but still gave access to the larger areas such as St. Anton, Lech and Zurs. You really have to pick your base carefully: St. Anton, for example, is just too rowdy and “in your face” for me.
Our ski group passing through the rocks at Pomedes (Cortina d’Ampezzo)
5. Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Similar to Madonna di Campiglio, this is a major resort with a domestic focus. But I found the setting even more spectacular: skiing even closer to (and through!) the stunning Dolomites, and the legendary “Hidden Valley” actually lives up to the mystique of its name. With 12 distinct resorts in the Dolomiti SuperSki area, the options are endless even though there aren’t too many pistes in Cortina itself.
I’m enjoying the empty slopes at Piz Lagalb!
4. Celerina (St. Moritz), Switzerland. While St. Moritz is too posh for my taste, staying in nearby Celerina was the perfect way to experience this collection of five distinct resorts. Corvatsch had the best overall skiing, but the remote glacier areas of Diavolezza and Lagalb are unforgettable skiing experiences that few people bother to experience. The long-ish bus ride to Diavolezza and Lagalb is worth it: one day, there were only 10 other skiers on the slopes!
The jagged Dolomite peaks
3. Selva (Val Gardena), Italy. At the opposite end of the Dolomiti SuperSki area from Cortina d’Ampezzo, the town is perhaps not as elegant. But the combination of vast skiing options, unsurpassed food, and interesting culture made it one of my very best ski weeks ever (see the most recent post on this blog for proof!). This is the one resort that I keep wanting to revisit, and I would even like to return to the very same hotel. I never thought a hotel meal plan could be so amazing.
Me on the lower slopes of the mighty Eiger
2. Wengen, Switzerland. I have skied here (and the linked resort of Grindelwald) so often that I consider it my “home” ski area. So while it is partly a sentimental choice, I challenge anyone to find a more dramatic experience than skiing in front of (or on!) the legendary north face of the Eiger. I especially love the steep pistes (such as Black Rock or Oh God) just below the Eigergletscher, but there are challenges elsewhere too. One cannot forget the Schilthorn: despite being most famous for a James Bond movie, it’s a demanding and impossibly scenic mountain.
At the top of Klein Matterhorn, just before a wee bout of altitude sickness kicked in!
1. Zermatt, Switzerland. It’s huge, in every sense of the word. The resort spills over into Italy. You can ski a 20 km-long piste!! It even includes the Matterhorn (see photo at the top of this post)!!! But the best summary of Zermatt is a simple one: it is a resort that is unquestionably meant for skiers. If you are a serious skier and can only ski once in the Alps, you need to seriously consider Zermatt. Not every run is 20 km long, but many of them do seem to go on forever. There is an exceptional variety of terrain, with the Swiss side in particular having some very challenging on-piste skiing. Now, if only cost weren’t really an issue…
As we prepared to leave Lenk for the bright lights of Zürich, I decided to take a look at something not typically associated with a skiing vacation: statistics.
Catching some air at Luegli (above Adelboden)
A website called skiline.cc lets you connect your digital lift passes to an on-line account. By entering the unique code on your ski pass, all of your skiing data can be collected in one place. Each of the resorts I visited this year participated in this program. The result: I now know exactly how many lifts I took each day, how many kilometres I skied, and how many vertical metres I skied!
Typical chalet above Geils
I’m glad that I didn’t fully explore this website while I was still skiing. I think I might have felt some subtle pressure, especially on the last day, to “set records” before it was time to return to Canada. As it turns out, the data pretty much supports my guesses about the relative intensity of each day.
Skiing down from Lavey to Hahnenmoos
In total, my 9 on-slope days in Switzerland had me taking 201 lifts, skiing 455 kilometres, and accumulating 72,481 vertical metres (237,798 vertical feet). No wonder I was always so hungry: I was averaging more than 50 km per day! Some statistics were useless: I was the only Canadian registered on skiline.cc at Lenk this year. I apparently also won the “gold medals” for most vertical metres in one day by a Canadian at both Wengen and Gstaad. But my overall totals for those resorts were not best-in-class for Canadian skiers.
Unusual climbing apparatus at Sillerenbühl
It was interesting to see that I skied a formidable 71 km on our deep powder day at Betelberg. We arrived early, caught the very last lift up, and didn’t have a particularly long lunch. However, despite this being the “farthest” I skied in any one day, it was not the biggest vertical day. I only accumulated 8,088 vertical metres that day, which I can attribute primarily to the relatively easy slopes at Betelberg.
Strange to see the Japanese flag on the slopes above Adelboden…
In terms of vertical, our biggest day was at Kleine-Scheidegg/Männlichen/Wengen, when I managed to accumulate a healthy vertical drop of 10,240 metres (almost 34,000 feet) over the day, despite only skiing a distance of 54 km. This also makes sense: we spent a lot of time on steeper slopes such as the legendary “Oh God!” and “Black Rock”.
The Chüebodmi restaurant, specializing in Ramen!
One nice surprise on our last day at Lenk-Adelboden, as you can see from the photos, was discovering the Chüebodmi restaurant on a little-travelled piste near Sillerenbühl. We wondered why there was a Japanese flag flying above it, but upon investigating we realized that they specialized in ramen! It was *very* rustic (no WC, just an outhouse!), but ramen turned out to be the perfect lunch for an active day on the slopes.
Speaking of surprises, we also had a couple of them in Zürich…stay tuned for the details!
After 5 days of skiing in Lenk, it was time for a change of scenery. Fortunately, the village of St. Stephan was only a few kilometers down the road…and gave us access to the Gstaad ski region. Gstaad is a well-known high-end resort, although we didn’t actually make it to Gstaad itself. Our day was limited to the easternmost areas of St. Stephan, Zweisimmen, and Saanenmöser.
Buying our lift tickets after hiking up from the Stöckli train station
Even though it is quite close to Lenk, it was a bit of an adventure to ski in the Gstaad region. We first took a train from Lenk to Stöckli, a tiny hamlet on the outskirts of St. Stephan (which itself has barely 1,000 people). The Stöckli station is a Halt auf Verlangen: the train won’t stop there unless a specific request is made. From the Stöckli station, we had to hike over a bridge and down a riverside country lane to reach the base of the chairlift. This was not particularly easy in ski boots!
On our new “secret” piste at Parwengesattel
Even the chairlift was somewhat surreal, as there was essentially no snow (the base elevation here is only 1000m above sea level) and we ascended on an ancient lift over grassy meadows…while still strapped firmly into our skis. Fortunately, the endpoint of that first lift at Lengebrand was at 1383m elevation and we could ski to the next lift over actual snow.
We had lunch at this restaurant (Hornberg)
The skiing around Parwengesattel was outstanding that morning. We discovered a newly created piste around the back side of the mountain (see photo at the very top of this post) that eventually brought us back to Lengebrand. The scenery was beautiful, the snow was great, and we once again made first tracks in a few places.
The snow gradually disappeared as we skied toward Zweisimmen!
After many runs here we decided to move towards Zweisimmen and Saanenmöser, in hopes of finding a quaint spot for lunch. Alas, our progress was significantly slowed: the temperatures were warming quickly and the snow was getting sticky. So sticky, in fact, that we suddenly felt like beginners! After a week of confidently schussing through whatever came our way, we would now frequently hit sticky spots and pitch violently forward as our skis suddenly stopped.
Believe it or not, we could ski to this apres-ski location in the village of Zweisimmen
This continued for most of the afternoon, even after an extended lunch at Hornberg (I recalled eating here about 10 years ago with my uncle). We needed speed to get anywhere on the sticky snow, but increased speed also increased the risk of a violent face-plant. Finally, at the very end of the day, the snow became slushy: while not ideal for skiing, at least it was somewhat predictable.
Part of my ski posse, relaxing after a day on the slopes
While there was no talk of a Traumpiste that afternoon, we still enjoyed exploring some new terrain…and some terrain that I remembered from past skiing experiences with my mother and uncle. After skiing for 9 of the past 10 days, it was finally time to end the alpine part of my Swiss holiday.
Stay tuned for the ski wrap-up and our experiences in Switzerland’s largest city!
Every time I go skiing, the ultimate goal is the Traumpiste, or “Dream Run”. Simply put, this is the type of run that you remember for years afterward, long after hundreds of others have been forgotten. The criteria are somewhat flexible, but generally include untracked powder, scenic beauty, and a piste that seems to go on forever.
My ski posse, about to make first tracks on the top of Piste #1, Leiterli, at the top of the Betelberg ski area
This year’s Traumpiste was unquestionably the Tschuggen piste, running almost the entire length of the Betelberg (Lenk) ski area. On an ordinary day, it might not have warranted more than an acknowledgment of its decent length (roughly 900 vertical meters, or 3000 vertical feet) and its scenic path through the forest above Lenk. But Wednesday, March 7 was not an ordinary day on the slopes.
The morning is well underway, but my posse’s tracks are still among the first on the pistes above Wallegg
The previous evening, the piste groomers on Betelberg must have gone to work early: by the time we got to the top of the mountain on Wednesday, a luxurious dump of fresh, dry, powder had landed on the firm, groomed base. And with overcast conditions to start the day, there was almost nobody on the mountain! Things were looking good!
Late in the afternoon, the Tschuggen piste still has pockets of powder
We were actually the very first ones to ski down the short piste from the top of Leiterli. There was snow everywhere! We couldn’t really see our skis through the powder as we made our way down, but revelled in the feeling of snow billowing every which way.
We decided to try the timed slalom course at Mülkerblatten…with all the fresh snow, it wasn’t as icy as you might expect
Although it is usually best to stay at high elevations on days like this, we noticed that the Tschuggen piste down to the bottom of the Betelberg area was much longer than the rest and was unlikely to see much traffic so early in the morning. Might we also make first tracks on that long piste? We had to go for it!
Looking down on Lenk from the first segment of the Lenk-Stoss gondola
As it turned out, we weren’t quite the first ones to ski down Tschuggen. But we were certainly among the first 10 people down…and we were not disappointed. The piste was only rated intermediate but it was steep enough to pick up some speed: there is nothing like the feeling of quick, short turns through deep snow to make you forget about everything else in the world. The bullying Swiss Franc? Completely irrelevant!
The ski posse is getting a little tired by this point…we ended up skiing a total of 71 km that day!
The terrain was not the dramatic exposed rock of the Dolomites, but rather a sinewy romp through the snow-laden pines, with impossibly quaint chalets peeking out here and there from under an almost unbearable amount of snow. The overcast weather didn’t matter: there was enough visibility to make it feel like a winter wonderland rather than a dangerous whiteout. And it didn’t seem to end!
A very quick break at the Wallegg-Mülkerblatten station
Of course, it had to end eventually. But the weather cleared from time to time and we had the even rarer experience of deep powder, on-piste skiing under brilliant sunshine! While we weren’t able to make any more “first tracks”, we still found stashes of untracked snow on all of the pistes for the rest of the day. I was so caught up in the skiing that I didn’t really take very many pictures either.
Back at the hotel after a long day: view from my balcony
“Epic” is an overused word in the ski world. But that really is the most concise way to describe March 7, 2018 at Betelberg. Although generally considered more of a family-oriented ski area and less challenging than the pistes high above Adelboden, the unique circumstances of that day ensured that I will always look back fondly on it as an absolute skiing highlight.
Monday, March 5 was a beautiful day on the Lenk-Adelboden slopes. The sun was shining and the day should have been one long “Kodak Moment”. Alas, since I inadvertently left my camera’s memory card in my laptop computer (which was back at the hotel), I was unable to capture any of it!
View of Regenboldshorn, from Metschstand
Still, this was another reminder that it is important to live in the moment. I figured we would probably have other photo opportunities during our week in Lenk, so I just focused on enjoying the excellent ski conditions. The photographs in today’s post are all from subsequent days.
Good times at Metschstand, high in the Berner Oberland
After a couple of days of skiing in Lenk-Adelboden, I have grown fond of the almost non-existent lift-lines, the long and wide pistes, and the quintessential Alpine scenery. For sheer Alpine drama, nothing can compare to the mountains around Wengen. However, the pistes themselves at Lenk are certainly comparable. And the snow conditions have been great, considering that we are now well into March.
The restaurant at Aebi: we had a rustic lunch here
Alas, no discussion of Swiss skiing can ignore the high costs. Even in Lenk, the prices are still much higher than those in Italy…although I think they are slightly lower than in Wengen. So, in an attempt to control my food budget, I continue to eat lots of mostly meat-free dishes such as rösti and spätzle. Any main course featuring meat is often in excess of 30 Swiss Francs…or more than $40.00 (Canadian).
View from my hotel room, first thing in the morning: looks like a great day for skiing!
Despite high food costs, our accommodation costs in Lenk are relatively reasonable. Wages are very high here, so the lack of 24-hour staffing at our hotel helps keep the costs in line. In addition, the (included) breakfasts are still plentiful, so we don’t need to eat quite as much for lunch in expensive mountain restaurants.
Riding the Luegli lift
It also costs a lot of money to get from the airport to the ski resort. Overall, however, I think we’re close to achieving a nice balance of world-class skiing without world-class crowds. The lift ticket prices are near Western Canada/U.S. levels but, with no lift-lines, we are getting far more skiing time than we would at similarly-priced resorts in North America.
View from the top of Luegli
My next post will be about an especially dreamy day at Betelberg, Lenk’s other ski area….where all of the high costs were quickly forgotten!
It wasn’t easy to leave Wengen: the jaw-dropping views exert a very strong pull. However, it was time to meet up with the rest of my posse for a week of skiing in Lenk.
A final view of Hotel Bellevue, our base in Wengen
Lenk is a small town located in the upper Simmental and is probably best known as the smaller half of the Lenk-Adelboden ski area. Adelboden is more famous, partly because it annually hosts a World Cup slalom event. However, Lenk has special meaning for me: it is my “Heimatort” (place of origin) and, as a result, is the community where I vote in Swiss elections and referenda.
Hotel Sternen: our base in Lenk
Determination of a Swiss person’s Heimatort can be complicated, but Lenk is my Heimatort essentially because my ancestors in the 19th century called it home. As you can imagine, I am quite happy that my Heimatort is a ski town! But I also still have relatives in the area and I was able to combine everything with a special day of skiing on Sunday, March 4.
My cousin and her family – at the summit of “Lavey” near Adelboden, Switzerland
My cousin (and her family) was visiting her parents in nearby Reidenbach for the weekend, so we all agreed to meet for a day of skiing on Sunday. We had never gone skiing together before, but I figured that they would be able to give me a good introduction to the Lenk-Adelboden area.
A church in Lenk – I wonder what important family events took place here?
I was correct! They were all excellent skiers and, within a few hours, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect on the Lenk-Adelboden slopes over the next week. It was also great to reconnect with my cousin, who I had not seen for many years. I am sure we will be able to ski together again in the not-too-distant future.
Only in Switzerland: a vending machine for cheese!
I didn’t take a lot of pictures that day, as I was quite focused on the skiing…and on speaking German, since not everybody could communicate with me in English. If you have no choice, it’s amazing how much you can recall from a single university course taken 30 years ago!
Berner Rösti at the Restaurant Zum Gade in Lenk
After a very enjoyable family day on the slopes, I began looking more carefully at things in Lenk. I wondered if my ancestors had celebrated special events in the nearby church, had done business in the downtown buildings that surrounded my hotel, or escorted livestock up to the remote summer barns (now drowning in snow) on the mountains high above the town. Echoes of the past were everywhere: I recognized many local surnames from my Swiss family tree.
Lenk, as seen from the Betelberg Gondola
But I can’t forget the cheese. Not only was there a vending machine with the top two rows devoted entirely to cheese, the local restaurants served up Rösti (essentially, shredded potato that has been fried and also slathered with other local ingredients) in a dazzling variety of ways. I opted for Berner Rösti on my first night, but it was by no means my only encounter this week with either Rösti (or copious amounts of cheese).
Stay tuned for the ski reports on Lenk-Adelboden and neighbouring Gstaad!
