St Anton Holiday in March 2012

G'day All,

I'm looking at planning a European Skiing Trip (trip of a lifetime that I probably won't do again for a very long time) so I'm seeking some feedback on my plans and any suggestions on improvements or adjustments that can be made! I'm from Australia so the likelihood of me getting back out this way again for awhile is very low.

The basic Itinerary is shaping up like this:
March 5 - March 25: St Anton (and surrounds)
March 26 - March 29: St Moritz
March 30 - April 4: Zermatt
April 5 - April 8: Chamonix

Some quick background on my decision making process is as follows:

St Anton and Zermatt are places I've always wanted to ski and both look amazing. St Moritz is on the way through to Zermatt from St Anton and looks really good too (albeit a bit more expensive). I figured we'd jump the train from St Anton to St Moritz and then onto Zermatt? Staying in St Anton (Austria) for 3 weeks seems like a good idea for me to keep costs down and as such extend the length of my trip, as Austria is alot cheaper than Switzerland/France?

Chamonix is also another place I've always wanted to go to and I didn't realize that it was so close to Zermatt by train so I popped it onto the end of the trip and dropped some days from Zermatt and St Moritz.

My Skiing Backgound and other details:
I have never skied in Europe so not sure how I'd grade myself there skill wise. I've done a lot of skiing in Australia and New Zealand and hit Canada a couple of years ago for a few months. In these countries I'm comfortable on Black runs (and the odd Double Diamond Black) but I'm not sure how these properly translate to European Ski Resort difficulties.

My partner isn't a big skier but she's keen to do a lot of sight seeing, Snow Activities and Apres Ski in these areas. We both speak adequate German (not university level, but certainly conversational level) so should be OK to speak with Native German speakers as required.

As far as St Moritz/Zermatt/Chamonix go, for the time I've planned to be there I don't think I'll be heading to any other ski resorts around them and just focus on these resorts (correct me if I'm wrong).

For St Anton I figured I'd branch out and look at some others in the area. I know I should be able to jump a bus to Zurs, Lech and Stuben (are these all worth seeing?) and these are included on the St Anton Ski pass? But is it also possible to go slightly further afield as well? I've been reading a lot of very good information about Ischgl, Pitztal, Obergurgl and Solden.

Questions, comments Suggestions?

Cheers
Cags

That sounds like an epic trip and a top plan! I'm jealous already...

The only thing I might change is maybe swap Chamonix and Zermatt round to get into Chamonix a week earlier. Although the Grand Montets almost always has great snow through April, if you want to do other stuff (like the Vallee Blanche) then earlier might be better.

Bus and train will get you to plenty of places from St.Anton and you've got a good chance of finding some other Aussies (and others) on road-trips if you're there for three weeks.

It'd be great to see how you get on, so please post some reports once you get to Europe!

You should find the black runs in St Anton compare well with those in Canada. It's one of the very best resorts in the world for challenging terrain. Zurs, Lech and Stuben are certainly worth visiting too (included on the area pass).

I agree with Admin about swapping Zermatt and Chamonix (I live about an hour away from both of them). Zermatt is linked to Cervinia so you could ski there as well.

Being able to speak German is obviously an advantage, but don't worry when the locals reply in English. They rarely speak Hochdeutsch and the dialect here (Walliserditsch) is reputed to be the most difficult one to understand.

Swiss Railways have a range of special tickets that reduce the cost travel considerably http://www.swisstravelsystem.ch/en/content/offer/tickets/ but they must be purchased from outside Switzerland. Make sure you travel from St Moritz to Zermatt on the Glacier Express http://www.glacierexpress.ch/en/Pages/default.aspx it's one of the finest railway journeys in the world, change in Visp if you decide to go to Chamonix first.

G'day all,

Thanks for the great information so far.

Why should I head to Chamonix before Zermatt? Does the snow season last longer in Zermatt as opposed to Chamonix?

We're most definitely taking the Glacier Express from St Moritz, it looks amazing.

I've been researching the Swiss Rail System quite a bit and I'm a little lost with it (we don't really have anything like this in Oz). I had heard that big savings could be made by using Swiss Rail Passes but I can't really figure out how.

I should probably contact the Swiss Travel System to ask some questions and get some advice but basically the only ticket that looked of use to me was the Swiss Transfer Ticket and the conditions for this ticket were from the Swiss Border to your destination (and back) or an Airport in Switzerland and back. I don't think this would be of any use from St Moritz to Zermatt/Chamonix?

The other thing I noted was that the cost of the Swiss Transfer Ticket is 130 CHF, and the price of the Glacier Express from St Moritz to Zermatt is 136 CHF, that's only a 6 CHF saving? Sure, I'll take the money where I can get it, but it doesn't seem like a huge saving? Am I missing something big?

I am really green with envy at your trip..but try this site..might help

http://www.travel-swiss.co.uk/passes-motorway-vignette/swiss-flexi-pass.html

See you in the Mooserwirt in St Anton on 6th March then......I'm there with a group of 10 from 3rd for a week.

Your lift pass includes Lech and Stuben. Also have a day or so in Sonnenkopf, and don't ignore thre Rendl area in St Anton either.

As for St Moritz, probably the best skiing I'ver ever had in Jan 2011. Perfect conditions, wonderfully groomed pistes, wide variety of slopes, some great off piste, very cold, and no one on the slopes to bother you. Highly recommended.

Zermatt normally has better snow conditions for longer as it's higher, has a greater proportion north facing slopes and has better snow making facilities. Here is a trip report from the 15th April http://www.alpinforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=39534

The ski areas around Chamonix are strung out along the Arve valley, the main area is Les Grands Montets above Argentière, this is high and north facing and should be OK the others are lower with some south facing slopes. If you want to ski the Vallee Blanche http://www.alpinforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=21730 it is likely that this will be in better condition a week or two earlier than when you plan to go.

Negative aspects are the longer journey from St Moritz and the extra journey back to Zermatt.

The ideal solution would be to bring the trip forward.

The Swiss Transfer Ticket is not the ticket you need; it's intended for people making a journey from a point of entry to say Zermatt and back. As you will be making multiple journeys and there are two of you, you need a Swiss Saver Flexi Pass for the number of days you want to travel http://www.swisstravelsystem.ch/en/content/offer/tickets/prices/ You will obviously need extra tickets for the cross border journeys.