Andermatt Opens 1500 Metres of Vertical This Weekend

As more ski areas open for the season, there's competition to see which resort can offer the most.

Last weekend Switzerland's Saas Fee became the first to claim it had more than 50km of slopes open and this weekend fellow Swiss resort says it will already be offering 1500 metres of lift-served vertical descent.

"Owing to the excellent snow conditions and the additional artificial snow, the valley descent on Gemsstock is opening on Saturday. This means that on the third weekend of operations, about 20 kilometres of pistes will now be available, with a vertical drop of 1,500 metres," said Stefan Kern of Andermatt Swiss Alps AG.

Mr Kern credits the amount of terrain open to snow farming, which made it possible to have the slopes open in late October, combined with natural snowfall and snowmaking.

"With the opening of the descent to the valley and other pistes, guests can now choose from a wide selection of slopes, ranging from 1,453 to 2,962 metres above sea level," Mr Kern concluded.