Skiing near Zurich / Schaffhausen

Hello everyone!
Can anyone recommend skiing near Zurich / Schaffhausen in Jan 2011. We plan on day trips from Schaffhausen. Mixed ability group (can split up tho) I've skiied 12-15 times & am comfortable with skiing 50 kms ++ per day. Thanks for any tips re Switz! :)
Jeepski!

You didn't say if you are driving or using public transport. If you are on the train you'll end up going through Zurich for most places which means you'll have about an hour tagged onto most of the resorts.

Toggenburg is about 2.5 hours from you by public transport (not going through Zurich).

The other easiest places to get to would be Pizol, Flims/Laax (expensive and over rated), Flumserberg (but avoid at all costs on a busy day)

If you are driving then the world is your Oyster. With the new Uetliberg Tunnel you can be in Central Switzerland in almost no time and much quicker towards Graubunden too. That means the majority of the resorts accessible from Zurich are within reach.

Probably my favourite for diversity of runs, and the least time spend in ques is Lenzerheide. It's a little over two hours drive from you, but it has 8 access points to the mountain so there is much less queing at the bottom then somewhere like Flims/Laax which only has two, the lifts are fast and if you have a halb-tax card the self service restaurants give you half price food.

It's very hard to give you advice on the best place for you. There are literally hundreds of resorts within about 2 hours drive of Zurich and they all have a bit of their own character. Some like Flumserberg which are particularly easy to access get way too crowded and in my opinion dangerous on busy days so are best avoided.

Places to try:
Elm
Lenzerheide
Davos
Pizol
Hoch-ybrig (better on a quiet day, but not as bad as Flumserberg)
Braunwald (maybe)

There are hundreds more, but these ones stick out particularly for a mixed group, reduced queing and relatively easy access from Zurich.

I see you moved from Waterford Ireland. I'm a paddy too. Been living here full time for 6 years now and a regular visitor for 10.

Thanks a mil Ir12daveor for your detailed response. I appreciate it.
I should have mentioned that we will have the use of a car so that makes more of your suggestions within reach. Are the tolls reasonable there?
2 hours e/way is do-able & maybe we could overnight in 1 resort if driving was a challenge? |or maybe drive & train. Which resort would you suggest for an overnighter, Lenzerheide?

BTW, what's this Halb Tax Card & where can I get one? Sounds useful.
We'll be in Schaffhausen Jan 26-31 - do you think Flumserberg would be OK then?
I'm still living in Waterford. We'll be staying with a Waterford person working in Zurich. Good for you - living over there - no doubt you read that we are banjaxed here. Less money in pocket each of past 3 years! :-(
The good news is that we have our ski flights booked :-)
Thanks again for your help.
Jeepski

Good advise from Ir12daveor. Halb-tax is half price rail card but unless you are going to use it for multiple rail journeys I shouldn't worry about it. See SBB website for details.
Commets on Flumserberg are spot on, avoid at busy weekends mid week is Ok and runs for all.. just check the snow conditions.It all depends on snow conditions. You may be lucky with lower resorts in Jan but if in doubt stay high. Klosters/Davos is easy to get to. Hoch-y-brig is small but fun for a day. Engelberg is often overlooked. North facing and steep, not really for beginners but stunning views from the top, check the website.

Thanks for that SuttySki
We'll have 5 days skiing so therefore can try different resorts. So will look into Hock & Engelberg.
Cheers! Jeepski

Hi,
The road toll is yearly and it cost CHF 40.- to use the highways. All the resorts on a Sunday in good weather will be full and you might just as well not go. If you intend to stay overnight you could stay in the valley rather than in the expensive mountain hotels.
To give you ideas, Stans, for the Lucerne area resorts Andermatt, Engelberg, Melchsee-Frutt, Bad Ragaz / Chur and nearby villages to cover Flumserberg, Pizol, Lenzerheide Arosa, Flims etc.
I have been going to Switzerland extensively for my work over the years by car and always been taken my ski gear in winter and put in a day of skiing .
Nobody has been mentioning Lenk which is connected to Adelboden.
Happy skiing.

NoHelmet wrote:Hi,
The road toll is yearly and it cost CHF 40.- to use the highways. All the resorts on a Sunday in good weather will be full and you might just as well not go.

This is not strictly true! The well known resorts will be chocka and not worth going to, but there are still hundreds of alternatives where there are less or no crowds!

I've skied a bluebird day on the 26th of Dec which is statistically one of the very busiest days in the resorts and never qued at a lift and most of the time when sitting on the left we were getting views of empty pistes!

Engelberg is not a well connected resort for Piste skiing. It's great for freeriding but its very disjointed. Also if it's busy you spend the most of your day in lines. Even yesterday it took us way over an hour to get from the valley to the top and that was a bad weather day before the season has begun properly!

That a boy -daveor- but you did go to Engleberg, mind telling us where on Dec. 26th you found empty pistes ?