St Moritz Jan 18-25th 2015

I have just returned from St Moritz, having previously visited for the first time several years ago.
Last time we really enjoyed it - this time was even better.

We booked a package with Club Med (the only affordable way to do St Moritz in my opinion) and booked through Skiline where we got a very good deal. Club Med packages are available in a number of alpine ski resorts, but if you ask me you want to be going somewhere expensive to really benefit. Why spend £1200 going to Les Arcs when you can get there for £300 plus lift pass plus food, for example.

Anyway, our package was a tailor made in terms of flights, so we chose midday Heathrow flight to Zurich with Swiss. Fantastic airline who fly out of Terminal 2 so its the best there is from the UK. We landed at 2.15pm local time, and were met by a driver, so the 6 of us in our group plus 2 others on another flight took the long drive south and then headed over the JulierPass from Chur. This had only opened 3 hours previous due to the massive dump of snow that hit much of the Alps on the Saturday, and the drive over was "hairy" to say the least, with a lot of skids, wheel spins, and slides round hairpin bends, but the driver knew what he was doing and we finally arrived at around 7pm just in time to drop the bags and go to dinner.

Dinner at Club Med is a feast. You can choose form fresh cooking stations, salad bars, pre cooked food such as pasta, and so on. The quality was absolutely first class, and there was so much food to choose from.
The hotel has a gym, swimming pool, sauna and steam room. I managed one visit to the steam room and sauna all week, mainly because we skied the preverbal a**e out of the area all day, and hit the "free" bar as soon as we returned until dinner time, so there was little time for anything else. The local beer on tap is excellent, you can help yourself to bottles of wine over dinner, and all other spirits and soft drinks are included, except champagne and bottled beers. We ended up drinking quite a lot of Prosecco and Bellini's, and noticed as the week went by that a lot of our European friends picked up on this and I would hazard a guess that Prosecco shares may have gone up in price!!!!

The hotel is in St Moritz Bad, the newer side of town, and down at the valley floor level (1772m so still high). There was thick snow on the ground the night we arrived, and it stayed all week as temps were well below 0c all the time. The coldest day was -18c, warmest -6c. Perfect for keeping the snow in good condition.

Monday was a mainly sunny day with some patchy cloud, and we headed up to Corviligia, the area directly above the town and with good access from Bad via the SignalBahn cable car to mid station, and chair flits up from there. We managed the first lift up each day, with one exception on the Saturday when the womens FIS tour came to town for the Downhill and the place was busy with spectators, although the slopes were still quiet by Alpine standards.

Monday to Friday we never had to queue for a single lift, and we often stopped in shock when someone else came down the piste we were on. It is a quiet ski area generally, and with plenty to go at with 350km in total all around.

Corviglila has some great long runs, which also means long rides up lifts, but who cares in the sun with deserted slopes. Chairs are all modern, nearly all with bubbles (Michael's as we christened them) and virtually never stopped. First ride up was 8.15am and most stopped at 4pm although some slightly later at 4.15pm.

Looking at the piste map, from left to right, above Sevretta are some long winding wide open red that you can blast around on at top speed. There are one or two sections that can catch you by surprise with sudden dips and drops, especially in flat light which we had a couple of mornings, but in the main these attract the sun most of the day. All lifts on this side meet at the top station under Piz Nair and there are 7 routes down from here, one of which brings you across into the next valley with the main Corviglia mid station with the Piz Nair cable car and Funicular railway up from St Moritz Dorf (old town). From here there are black runs down into town or across to the Salastrains mid stations which links back into Signal and also offers a lovely run through the trees back into St Moritz Bad, our way off each night, twice actually in the dark at 5.30pm after a couples of shandies at the Sallastrains Bar.

Across to the right on the map is the Marguns area, with a variety of long fast runs of blue red and black gradient back down, with linking valleys into the main mid stations. There is literally limitless off piste providing conditions are good enough, and higher up you can ski down the back into Lej de la Pesch, which also ca be reached from the Piz Nair cable car at the areas highest point of 3057m. Theres a couple of fast reds down this top section, and a beautiful black down towards the Gluna chair above Marguns mid station.

~Every sector has a few huts, restaurants and toilets. Nowhere do you have to pay for the loo or ask permission. Drink prices were not bad bearing in mind this is Switzerland, but you get what you pay for with large Gluhweins, superb coffee and Hot Chocolate with gallons of rum! Our average morning stop for 6 of us cost between 33-40CHF - my rate was 1.48 to the £ as I bought just before the crash, so I was working on that being £20 to £26.

Marguns mid station has a self service restaurant cafe which was far better than anything I have ever seen up a mountain in France of a similar standard. Up above at Gluna is a lovely little hut with a small restaurant, and an outdoor bar and terrace. However we could only sit outside on one afternoon as it was too cold most of the time to be sitting around, and one afternoon there was a bitingly cold breeze so we headed indoors there.

Club Med have their own piste side restaurant for lunch time at Corviligia mid station, although you can't just turn up, you have to book a ticket for a time the night before. Food was again high quality, drinks on tap including wine if you wanted it, but you had a 35 minute slot to eat and get out - perfect for us mileage hungry skiers but not so good for those who like a long lunch lazing around. Get On With It - I say!
There is also a choice of eating places at Corviligia mid station, and from here you can go across to Marguns, ski down to town, or head up the cable car to the highest point at Piz Nair, or work your way across a few linking paths to Signal.

There is a very swanky and expensive restaurant at Sallastrains, but there is also a nice and sensibly priced bar opposite, this is where we tended to end up at fish most afternoons as the run back into town started here.

Up at the top of the Suvretta/Signal sector is Cham'Nna restaurant which is quite simply stunning, with a hugre glass window looking across the valley. It looked great for lunches but we only used it for drink stops. We sat next to Tina Wierharter of Leichenstein on Saturday morning over a coffee up there.

In terms of skiing ability, this area is absolutely perfectly suited to intermediates and above. Theres a lot of mileage to go at, and lots of skiable areas between the pistes as well as difficult off piste higher up. The pistes are mainly long blasts, with some steep sections on the reds. Not many blues around so not a good place for beginners or nervous skiers as gradients tend to be on the steeper side of things. The blacks we skied were in my opinion difficult reds, nothing any good skier couldn't handle. The only difficult bits were the narrow sections to the lip of the run from the lifts up, especially when Ellistine disappeared off the edge between piste markers during Wednesdays whiteout!!!

If you like moving around at high speeds, this is great area. If you want to bimble around short runs stopping off at every hut for a drink, I'd go elsewhere. And if you enjoy quiet pistes, magnificent scenery, high altitude conditions, and long wide runs then this is really somewhere you should consider.

I think we "lucked in" with conditions, as the week before we went things were not as good, but they were a hell of a lot better the week before than in Alpe d'Huez for example where a mate of mine complained of runs being shut, lifts not operating, brown muddy hills, strips of white in the trees, and sheet ice. Sounds like this was the theme across much of the Western Alps unfortunately, the worst start to a season since 1961 I was told.


A few miles and 15 minutes bus ride away is the Corvatsch ski area, all part of the same lift pass system. From here you can ski back into St Moritz Dorf via a wild rigged and interesting black. However all week this was closed due to there being too much snow on it!!! We visited Corvatsch twice - Tuesday and Friday. The first morning was foggy first thing, mainly because the altitude at top station is so high, but visibility soon improved once you were at mid station and below. This area is split into few obvious sectors: from the highest point of the cable car at 3305m you ski down a magnificent steep and fast red into the Giand'Alva sector. The wonderful Hahensee black into town is accessible from the far left of here if its open! Theres a cracking little hut at the foot of the Giand'Alva long 2 man chair, or you take a drag back up to Murtel mid station. From here there are some breath taking .ong reds down to Alp Margun where there is a long chair back up, or you ski past on down to Surley, the small village at the bottom of the main cable car station in the valley.
On the way down, theres is an unpleasantly long drag lift across to Curtinella, the start of the next sector across towards Furtschellas at the far right of the area. There are lots of different ways down from the main Furtschellas chair - blue, red and black options as well as fantastic off piste here. This area seems to hold the snow even better than Corviglia, but be warned it is also a lot colder with only limited afternoon sun.
The runs through the trees from both sides of Corvatsch are delightful and pretty, and yet again practically deserted.

There is a good large restaurant at Furtschellas mid station, the main eating place is at Murtel which is the main cable car mid station from Surlej, and a couple of nice little huts on the way down including the pretty Alp Largun hut above the Alp Surlej chair.
Club Med lunch is served at Murtel mid station.

I have read and re- read the WTSS review on St Moritz, and think they have got it about spot on.

Positives:

* superb panoramic scenery
* extensive intermediate skiing
* off slope activities
* good mountain restaurants, many with stunning views
* modern efficient lifts
* deserted pistes (out of peak season anyway!) and no lift queues
* tons of off piste opportunities
* early first lift times
* heli-skiing readily available of you can afford it
* park at mid station on Corviglia for freestylers
* snow reliability

Negatives:
* longish transfers
* mountain pass from Chur often closed in heavy snow
* big town so not cozy
* expensive in the resort generally
* bus needed to get to some areas
* relatively early last lift times 4pm
* plenty of T Bars and drags on Corvatsch
* not good for beginners

Having now been twice, I would not rush to go back again next year as there is plenty of other places to try, but I would happily return in a few years, and thoroughly recommend it as a resort for good confident intermediate skiers.
I have to say it initially surprised me that I could ever afford to go here, but having now been twice I think other people should take a look and consider it a serious option for a weeks skiing from the UK.

I will post some pictures shortly.

Tony, I've been keen to see your report so thanks for this comprehensive effort.

I've been equally keen to try St Moritz since I stayed in Celerina for the skeleton world cup. I remember the drive over the Julier Pass in an ageing Land Rover Defender during a blizzard was quite something!

Your report has whetted my appetite although I've never much fancied the Club Med concept in France, particularly.

I look forward to the photos.

Some photos from the week:




Popping back onto the piste in Corvatsch




No lift queues




Above Suvretta on Corviglia


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Uncrowded wide pistes




You can see the Lake in the valley from Corvatsch




More deserted slopes





Skiing down into St Moritz from Corviglia




Fresh snow on the pistes Wednesday




Lovely runs through the trees to the valley







Messing about off piste




A walk into town at sunset





Ladies downhill action on Saturday





Finish area for the downhill

Busy slopes then? -)

Once again a wonderfully detailed report Tony. My 40 ski club members arriving on 14 March will be quite happy to have these tips from you. Maryellen

Great write-up from a great trip - again! Thanks Tony - looks like Club Med is about the best (only?) option for keeping control of your budget in Switzerland...

Admin wrote:Great write-up from a great trip - again! Thanks Tony - looks like Club Med is about the best (only?) option for keeping control of your budget in Switzerland...

Or win a holiday, on J2Ski, to Swisserland! :)

Admin wrote:Great write-up from a great trip - again! Thanks Tony - looks like Club Med is about the best (only?) option for keeping control of your budget in Switzerland...

Couldn't have picked better conditions to be honest.

And as much as I know what LOTA is saying about the Club Med concept, in terms of a package (flights transfers, good quality accommodation, organisation, great food, lift passes, ski lessons if you want them) I don't think you can go far wrong, especially in expensive countries or resorts.

Ive been looking at trying to do Cervinia with Club Med but can never get the price as low as I want.

I also want to ski Wengen and Val d'Isere and think they may be good places with the Club Med packages.


Its also been suggested to me that I should try the brand new one in Val Thorens - their best ever hotel apparently. Every time I look at the 3V I find a reason not to go there. I know people say the skiing is very good, but I am put off with prices, and how busy it often gets. Maybe I need to bite the bullet on this one?


Anyway, yes, for an affordable St Moritz holiday I think Club Med is the only way if money needs to be watched.
It really is a superb place to ski.