Wengen or Murren for March trip?

LOTA wrote:Went to Murren two years ago - not a great deal of tree line skiing but lovely views and loads of village charm.

Haven't been to Cervinia since 1980 so my views may be just a little out of date!!

Far Queue wrote:Hi biki17,

I got home from Wengen this weekend.

OK, where to start.. If you have not booked yet, then I would hold off a bit. The snow condition is far from ideal, and whilst they are working like mad to keep as much as possible open, they desperately need fresh snow, and plenty of it.

We skied the Murren side twice, and it seems to be pretty badly hit lower down, with runs being either closed, or with large mud patches or with areas of true ice. The snow up on the Schilthorn is still pretty good, but not sure you will want to stay up there for an entire week.

Grindelwald was also suffering, and the road at the bottom of the resort runs resembled a small river while we were waiting for the bus back to the station. Again, it is much better up in the First area.

The Wengen area itself is probably holding up the best of all, I guess mainly due to the shadows from the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau, but it was getting a bit frustrating trying to find some decent snow on a decent slope.

Generally, the week was spent sun/shadow chasing, as the runs were pretty icy/very hard packed in the morning, becoming nice once the sun had been on them, but ending up quite slushy by the end of the day.

It is my first ski trip to the area, and I have to say I was surprised at Wengen. It seems to be very much an "elderly" town, with large numbers of Alpine walkers in the area. I am in my mid 40's and would say my group was one of the youngest in the hotel :shock:

My main reason to visit Wengen was to ski the Lauberhorn, and now that is ticked off, I'm not sure I would go back. If I did, I think I would look at staying in either Grindelwald or Murren tbh. Although that could change once the promised fast cable from Wengen to Kleine Scheidegg comes into operation in a couple of years time. They also need to look at the speed of getting up to the Wengen ski area from Grindelwald.

I'm glad I went, but as I say, not sure I would rush back there.

I have posted some pics to show views of Wengen and a view down to Grindelwald. They are clickable to load a bigger image.

Wengen from the Mountain Train.



Grindelwald from the Jungfrau Train.



Here is also a link to my open (no account needed to view) Facebook album. Please Click Here

Hope this info helps. FQ.

Far Queue wrote:Hi again biki17,

tough one that, as I would have thought that Wengen in early Feb would have been pretty safe.

Personally, I like the Espace Killy (Val D'Isere and Tignes), although I am guessing they will be suffering a bit at the moment too, especially the runs down to Les Brevieres. The good news with them, is that there is plenty of high altitude skiing, so you should be pretty safe for snow.

Don't be put off by the reputation of Val D'Isere. It is perfectly possible to book an apartment online and get a cheapish trip to the resort. It is also a reasonable drive (8 hours from Calais without going mad), meaning you can offset flight costs for your equipment.

I also like Courcheval, but that will be in the same boat I'm afraid.

If you listen to a lot of the others on this forum, they will tell you that you don't have to go high in March, and I am pretty sure that most of the Eastern side of Europe is doing better for snow at the moment, so maybe Austria or Italy will prove a better bet.

I am still hoping to go again in March, and am currently looking at Val Gardena or Selva, but will not rule out somewhere like Livigno or Austria.

I am just going to see how it pans out and take it from there.

Good luck )

Chris Brookes wrote:Murren over Wengen....anyday !