St Moritz, Switzerland - a famous name in winter sports, but not somewhere I had ever considered going to for a ski holiday until now. Reviews I had read suggested good snow, extensive skiing, high altitude, and fabulous scenery. My review confirms all to be 100% correct, but I have to say I was blown away by just how good the skiing was. The scenery was quite stunning, with the ski area split into 2 high sectors each side of the valley, going up from 1800m at resort level on the valley floor. The beautiful snow covered lakes were visible from each sector, and we were lucky enough to have a full weeks skiing under bright sun and blue skies, just to add to the drama of it all.
7 of us travelled together; 5 good and confident skiers, and 2 beginners/early intermediates, and we met up with another good skier who had made his own way by car. We stopped at the Club Med which is how we afforded to make the trip in the first place as it offered all inclusive accommodation (breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks, lift pass, lessons, BA flights and transfers) for under £1000pp, whereas our companion who drove over 2 days stopped at the Kempenski Hotel just down the road from us, and directly opposite the Signalbahn Cable Car in St Moritz Bad. His hotel was typical of the kind of expensive property the town is famous for:
St Moritz is split into 2 parts of the main village. Bad is the newer part of town where there are more hotels and apartments, whereas Dorf is the prettier old town nestling on the steep mountain under the Corviglia sector which rises up to 3057m at Piz Nair where this was taken:
There is some superb off piste available up here, and although the snow was mainly crusty in places, it didn't stop some keen tourers from having a crack at it:
From Bad, there is one main lift, the Signalbahn Cable Car, which takes you up onto the Corviglia slopes from where there is a wide selection of mainly red pistes, all above the tree line, perfectly linked by an excellent lift system consisting mainly of covered 4 and 6 man chairs. The pistes were fantastically groomed each night, and were in superb condition all day long thanks to a distinct lack of many other skiers, much to our delight. The red runs were vast in terms of width, and enabled us to put in some fantastic high speed cruising:
We found the best and emptiest pistes running down from Munt de San Murezzan at 2659m, underneath Piz Nair, all linked by good fast chairs, and in the sun all day long too.
The alternative way up was to take the funicular railway from Dorf, which leads you straight into the main Corviglia lift station at 2486m. From here you could ski down to the sunny slopes mentioned above, or down the other side into Marguns, a bowl sitting under a series of peaks towering high above. This sector offered more fantastic skiing, but again mainly red runs, but a number of fabulous blues and a couple of steep blacks as well. You can get an idea of the gradient from this photo:
Some stunning views were available up at Piz Nair and in the bowl round the back which led back down to Marguns.
From Piz Nair, there is a lovely red run down to the Lej de la Pasch chair, red 16, and there are a couple of alternative runs off the top of that, including black 18 which links into the Gluna runs - all wide and fast pistes - or our favourite red 17 which ran down the Schlattain valley, with some cracking little off piste sections along side.
As we were with Club Med, we didn't have to buy lunch on the slopes, and we were thankful for this as the average lunch for 2 people (2 courses and a drink) was coming in at around £75-£80. Ouch!
Drinks too were reasonably expensive - coffee was 5chf generally, as was coke and other soft drinks, and gluhwein varied from 7.50chf to 11chf in one umbrella bar at Corviglia Mid Station. Don't expect to do St Moritz on a tight budget, or look for some kind of package like we had where everything is in.
Our lunches were taken at the exclusive Club Med Altitude Restaurants, one on both of the mountains. This consisted of a hot and cold buffet, arranged in 45 minute sittings with ski schools getting main priority for times, and we were able to choose between cold meats and salad, pasta, 2 or 3 meat dishes with veg and potatoes, a selection of deserts including deep fried donuts and some kind of crumble, along with wine and water, and coffee afterwards. I have to say the food was excellent both up the mountain, and down in the hotel at night, especially the Saturday night Gala night with a fabulous selection of international dishes and some amazing deserts.
Some of the piste side cafes and bars were very high brow, and it was not unusual to find sunloungers charged out at 12.50chf, and 100chf bottles of wine stacked up:
Mrs H was kindly asked to pay up or move to a normal seat when we stopped one morning for a £5 coffee break!!!!!
Corviglia is a lovely ski area, with a lot of runs to go at, and a decent feeling of travel with a couple of valleys to ski down into, and it benefits from having the sun much of the day. We were so lucky with the weather; 2 initially warm days at plus 5c and plus 7c which enabled us to enjoy the sun and ski in glasses and less layers, but then 2 days in it turned really cold, and was minus 19 at 9am just at mid station, so we had to layer up and goggles were essential to help protect your face.
We managed to ski the black that was used in the 1928 and 1948 Olympics, but this was now a difficult and icy narrow run which was not particularly enjoyable!
Heres a typical view on Corviglia:
2 of the 6 days we ski'd over on Corvatsch. From St Moritz, you have to take a 10 minute bus journey to the tiny hamlet of Surley, a gorgeous little chocolate box kind of place, and take the large cable car up to Mittelstation, where there are a number of lifts linking in.
(more to follow shortly on the Corvatsch sector, and overall summary)