J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by ir12daveor

I've only been to Brambrüesch during the summer on the bike (yes I ride that too! )), but I have been told that it is a family orientated place. Its where the locals from Chur go with their kids, and I believe once you up to the area its just a couple of pull lifts and quite flat slopes.

As for Hochwangs (St. Peters) I have never been there, but was told that I should check it out a few weeks back. I was told that if I liked Tschiertschen then I would like St. Peters too. It is apparently similar to Tschiertschen but with more sun.

If you want an alternative, you could also try Pizol, its 1hr 50m from Arosa by public transport. I went there for the first time last Saturday and enjoyed it a lot. Its not as big as Lenzerheide, but it has quite a lot of nice wide slopes.

You probably know this, but you can check the travel times to and from any place in Switzerland on this link. www.sbb.ch

I'm sorry if there is already a thread on this. I've done a search but not found a specific thread. If there is a thread and a mod wants to merge this into it, that's fine by me.

I'm a snowboarder who has started skiing this season. I've done a fair bit of freeriding on the snowboard, and am looking to try and get the powder technique right on skis. I am confidently riding pretty much everything I find on piste in the resorts, and starting to get more confident in powder too. I would like to get to a point where I can confidently do some tours on the ski's that I would normally do on a snowboard or use the ski's for the tours that have a long hike out at the bottom.

If anyone has some specific tips for riding Powder and Crud I'd love to hear them. I've taken a lesson to try to get the technique right which helped a lot. I have had a few powder days on the skis, and am getting pretty addicted to the feeling.

Cheers for the help.

In terms of pistes available Lenzerheide is much larger then Arosa. It is split into two distinct sides though. It is possible to get from the West side to the East(Rothorn) side via a connection under the road in Parpan, but you will have to use the local sports bus to get from the Rothorn side to the West side. There are probably more pistes on the West side then the Rothorn side but both sides offer some fun riding. I'm not sure what kind of stuff you want to ride, but there are many options to consider for your trip over.

Easiest way to get on the pistes is either get off the bus at the Rothorn Cablecar, Churwalden or Valbella. Stopping in Churwalden or Valbella will get you direct access to the west side. Getting off at the Rothorn stop will (suprise, surpise) get you up to the Rothorn side. The views are stunning from the tops of the lifts on both sides.

You are looking at about 2hrs travel time each way though for a day trip. That's a lot of travelling when you've got a great resort right on your doorstep. Especially when you consider how close the two resorts are as the crow flies. I'm not sure how you are on back country riding, but there is a combi ticket done by the resorts of Tschierten, Lenzerheide and Arosa which allows you to tour between the three resorts. This is only advisable if you know what you are doing, but you can also hire a guide to bring you round.

I ski and snowboard regularly in that area of Switzerland so if you have any specific questions just ask.

If you are flying into Geneva you could try Saas-Fee, Zermatt or Gstaad. They should all be still open at that time and they have a good mixture of slopes available for all standards. They are quite touristy, but still nice mountain towns. Many resorts will be finishing up around that time, so it might limit you to some of the larger/higher resorts which will be still operating.

Grindlewald is also reachable from Geneva and could be an option too.

How about sending some of that snow east. It's been good here in Eastern Switzerland but it appears that west and south are getting the major dumps these days.

LOTA wrote:Many thanks. Might drop in when I go to Switzerland in early March,

If you are experienced in back country skiing and have the necessary equipment you can ski down there from Arosa. It is also possible to do a round tour between the Arosa, Tschierten and Lenzerheide areas. The scenery is beautiful but route selection should be done very carefully to ensure safety.

bandit wrote:ir12daveor welcome to J2ski :D

Great 1st post :thumbup:

I hope that there was a positive outcome to the search you were involved in, which must have been pretty scary stuff.

Thanks,

The search outcome was positive in that there was no-one buried. We searched for an hour until the dogs arrived. We had a helicopter overhead for a good chunk of it. The problem was that none of us knew if someone had been buried or not. There were about 50 people riding that slope that day and the slide was huge. It went about 800m down the mountain and extended about 200m out into the flat. The debris was 4m deep where it ran out through a gulley that we were searching in. It was a miracle that noone got caught in the slide.

One point that might be relevant to this discussion though is that a few of us did get ghost signals that day. The common consensus when we discussed this amongst ourselves and the guides afterwards was that the ghost signals were probably due to a cable car operating over head. The ghost signals were easily identifiable as ghost signals because they flashed a reading for a split second which could not be found again. It was quite freaky though because for a short time you suddenly go into overdrive thinking you've found someone.

I go to Tschierten on a semi regular basis. I find it a nice resort, but mainly north facing so it gets little or no sun in mid winter. At the moment the sun is getting a little higher in the sky and it is quite good. I would not consider the resort big, but it has a nice mix of runs and as has been said before is reasonably close to Lenzerheide and Arosa. The town is a beautiful Swiss Village which is fairly cut off from the outside so a good local experience. I would have no hesitation on going there for a holiday.