Messages posted by : Thabo
|
Going to Colfosco late March/early April. What are the conditions like and where is the best area to stay and ski? Worried about south facing slopes.
|
|
|
Anyone done summer skiing in Zermatt or similar? What's it like? I want to take the little one for her first time out
|
|
|
I was lucky enough to ski both last year in "early" season – Zermatt over xmas and Verbier over NY. The early snow was so good everywhere last year it's hard to say what Verbier would be like during early Dec in a normal or bad year. Zermatt is very snowsure so you are guaranteed quite a bit will be open by then as all the areas are pretty high up. Not so guaranteed on the Italian side (Cervinia) but great skiing if there is snow as it's south facing and you can get an international pass with access to both sides of the Matterhorn. Although the Verbier region is big, it's very spread out and hard to get across all of it so you will probably be limited to about ½ at most. I agree that it takes time to get on the mountain in Zermatt but the geography means that if the Glacier is too windy (tends to happen @ 3900m!), the Sunegga area will be sheltered and each area is big enough for a full day's skiing so just choose your area in the morning. You should be able to ski into town in all of the 3 areas in Zermatt by the time you are going and that gives you a 14km run!
Here's a quick summary: Skiing – both excellent if conditions are good – slightly more guaranteed in Zermatt – 500m higher Towns – Both big enough to have great restaurants and nightlife. Both very expensive. Verbier pass is a bit cheaper and it's probably one of the easiest resorts in the Alps to get to from the airport (Geneva). Zermatt's electric taxis and buses make it easy to get around (and traffic & pollution free). And of course – there is only ONE Matterhorn. Infrastructure – I found some of the lifts around Verbier old or inadequate (too many drag lifts) where Zermatt's are great. But – cable cars in Zermatt take time and get crowded. I guess you can see I favour Zermatt, and not purely because the French-Swiss are er…French ; ) |
|