Zinal

Zinal, Switzerland

Rated: 3/5 (from 7 ratings)

Zinal

A small, pretty, typically Swiss village, standing on a high sunny plateau in the Val d'Anniviers with some spectacular off-piste possibilities.

Summary

The Swiss ski resort of Zinal is in the Swiss Alps at an altitude of 1,670m5,479ft, with 70km43 miles of marked runs.

Zinal is part of the Sierre-Anniviers ski area with access to 159km99 miles of downhill skiing, with 80 marked pistes, served by a total of 51 ski lifts. In addition to the skiing in Zinal itself (70km43 miles of pisted ski runs), the appropriate ski Lift Pass will allow you to ski or snowboard in the other Sierre-Anniviers ski resorts of Chandolin, Grimentz, St-Luc and Vercorin.

The ski resort itself is at 1,670m5,479ft, so skiing or boarding back to the resort is usually possible. With ski lifts as high as 2,910m9,547ft, skiing and snowboarding is assured throughout the season.

Ski Area Stats

Zinal Overview

The Swiss ski resort of Zinal is a small ski area typical of many in Switzerland, situated in the Val d'Anniviers. A ski bus links Grimentz and Zinal on a frequent schedule, St-Luc and Chandolin are also accessible via bus but a change is required in nearby Vissoie.

Zinal is home to the first Avalanche Training Centre, later repeated in other stations. Sponsored by Mammut this area has 16 hidden transmitters which can be activated randomly from a control station allowing users to practice locating one or more simulated victims using their own transceivers. Entrance is free and requires no reservation.

Zinal is accessible via a public transport with a main-line train station in Sierre and a bus connection to Zinal via Vissoie.

This information kindly provided by the local swissmountainleader.com.

 Notable Ski Runs

The longest possible descent in Zinal is 7km4 miles long and the most difficult run is the 'Descente de l'aigle', which is 7km4 miles in length.

Skiing

Zinal offers good skiing, particularly for Expert skiers who will enjoy the extensive off-piste possibilities and the exhilarating "Piste du Chamois" descent from the Corne de Sorebois at nearly 3000m finishing in the nearby village of Mottec or in Grimentz returning to Zinal using the regular free ski buses. The steep black run, "Piste de l'Aigle", returns to the village and provides a challenge at the end of the day for strong skiers.

For beginners the nursery slopes are located at nearly 2500m, accessed via a cable car and equipped with snow cannons assuring good conditions all through the season.

Intermediate skiers will enjoy the excellent carving pistes but may find the limited prepared terrain and the two drag lifts restricting.

Zinal offers good sking, particularly, for Expert and Intermediate skiers.

Snowboarding

Zinal is the annual venue for the ExtremeCarving snowboarding group who relish the the steep black runs particularly the "Barthélémy".