I've been a member of UTO for the last 3 years. Last winter i did about 20 days ski tour, probably about half with the club.

The main problem with UTO is that it is the biggest section of the alpine club in switzerland and often tours that you want to do are booked out. They usually take a maximum of around 10-14 people. Not speaking german shouldn't be that much of a problem, there will always be someone who can speak some french and or english. The UTO program comes out in november and it is a good idea to look through the program as soon as it comes out choose the tours you want to do and join up directly. This is all done via email.

Other options would be to join a smaller club there are plenty of other sections in the zürich area or you could join a section in the french speaking part. The UTO tours are often in all parts of switzerland anyway.

I'm thinking of joining in addition to UTO another section just to have a bit more variety and chance to get on a tour without planning 3 months in advance.

Another thing i would really recommend is if you want to learn about planning ski tours and leading them yourself with friends, is a week course with the national "ausbildung zentrum" of the SAC in bern. I did 2 courses last season. You learn alot more then than just following a tour leader on a tour that you have enrolled on