Hi there,

I have a question regarding Flumserberg. I am an practically beginner (I only took two ski lessons so far) and I wanted to practice my 'skills'. Whatever, I would prefer to go to the simplest thing I can find.

I saw that in Flumserberg, there are some t-bar lifts near Tannenboden
http://www.flumserberg.ch. Do I really need a skipass for only accessing them? Or is it enough to buy a SBB ticket to Tannenboden? I am hesitating between a snow'n rail ticket and a plain sbb one (which doubles the price).

Thanks in advance, people.

You need a ticket to access the t-bars. Suggest that you take a points tickets - it is cheap and should be enough to practice.

You can buy a ticket that just covers the 3 T-Bars and it's much cheaper than
a full lift pass.

However, there are other places that are good for beginners such as Brunni which has a full-say ticket for just 21CHF for the lift (with two easy runs).

Ski-lift Brunni

A bit more tricky to get to from Zurich with public transport. (you need to change in Wadenswil to Einseidlen and then get a bus to Brunni from there.

Brunni would work, but getting there is a PITA compared to Flumserberg. If your just using the T's at Tannenboden (bear in mind the shorter one at the top uses no points) a points card might cover 2 possibly 3 visits, and they can be weekend or midweek. So if you are taking your time and slip in a couple of half days, it could be quite a cheap way of doing it. The points cards are valid for 1 year and you also get CHF5 back when the points are used by dropping the card in the machine, however I just checked and couldn't see a price for them just day passes, but from memory they are about CHF 35 -39. I don't think SnR cover a points car though, it's just a day pass.

In my opinion, if you are set on Flumserberg, which is understandable given the close proximity to Zurich and nature of the slopes, then you may aswell invest in the normal ticket.

The snow n rail with half price card is 75chf, 100chf without I believe.

The t-bar runs there are very small, and I imagine though I know everyone is different, if you have already had two lessons you will be quick to move off of those slopes and move to the bigger blue run and perhaps some of the reds, which are not that difficult at Flumserberg, in my opinion.

You will have enough blue and red on what I refer to as the right hand side of flumserberg runs to occupy your day and practice your skills. The left side runs are a little more challenging.

Good luck, have fun, I am also there this weekend should you need or want any ski pals and support should you wish to test yourself on tougher runs over the day.

Thank you very much for the info, guys.

I think that for a practising day, Brunni will do it. I have a (final) question. Are there lockers in Brunni to leave the shoes and a backpack? or do I have to leave them in Einsiedeln or Wädenswil (where I have to commute with the train)?

Thanks again

They are tearing Wädenswil station apart at the moment so I wouldn't reckon on finding anything there at all - or getting to it if it still exists. Time is probably the problem in Einsiedeln. The bus to Alpthal, Brunni connects with the train from Wädenswil to Einsiedeln, so you wouldn't have long to fool around there. (Mind you, if they see you coming, they are far more likely to wait for you than in a similar situation in Zürich).

For cross country skiing I used to take a large rucksack and cheap jacket and boots, dump the jacket and boots in the rucksack and hang it on a hook at the start of the loipe. Never done a similar thing on a piste but you might get away with it. Skiing with a rucksack is not all that much fun for a beginner.

(Mind you, skiing down from the club ski hut to the mountain railway station carrying their kit for a week in a rucksack without hip or chest strap, ensured that our children learned to turn the skis from the hips and not from the shoulders at a very tender age. Centrifugal force rules.)

I was in Brunni last week but I bought the skipass for the wrong lift...

You have to go to the SKILIFT BRUNNI. There's too BRUNNI-ALPTHAL, but it's not for complete beginners...

Another recomendation is:

Sattel-Hockstuckli... You have the Snow'n'rail for 45€ from Zurich and it's perfect for beginners. There's a lot of kids there, and that because of the slopes are perfect to learn.

http://www.sattel-hochstuckli.ch/

This is Switzerland unless you have valuable items in the rucksack just find a quite spot and leave it laying there most unlikely to get pinched.

hahahaha. You are right.