This is why I almost never go to Flumserberg. If you drive there are so many other resorts available to you with much less waiting in line. Having said that since its ski holiday time in many schools now expect all resorts to be more crowded for the next three weeks. And many areas have Fasnacht too so expect drunk people dressed in funny clothes to invade the piste!!!

My personal tips.

Beginners: Try Amden, its 33CHF for a day ticket, there are a few pull lifts and a 2 seater chair lift. The chair lift runs over a pretty flat piste which I have been taking beginners to lately. Its closer then almost any other resort from Zurich, take the last exit off the autobahn before you get to Wallensee tunnels. I'm not sure how crowded it would have been on a sunday like yesterday, but any day I have been there (usually Saturday) there has never been more then a handfull of people at the lift. There is not a huge amount of parking so get there early.

All levels: Try Lenzerheide, the area is so big and the lifts so fast that even on the few occasions that there are ques, they move very fast and efficiently.

Intermediate and Better: Try Elm. Great location lovely scenery and rarely gets too crowded. Many people stay at the 6 seater lift right by the top of the gondella station, but if you head over to the 2 seater chair lift or the pull lift you may not wait so long. Parking is usually not a problem here either.

St Moritz Report

http://www.stmoritz.ch/map-002-01040200-en.htm - Click on 'Winter Card' for piste map.

St Moritz is about 3 1/12 hours by train from Zurich with one change in Chur so it's a bit far for a day trip. While the hotels are some of the most expensive in the world, the youth hostel was very reasonable and very good, and only a 10 min walk across the frozen lake from the centre of town and a 10 min walk (or 2 min bus ride) from the lift to Signal.

Spent 4 days there a week ago, one of the best resorts I've ever been to.
I wouldn't recommend this resort for beginners, as there don't seem to be many easy areas and there are only a few blue runs but if you are happy on fairly challenging reds and easy blacks, this place is heaven.

The reds coming down from Munt da San Murezzan are all wide and in good condition with fast lifts taking you back up but they all tend to have a couple of VERY steep sections on them, certainly steeper than any reds I've ever seen.

The central area around Conviglia is very fun, lots of on and off-piste options to get down and a very cool park with 3 graded runs each with 3 - 4 jumps, and a couple of rails. You could easily get a couple of metres air on the smallest jumps if you went for it and just looking at some of the 2 - 3 metre drops on the red and black runs made me wet myself, so I can safely say there is something there for everyone.

The best area for skiiers and boarders alike is on the right, on the lifts up from Marguns and Gluna. There are multiple ways down on all these runs with lots of powder inbetween the pistes. I must have gone up the same lift 10 times and never took exactly the same way down. The blacks here are more like challenging reds so any competant skiier/ boarder should be ok and if there is a steep bit they don't like, there is always the option of bombing off the side and finding an easier way down.

Seeing as half the people who go to St Moritz just go to wear fur, drive Maybachs and show off, the slopes aren't that busy. Some of the lifts had waiting times of about 5 min but all of them have singles line, so if you don't mind not sitting next to your friends you can skip the queue and get inserted onto any not-full lifts. I never waited more than 30 seconds to get a lift the whole holiday.

You can ski all the way down to the bottom but the runs are well-worn and very thin paths, so they will save you time but they aren't much fun.

So, my highest possible recommendation, I definitely plan on getting down there for another weekend before the end of the season.

Beginners review of Flumserberg - Sunday 3rd Feb

We were at Flumserberg yesterday (Sunday 3rd) and it was busy, but not as busy as we expected having heard experiences on here.

Getting There - Public Transport

There are loads of train options to get to Flumserberg on public transport. We were travelling from Oerlikon so went to Rapperswil, changed and went to Ziegelbrucke, changed again for Unterterzen. Each of the changes was literally off one train, onto the next one which was stood waiting. Swiss efficiency at its best.

From Unterterzen you get the gondola up to Tannenboden, which cost about 7CHF return with half tax card (Note: this was just for the gondola - not any lifts or anything). All in all from Oerlikon to Tannenboden is was less than 2 hours.

Rental

We reserved our equipment online from Swiss rent a sport, at the following link (in English):
www.swissrent.com/english/reservieren.html?haendler=18

However, we weren't arriving until the lesson we had booked, which started at 1pm. When we arrived we were told that equipment was only "reserved" until 10am, a fact which they do not make clear at all on their website! I had even e-mailed them beforehand explaining our arrival time and no mention was made of this. So, as you say above, equipment was extremely limited. My wife ended up having to rent skis that were 30cm too long for her (and were freestyle skis - despite this being her first time skiing) and boots which looked like childrens boots. I am also quite tall and simply could not get poles which were in any way long enough.

Not a very good experience. My advice, either get there before 10am, or go to the Intersport shop (Intersport Gassner) also at Tannenboden. To be honest I thought the service at Swissrentasport was poor at best, with no attempt to match the skis to the height of the person, and no help with poles etc - despite it being quiet at that time.

Lessons

As I mentioned, we were there to take a lesson. If you are a complete beginner book these well in advance to avoid disappointment. Even though we booked a private lesson, by the time I booked it (Tuesday last week) there were only afternoon slots available. I booked via the Flums website, on the link to the Swiss Ski School.

Our instructor, Peter, was friendly and patient (he bloody needed to be with us!) and well recommended. He spoke good English and explained things clearly, whilst not patronising. As one of our group of 3 had skiied a little before (mostly cross country) she was much better than the other two of us, and he divided his time and pushed her on much more to other techniques. He was also good with some kids who were clearly struggling to use the pony lift after being abandoned by one of the other instructors.

In the end due to our crap equipment (see above) the lesson was cut short to 2hours - but it was good and informative.

Flumserberg Itself

I thought the snow looked good, and certainly felt good whilst learning. The resort areas were busy (i.e. restaurants/bars) and there was some queuing if you wanted to take the gondola up to Maschgenkamm, but on the learner areas it wasn't too bad.

All in all, if you need a place for your first time skiing, it wasn't that bad. As i said, the learner areas weren't too busy, the lesson we had was good, and its easy enough to get to. Just make sure to reserve your equipment in advance and get there before 10am!

what is the use to go by car from zürich to flumserberg?
there (for me) is nothing more convenient then rail&snow.

I think you hit the nail on the head there when you say for you! There are some of us who for various reasons prefer to, or in some cases even have to drive!

For some of us it is more convenient with a car for various reasons.

Howdy, we'll be going there,last minute deal, for a week on Saturday with two of our children.
I wanted to ask specifically about the blue marked ski pistes,are they narrow,very steep and full of 'molehills' ?
Or will they do for relaxed skiing with two beginner children e.g. being very wide and not very bumpy?

Anything in particular to recommend or to avoid ( not worth it's money ) in the village ?

Thanks for any feedback anyone can give!

Cheers

EE

Saas-Fee is beautiful. The town is really nice, and the fact that its car free helps the relaxed atmosphere. To be honest I don't remember that many blue runs there, but the one at Langfluh does stick in my mind as being particularly flat. You can take a cable car up and down to it. There is also a couple of pull lifts right down by the town which are pretty good, but they get quite crowded, probably even more so next week as it is the middle of the ski holidays.

http://ski.intermaps.ch/saastal/saas...ex.swf?lang=de

Enjoy the holiday.

Thanks a bunch Eire!

Previously we went to Montana and there even the blue pistes were not very great for beginner skiers,unless we went up to the glacier......
I am only a good intermediate and thus it's also for my benefit if the slopes are not too narrow and steep,then i can help my girls better.They will have skiing lessons of course, but we will also try to hit the slopes with them on our own

I am very much looking forward to it and being car free is a plus as well.

The hotel has got a small 'wellness' facility but we will most probably peruse the public pool as well.

Hi,
I just looked at the website you mentioned but just couldn't figure out how to get there without a car. Would you happen to know if I can use the train/bus? thanks.

There is a bus stop at Passhohe in Ibergeregg, but I am not sure how frequently it is serviced.

check out www.sbb.ch for more information.

If you are coming from Zurich or surrounding area, Amden is probably a little easier to get to and not too dissimilar to Ibergeregg.

I love Saas Fee but there are limited blues, a few on the glacier on top, have fun getting the very crowded access piste from the top gondola though, that is a bloody nightmare, icy and crowded. Actually, there are a few good blues on the tow lines above the main gondola stop (can't remember the names). The reds are very wide but a bit steep, the first time I went I was an advanced beginner/early immediate, these were a little challenging. But you have tons of room to turn so if you can just make yourself turn no problem.

my favorite ski area is the are on the left side (looking at the skating rink). The slopes there were all red but not too difficult reds. Sorry there is one black run also and one good blue run that winds its ways down the mountain and through the trees, it is fun but quite flat.

You don't have to take the Gondela up to Allalain to access the blues. Take the Gondela to Langfluh then there is a seat lift that goes to the bottom of a very flat pull lift. This piste should be perfect.

Your point on the reds is valid though. Lots of them are very wide. But beware there are a few steep sections interspersed here and there on them.

Report today from Ibergeregg. 09.02.2008
Early morning good snow conditions until 13:00 then it did soften up in the very busy areas but these are easy to miss. Max wait time for a lift was less than 5 mins. There was a race on today so that back slope lift was busy, but I stayed away from that. Over on lifts 4 to 6 (Numbered 21 – 23 on the web site Panoramakarte) it was very quite. Run near lift 6 was great for beginners today. Great views down into the Swiss knife valley.

DC

Has anyone skiied/snowboarded on the Le Saleve by geneva I note they have a little slope where people were sledging so just wondering if its possible to ski/snowboard -on a little scale obviously

ta!

more about laax/flims

i have been there for one week.stayed in laax, closest station murschetg. mostly i have entered the gondola to nagens at flims bergbahnen. the whole resort is beautiful, offers from blue to black everything, but id say its more blue-red-mixture. the whole area however appears to me to be one big slope.

whether you are on vorab gletscher (3018), la siala (2900) or cassons (2700) you can just ride nearly everywhere down to the valley.

the slopes itself a very wide, in good condition. the maintanance and service provided by the whole resort is very good.
we had 3 beginners which were very satisfied with the facilities/beginner slopes. the lessons they have booked were very beginner friendly etc. recommended.

the resort was very busy, but the slopes were partly very empty=EASYRIDER! the only lack is somehow the partly low capacity of the lifts.

e.g. alp ruschein has a very slow 2-seater running. for me its the weakest part of the resort. it takes very long to get there, it has only one black slope down and at the end (when youre a snowboarder) you have to unstrap and walk 600m to the hut/lift.

compared to last year, the homerun from nagens over plaun to flims bergbahnen had enough snow. this run is about 15-20 minutes pure fun to ride home/legna bar.

off piste area is massive! the nicest one for me was from vorab gletscher to sattel. from there i kept far left, scratched over a small path, walked up to the far end and took the half way down of run 77, went over again and ended up at slope 35/alp ruschein.

the big complain i have about the bus system. its the crappiest ever! the busses never/rarely kept to the schedule, they were always packed, the busses shall run every 30min which is ridiculous! every 10 minutes would be far more apropriate.

i dont know why between 8:30-10:30 they dont send out 1-3 busses at one time? its the time most people go out boarding. at night, the nightliner is a total mess about time too. we always ordered a taxi, because for some reason/at some point you have to call them that you want to go...we did not get it. next time well be there with a car and will have the flat in flims instead laax. more bars, more people...

20th Feb Flims/Laxx

Mountain was still covered in snow, although even at the top it was starting to get a little patchy.
Never made it over to the Gletscher
http://www.myswitzerland.com/wispo_i.../432_KARTE.jpg
We stayed mainly around the slopes on the Nagens and La Slala side and they were pretty good for boarders and skiers, although the long red 10 down from La Slala had a few ups, which needed a bit of speed to get up and over.
The chair lift up to Mutta Rodunda even has heated seats, which is very nice for those (me) who landed a little heavily on their arse that morning.

The blues coming down from Nagens were perfect for beginners and the 2 restaurants there did decent enough food. Everything was really clearly marked, but like Flow says above the mountain is pretty well ridden and the off-piste is rapidly becoming piste. Pick your own route down and avoid the crowds.
The Red 66 coming down from Crap... to Plaun is fantastic for boarders but for skiers not so good, I took a 9 year old skier down there (not thinking) and she was nearly in tears at the end of the run, a little too tiring was her review. So for the rest of the day we stayed over by Nagens where she could happily do all the runs.

Flims as a village looked like it had a lot going for it, quite a few bars and restaurants, I don't think it would get boring at night. They also had a childrens fun area on the slopes which looked brilliant for the little'uns if they didn't fancy tackling the proper high mountain.

Only issue we had was parking at flims was limited to a mult-istory carpark with a low roof 220m, which means I had to dismantle the ski rack to get the car in. But I guess most people don't have as impractical a motor as myself.

I`m thinking of going to Engelberg skiing for the weekend and I`m comparing it to Flims. What are the runs like in Engelberg? Is it a good place for carving? Are there many people during weekend?
Thanks!!!

I will be snowboarding in Chamonix next weekend. Considering the current warm weather in the area, can someone suggest a good area at Chamonix to spend time? We will only be there for a day so we are looking to spend our time at the best place possible and with the best conditions. There will be two skiers and me (on a snowboard). We are all a somewhat above average and are comfortable on black runs.

Additionally, is the location you suggest near to the town of Chamonix? I'm trying to book a hotel that is somewhat close to where we go skiing, but also has good restaurants/bars close.

Thanks in advance for your help!!

I spent a week there earlier in the season, so only know a little. On the other hand I spent the time with seasonaires, so got a bit more insight than normal.

In the warm weather Grand Montet is probably the way to go. High altitude, north facing, plenty of steep and challenging terrain especially on the off-piste. A lot of it on Glacier so the snow will stay in good condition. If you want to go off-piste probably worth hiring a guide as they will show you the best spots (lots of secrets on that mountain) and also show you the definite no go zones (no shortage of them either).

The Vallee Blanche is definitely worth checking out too.

Grand Montet is about a 10-15 minute bus ride from Chamonix village. But definitely worth staying in the village if you can for the bars and restaurants as the bus ride is no drama. Best Aprè is Chambre Neuf across from the train station. Great band and full of happy, drunk Scandanavians. Later in the evening South bar, Monkey bar and the other bar in Chamonix Sud are worth checking out. Definitely eat once at Munchies, the food there is to die for.

Thanks Woodsie. That was extremely helpful!!