I just moved to Zurich and plan to have my girl friend over at the end of March and we would like to go skiing (well, snowboarding). Neither of us are very good snowboarders so we don't need half-pipes etc. I don't have a car so I would like to go to some place nearby (by bus or train).

Flumserberg would probably be the best bet for you.

Flumserberg ( http://www.flumserberg.ch ) would be the best bet. About 1.5 hours from central Zurich on the S2 train. They've got ski and snowboarding schools there too, so you can get some training to get started with too.

Its probably best to ask here for a snow update close to when you want to go (ie. in march). This year has been very poor for snowfall and by the end of march Flumserberg might be better for mountain biking...I just checked and they say they have 30cm on the top - normally by this time of the season they should have 50-80...

I think Im gonna cry when I see pictures from the WEF in davos this week on the news and see no snow in town!

I have just got back from Flims-Laax, and there is no skiing below about 2000m. No snow at village level. Nice sunshine though...

dave

How sad is this - this week I'm taking my road bike into Transa for a tune-up. I can go biking in February, how crap is that!

Indeed - this seems to be the nightmare winter I was always worried about - kind of makes me glad that I'm not in Switzerland any more.....

If this is the shape of things to come then it's very bad news for the Swiss ski industry and very ominous for us all in terms of radical changes to climate.

There was a good programme on BBC1 last night where they were discussing the implications of the predicted rise in temps over the next 80 years for the British Isles and it was quite frightening. I'd imagine things would be even worse for Switzerland.


Gav

I have heard today that apparently the banks are no longer willing to give loans to low altitude ski resorts because they see them as a bad risk of defaulting within a few years when there is no snow under their shiny new 8-man chairlift...

Andrew

My favourite ski websites I check regularly are:
www.bergfex.ch

And: www.myswitzerland.com. On the right side of the page there's a link "Snow depths and open facilities", where you can see that the snow situation is pretty depressing at the moment.

From the 20 places listed in Central Switzerland, only Titlis (Engelberg) and Andermatt offer some skiing at the moment.
For the records, I read that there is a T-bar lift in Regensberg (about 10min from Zurich-Oerlikon) on a hill but of course not a flake of snow under it.
I read in the TagesAnzeiger that in Sternenberg, a person donated CHF 2m to the community. Then there was a referendum (of course) where&how this was to be spend, and the citizens chose a new skilift to be build. So, there is now a brand-new platterlift costing CHF 270'000 francs...but not a flake of snow on the hill...

But according to the weather forecast (www.meteonews.ch) it will become very very cold in a few days about all over Switzerland -- minus 14 in Zürich!!

For REALLY good skiing in Switzerland the only real option at the moment is Zermatt. I just came back from a week there and the snow on the pistes was great! Of course Zermatt is lucky to be so high (1640m) and the slopes on Klein Matterhorn are roughly between 2500m and 3800m.
(www.skiinfo.ch)

For the real ski-freaks..here is an extensive list of all the cable cars (seilbahnen) in Switzerland:
http://www.seilbahnen-schweiz.ch/Mit..._nach_Ort.html

In addition I heard that Obersaxen-Mundaun is a really nice area to go to.
A bit further driving than Flims-Laax and for example Davos, but definitely worth - not crowded at all and beautiful slopes.

I keep my fingers crossed that temperatures will indeed drop and that there will be snow-snow-snow for some great skiing till the end of March at least!

Well, me and my buddies are aiming for a trip on Sunday. Full report to follow... we'll wait until Friday to see where the alleged snow is...

I head to Scuol for Wednesday and Thursday, so Ill post a report when Im back too, I have my fingers crossed for some flakies today and wednesday.

Andrew

Thanks for the feedback! I'm planning to rent a place to stay at the resort and not go back and forth between Zurich and the resort every day. What could one expect to pay for say three nights?

WINTER'S HERE. Snoooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! Flumserberger this weekend, I'm definitlely going.

I'll be there Saturday (morning lessons).. and depending on how many aches and pains I have, possibly Sunday as well.


So.. the big question - Skis or Board?

For me, board. But it is all down to personal preference as far as I'm concerned. Try both and see which floats your boat.