The Skiing Department Blog

Continued from Part one:

The next morning I met up with my companions and discussed what the days skiing would have to offer. Some Verbier classics were on the menu. Highway, reached from the top of the ‘Jumbo’ cable car which takes you towards, but not all the way, up Mt Fort, Verbier highest lift station at 3330 meters. To get into Highway you need to ski past the famous steps of ‘Stairway to Heaven’, a steep ladder style climb which opens up a secret powder stash bowl. There is a fairly well skied track going around to Highway and a few other skiers are in front of us. >> Continue reading

My journey to Verbier started with a flight to Geneva, with British Airways, who have now decided to charge for checking in more than one bag. This means for a return trip, it would cost up to an extra £70 to take a suitcase and a ski bag. I got around this charge by packing my ski boots in my hand luggage and all my other clothes in my ski bag. I noticed that many people had taken as much hand luggage onto the aircraft as possible, surely a compromise to safety. I can only imagine the negative impact this has on the UK ski industry when buying your own equipment means an extra charge of £70 on top of your ski trip. >> Continue reading

The ski season in Europe normally starts in early December and runs through to the end of April depending on snow conditions. The beginning of the winter can bring a mixture of conditions and good snow is sometimes hard to come by, before Christmas.

The benefits of skiing before Christmas though are clear.
Much quieter slopes and cheaper accommodation in resort.
The downsides can include unsettled weather, less sunlight than later in the winter, poor snow conditions, limited amount of lifts operating and lack of après ski atmosphere.
Still, if it has snowed heavily then the benefits of having the mountain virtually to yourself, at knock down prices, out way the negatives.

In this blog post, I continue to describe my best ski resorts. The first part of this post can be read here: My Best Ski Resorts

Wengen, Switzerland. Best for Swiss atmosphere and scenery.

Nestled above the Lauterbrunnen valley, not far from the town of Interlaken, is the resort of Wengen. The resort is most famous for the world cup downhill ski race which descends, from the top of the Lauberhorn Mountain, all the way down into Wengen. This race is one of the oldest and toughest races on the ski world cup circuit and brings thousands of spectators to Wengen, every year in January.  The town itself is completely car free and the only access is by railway. >> Continue reading | 2 Comments