Xmas gamble in the Alps

Here are a few pics from the last couple of days
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Lunch today
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jasoncapecod":3lshdtgw said:
Minus the lunch
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From the pics jason was on the Zermatt side. He still has time for another foray into Cervinia. We were not having 2 hour gourmet lunches in Zermatt on the bluebird days. On the last day with the most powder we didn't stop for lunch at all. Jason's priorities were in the right place if he made it to Hohtalli. Were the "skiroutes" open, or just the pistes?
 
The terrain under the Hohtalli tram was opened but boney. I imagine with good coverage that terrain is a hoot. Off piste was not pleasant But all the open pistes were a blast all the way down to town
 
jamesdeluxe":38e8bk5v said:
Tony, SKI-3PO, and Jason -- who knew that FTO was a den of unapologetic 1%ers?

For the record, my two trips to Lech were in 2004 and 05, back when it was a favored spot for dirtbag trips. :-D
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For the record, this is my first trip to the continent. ;-)
 
jasoncapecod":3n07nkc7 said:
The terrain under the Hohtalli tram was opened but boney.
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I think it's a myth that Zermatt has low snowfall because of the ridiculously low average (99 inches) in the resort). Scattered data from higher locations in Cervinia are quite respectable (see my NOT YET PUBLISHED feature :stir: ), and Fraser thinks snowfalls by elevation are likely comparable. But I think the Hohtalli/Stockhorn area is a likely boulder field that takes a lot of snow to cover. I remember looking over from Sunnega and thinking we could ski in the trees off Breitboden. But when riding the Breitboden chair the exposed boulders were massive and there was no way we were going in there unguided.
 
Here some more pics
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Gornergrat

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Terrain under hohtalli tram

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One of Tony's rest
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Skiing groomers with view never gets old



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jasoncapecod":2oonw63q said:
Terrain under hohtalli tram
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Exactly where we skied late afternoon our first day
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jasoncapecod":2oonw63q said:
One of Tony's rest
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I believe our table was at the window right above the sign in jason's pic. However it was puking snow all day, so no view.

jasoncapecod":2oonw63q said:
Skiing groomers with view never gets old
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Agreed. With the view you ski. When the weather deteriorates, that's the time for a gourmet lunch. Chalet Etoile is the exception because you're not getting into Italy in the first place unless the weather is nice.
 
We skied into Italy on our first day
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Italy
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Eating cheaply in Italy
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Same. The wind really picked up



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Compare Jason's pix of Zermatt with Kitzbühel, most of which looks like it's better suited for grazing cows than skiing:
http://www.alpinforum.com/forum/viewtop ... 0388e2a917

It can't get any worse for the low-elevation regions and luckily, the upcoming storms should help turn things around. I'm glad to see that where I'm going in five weeks, the Vorarlberg, is in line for a decent hit of snow.
 
Yep, those views are typically Alps horrible! (not)

Looks like OK snow for Christmas - at least compared to most of Europe.

jamesdeluxe":34mlr023 said:
Tony, SKI-3PO, and Jason -- who knew that FTO was a den of unapologetic 1%ers?
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I always thought it was 0.1%'ers here. You mean it's not? Man, I'm outta here.............
 
The "Lowdown" format was what I used originally for Inside Tracks Newsletter articles from 1997-2002 and have continued thereafter for most resort guides.
 
We had a great time in Zermatt over 8 days of skiing. A few inches of snow our first day of skiing (12/27) seemed to help conditions out a bit. I could have used more, but a bunch of nice sunny days probably worked out better with the family. We only encountered a lift line on 1 of the days (Friday 1/2), some of the slopes were busy but manageable. Getting out early was the key to good conditions, things certainly degraded after lunch with lower visibility and scraped off trails - especially down low. Thanks to Tony for the detailed trip reports from last year and to Jason for the last minute updates.
 
SKI-3PO":8menvy46 said:
We only encountered a lift line on 1 of the days (Friday 1/2), some of the slopes were busy but manageable.
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So maybe the Aspen analogy is not far off. Perhaps Zermatt is not so crowded during holidays if you're actually skiing. Good to know; I could see being there over Easter sometime.
 
I think the reputation as Aspen like expensive and crowded during the holidays is wrong. Lift tickets averaged around 70 dollars a day +or - , and that includes the Italian pass.On mountain food is the same price as the US and is Deer Valley quality. My lodge was 1300 for 6 nights including breakfast for 2 pp. I was crawling distance from the gondola. The only kicker is the airfare. Was the skiing the best? No , but the experience was.
 
As the Eurozone's economies continue to tank, we're finally getting back to an exchange rate that makes ski travel over there more affordable: €1 = $1.20
 
jasoncapecod":2559q63p said:
I think the reputation as Aspen like expensive and crowded during the holidays is wrong. Lift tickets averaged around 70 dollars a day +or - , and that includes the Italian pass.On mountain food is the same price as the US and is Deer Valley quality. My lodge was 1300 for 6 nights including breakfast for 2 pp. I was crawling distance from the gondola. The only kicker is the airfare. Was the skiing the best? No, but the experience was.
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My point is that Aspen is NOT crowded, at least on the mountains, during holidays. Our lift tickets last year for Zermatt/Cervinia were $80/day. That's reasonable in the US but quite high for the Alps, right James? Your lodging was cheaper than ours, though ours included dinners. Dining out is at least as expensive if not more than upscale US resorts. However, the best on-mountain restaurants in Zermatt/Cervinia were on a completely different level, well beyond Deer Valley on-mountain, more like Aspen or Park City top dinner spots.

The conclusion I draw here is that maybe Zermatt does not jack up prices for Christmas Week relative to "regular season," as is common practice in American ski resorts. We had "the experience" plus epic skiing. :mrgreen: Liz says Zermatt was her top lifetime ski resort experience anywhere.
 
We payed much more than Jason for the lodging, although there were 4 of us. I assumed the prices were jacked up at least somewhat for Christmas/New Years week. We went to several of the well known/higher priced on mountain restaurants. I'm sure we could have eaten cheaper, but we were happy with our choices. One discount that's good for families - kids under 9 ski free every day (didn't apply to us) and kids under 16 ski free on Saturdays, which worked out for us since that was both our first and last day.
 
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