Evolène & Arolla, CH: 03/05/17

jamesdeluxe

Administrator
After all the trip reports in Alpinforum that raved about Val d'Anniviers, just east of the 4 Vallées (Verbier), I decided to go to the Valais region in western Switzerland for an eight-day visit. My flight arrived early Saturday in Geneva; I got my rental car (a brand new Citroën with literally five kilometers on the odometer) and drove east along Lake Geneva. On a sunny morning, it was breathtaking and borderline dangerous as I almost drove off the highway staring across the water at the dramatic mountains that come right to the lake's southern edge.

Within 90 minutes, I was in the Rhône Valley and pulled into the first of several locals-only ski areas I plan to hit on this trip, Mont Noble. Good thing that my car has a hotshot GPS system as there are only signs on the Autobahn alerting you to the most well-known ski regions, not the many under-the-radar joints. In fact, there are no signs that direct you to any of these ski areas until you're literally in the village near the mountain. The skiing was good; I enjoyed several nice 2,700-vert runs, but a storm moved in and it snowed hard for the next three hours. Visibility was poor so no reason to post photos.

Skies cleared out overnight, 7 am from my window:
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Here's the view from the valley floor:
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It's a wine region so there are grapes growing on both the north and south slopes:
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After a half hour of twisty driving through the Hérens Valley, I came upon the Pyramids of Euseigne -- more impressive in person than in the pix:
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Funny that I'd never heard of them. I was wondering if they're manmade; however, according to the My Switzerland website: The cones were created at the end phase of the last Ice Age, about 80,000 to 10,000 years ago. When the glaciers retreated, enormous piles of debris were left behind, which contained boulders. While rain and meltwater eroded the area surrounding the boulders, these rocks served as protective caps for the soil underneath them, enabling the formation of these well-known natural monuments. Looks like something you'd see in southern Utah, not Switzerland; however, they built a tunnel right under them.

About 20 minutes later, I arrived in the cute village of Evolène:
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... and booted up next to a family that was excited to hit the slopes.
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You glide down to a little ticket shack and then continue further to the lift:
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A nice locals ski area:
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An old slow double takes you from the base to the bottom of the ski area, 2,500 verts in 22 minutes:
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About halfway up, people were shralping the low-elevation powder, which hadn't yet turned to mank in the sun.
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Top of the Chemeuille chair -- from this point, it's nothing but surface lifts for the rest of the day:
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Looker's left:
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Time to hit some powder before the sun cooks it:
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The only disappointment at Evolène -- the summit t-bar was already closed for the season:
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Once the February vacation period is over, the smaller ski areas start putting lifts into hibernation. Too bad, I was looking forward to the upper terrain. I complained to the guy next to me, who wasn't happy about it either.

A not uncommon sight in French-speaking regions: older couples in matching ski outfits, which would get you thrown into fashion jail in North America:
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Time for a quick outdoor lunch with the requisite Euro disco blaring in the background:
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It's kinda comforting to see that francophone 20-something smokers haven't gone the way of the dodo bird over here:
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The sign on the right reminds people not to throw cigarette butts in the snow -- "one cigarette butt can pollute up to a square meter of snow!"
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At 12:30, I decided to get moving to my other target ski area about 20 minutes away, Arolla, located in a box canyon at the end of the valley. The snow was still decent on the lower part of Evolène before I ducked into the trees on the trail back to the parking lot:
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Gorgeous view:
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Arolla is right on the other side of the huge ridge that you see in the Evolène photos, but it was much colder: mid-winter temps:

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Nothing but old Poma platter lifts there: the main one had a rocket-launch effect at the beginning:
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I love how they zig-zag through the terrain -- this one had a few steep sections:
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And like at Evolène, the summit lift was closed for the season, ugh. Several people were putting on skins here to access the upper terrain:
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About six inches of nice leftovers on top of a refrozen base -- you'd hit bottom every five or so turns:
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Another Poma with a 45-degree curve -- a shame that people are too spoiled or soft nowadays to accept these.


With light getting flat, I headed down for a mid-mountain afternoon break:


These refreshment/food huts are called buvettes:


Mademoiselle tending crêpes:


While I was relaxing outside, an entire family (parents and three kids, including a five-year-old!) arrived after skinning up.


As the rest of the group went inside, the mother shifted everyone's bindings into downhill mode and removed/stored five pairs of skins: badass!


Still life: beer and a lemon tarte
 
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jamesdeluxe":1hx2y1i0 said:
Time to hit some powder before the sun cooks it.
Fraser's reports say things are finally looking up in the Alps. I bet you're glad you missed that week at the beginning of February.

jamesdeluxe":1hx2y1i0 said:
And like at Evolène, the summit lift was closed for the season, ugh.
I would never have contemplated this in early March either. Now that we know, it's worth investigating for future trips.
 
Tony Crocker":17ty8le3 said:
Fraser's reports say things are finally looking up in the Alps. I bet you're glad you missed that week at the beginning of February.
We've gotten 2.5 feet over the past 36 hours and northern France has even more. Yesterday was a classic Alps above-the-treeline whiteout, vertigo included. Still snowing but supposed to clear later today and stay sunny the rest of my visit.

jamesdeluxe":17ty8le3 said:
And like at Evolène, the summit lift was closed for the season, ugh.
Tony Crocker":17ty8le3 said:
I would never have contemplated this in early March either. Now that we know, it's worth investigating for future trips.
Keep in mind that these places are the Swiss equivalent of Baldy/Waterman, so they're operating on a completely different business/operations plan than the well-known resorts that you generally visit here. It was a shame to have missed out on the upper terrain at these mountains -- especially the beautiful 3,400-vert runs off the looker's right of Arolla's summit lift -- but as you can see from the pix, there was enough available to keep me entertained.
 
It's not the Baldy/Waterman issue at all. They have unreliable snow but I've skied Baldy as late as May 31. If there's snow they will be open as there is a huge local population base.

This is more the Taos/Crested Butte/Telluride/Red Mt./Whitewater situation where you depend upon destination visitors who lose interest as winter is waning and thus they close completely in early April with huge snowpacks.

Since these Euro areas similarly close lifts on a scheduled basis, it is obviously possible to inquire in advance to see what that schedule is. I would routinely do that for an April destination but it would never have occurred to me in early March. Until now.

In the Alps in spring I would more expect lower terrain to be abandoned, with lifts from the valley towns to be upload/download to the open ski lifts/terrain higher up. But you learn something every day.
 
Tony Crocker":34vlbyxl said:
This is more the Taos/Crested Butte/Telluride/Red Mt./Whitewater situation where you depend upon destination visitors who lose interest as winter is waning and thus they close completely in early April with huge snowpacks.
For the record, what I heard about how Evolène and Arolla close certain lifts after the February school holidays was from other skiers I spoke to (two to be exact), not marketing or operations, so who knows what the truth is.

Even though the vertical drops would be impressive to North Americans (4,100 feet for Evolène and 3,200 feet for Arolla), I'd be shocked to learn that a lot of destination tourists are skiing these areas. The renowned 4 Vallées is just to the west and the Anniviers Valley (lesser known than the 4 Vallées, but well regarded) is just to the east. The Hérens Valley has three comparatively small ski areas that are all powered almost exclusively by surface lifts; thus, they're aimed at locals (i.e. driving up from a relatively short distance) or a very small contingent of off-the-beaten-path weirdos like me and the Alpinforum nutcases.

In short, I don't think the Taos/Crested Butte/Telluride/Red Mt./Whitewater comparison is appropriate. As you've pointed out before, there are aspects of the Alps ski scene that don't have precise stateside equivalents.
 
Looks like it was a great vocations!! your pictures reminded me of our Christmas stay in Austria in 2014. We couldn't ski much because I've had a surgery 3 months before, still was amazingly beautiful around with this Christmas atmosphere. My 8 year old son was super happy to travel, to ski and to make new foreign friends. My wife was really obsessed with the place to stay and we had a real fairytale house 8) . Browsed in Internet and found an article about European property investment https://tranio.com/traniopedia/tips...lpine-ski-resorts-to-live-and-invest-in_5294/. This idea doesn't leave my head: why not to invest in ski resort in Austria or elsewhere in Alps?
 
Came across this report on Arolla on TGR and found it worthwhile. (Lots of Andermatt, Sedrun and Disentis in beginning)

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I'm grazing around to find interesting higher altitude places in NW Alps that would not have been trashed by recent rain. Arolla looks quite interesting if the lift to 3,000 meters is open.
 
if the lift to 3,000 meters is open.
As underscored by my recent trip, ski areas big and small in Switzerland, a different animal than Austria or France, are subject to cost-saving lift (or even entire sector) closures on either side of peak season: Xmas to the end of the winter school holidays in early March. You shouldn't have to worry about Arolla's summit lift when you're there in January.
 
Arolla looks interesting. It has the altitude (2000-3000m), snow bases (80-165cm), and terrain to make an interesting day. (See orange higlighted areas).

I like that a huge expanse is served by a local's only a poma lift. Screams of excellent powder preservation.

Looks like James did both areas - I am likely not to try to ski both in a day even though both are on the same 46 CHF lift ticket.

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I am likely not to try to ski both in a day even though both are on the same 46 CHF lift ticket.
That was my impression looking at the broad area ChrisC circled. But at his 40K/day pace I'm sure ChrisC could easily cover both areas in a day.
 
Plenty of terrain for a full day at each area when the upper surface lifts are in operation. Really annoying that they were closed given the nice conditions.
 
But at his 40K/day pace I'm sure ChrisC could easily cover both areas in a day.

Start the morning in Arolla and see how things go. I will be on my own for this leg of the trip, so it's possible to do both. However, I do not like changing ski boots, driving, and then putting them back on.

The Powderhounds had a favorable write-up on Arolla and Evolene. Link

Plenty of terrain for a full day at each area when the upper surface lifts are in operation. Really annoying that they were closed given the nice conditions.

Were the upper surface lifts open on the weekends? I think the TGR crew went to Arolla in March for the last few seasons. No mention of closed surface lifts (or maybe read past that), but those guys probably enjoyed skinning for a week.
 
I came across this Evolene report on Alpinforum. A nice write-up with lots of photos. Link
One interesting note from the post:

I would also like to say a small final word in connection with the news from Télé-Evolène AG. As you may know, the ski area is in financial trouble. The company has a project for a gondola and the renovation of the restaurant, as well as other parallel investments totaling 11 million. An increase in share capital was initiated (there has been little advertising so far, but that should change soon). The goal is to raise 6 million francs. Of course, it will be very difficult to reach this amount, but if a part of it is collected, some work can already begin. The project has advantages and disadvantages, but in any case: it is the last chance for Télé-Evolène. For years the ski area has only survived thanks to subsidies. No more investments can be made. This is the last moment to give the ski area a fresh start, because even with the support of the community, the chairlift will not be able to last forever. I don't want to sound pessimistic, but the future of the ski area is in the hands of every person who wants to become a shareholder.
Are there many fairly "large" ski areas where on a nice Saturday the slopes are not overcrowded, you don't have to wait at the facilities, you can find a seat in the restaurant at lunchtime and the slopes are still very good at 3 p.m.?
You can find more information about the project here: https://www.projet-tele-evolene.ch
 
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Were the upper surface lifts open on the weekends?
3/5/17 was a Sunday. As mentioned above, a local I was chatting with at Evolène was very displeased to see the summit t-bar closed on a weekend. There were a lot of people on skins in Arolla, so they weren't annoyed.
 
Let's just say the TGR crew is not the most internet-savvy while traveling in a group....I think they like to hide behind their computers and post one great shot....slide into the snow to make a fluff cloud.

Meanwhile, reality.... St. Moritz 2023....you do you....lichens are fun.....wow!

March 2023 in a bad snow year

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