Atzmännig, CH: 12/18/17

jamesdeluxe

Administrator
Since the first four of my ski days on this visit had been to decent-sized, generally well-known (at least amongst the Swiss) ski areas, I wouldn't have been living up to my reputation as a "Mountains Less Traveled" kook if I didn't go somewhere a bit odd for Day 5, so early Monday morning I reviewed the situation:
  • The final outing of my 2017-18 inaugural ski trip; my legs were a bit tired; I didn't need top-shelf terrain or hundreds of miles of trails.
  • 6-8 inches had fallen overnight in addition to the previous days' accumulations.
  • The forecast called for more heavy flurries and low clouds; all I needed was a low-elevation joint with top-to-bottom trees.
  • I had to be at Zurich airport by mid-afternoon for a 5:15 pm flight and didn't want a long drive back to the city.
The answer was Atzmännig (pronounced AHTS-MENNIG) an hour northeast of Zurich -- a comparatively tiny ski area for local families with 1,200 verts, old lifts, and a handful of trails through the woods. Basically about the same footprint as Plattekill NY, Stoneham QC, or Pajarito NM. To state the obvious, this place is not on any destination ski tourist's itinerary, especially someone from overseas, but all I needed was enough pitch to keep me going through the fresh snow.

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Driving there from my hotel in Amden was, uh, sporty. About four inches of slippery snow on the roadways, a few steep inclines and switchbacks, a very narrow country lane that went right through people's garden's and barnyards, and absolutely no signage indicating that a ski area was nearby -- thank god for GPS. I pulled in at 10 am to see five cars in the parking area:
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And lots of snow, even at the base of 820 meters:
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Going uphill was a 46-year-old double chair moving VERY SLOWLY and a t-bar. Unfortunately, they were only running the chair; the drag lift would've been faster.
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A full-day lift ticket is $35 and they offer three convenient half-day options for $25 -- I went with the midday variant then asked the lady how many people were on the hill; she held up four fingers on each hand. :eusa-dance:
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The 13-minute uphill ride gave me plenty of time to consider the graphics on my top sheets:
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And then I enjoyed three hours of a private-ski-area experience where the most difficult thing was finding people to use as photo subjects. Just like the previous two days, photos with great visuals weren't in the cards -- this is what it looks like with moderately better sight lines -- but great conditions were: bootcuff-deep untracked or chop on the groomers, knee-deep offpiste.
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Between the total quiet, the lack of other people, and the pleasant rhythm of gliding down non-technical double-blue trails with no interruptions, it got pretty zen at times:
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Lake Zurich is in the valley underneath the clouds:
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I arrived at the airport by 3 pm, packed my luggage in the rental-car garage, and drank a couple beers while waiting for my 5:15 pm Swissair flight back to Newark.
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Although only one of the five days had the grandiose panoramas that one hopes/expects from the Alps, four straight days of powder is a great way to start the season, and way better than if I'd gone forward with my planned Wasatch trip (I saw the weekend's awful LCC trip report
:eusa-snooty:
).
 
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Got to love the these small places!

Reminds me of the day I spent 20 years ago at Whitetooth before it became Kicking Horse.
 
q":1zb6s4gd said:
Got to love the these small places!
Small in the Alps often equates to medium size or more in North America. This is why I pay a lot of attention to james' TR's for future reference.

Our plans remain fluid. Fraser reported rain to the top of Portes du Soleil this week. We now have our eye on the Monte Rosa region in Italy, where a 2+ meter dump is predicted this weekend. This region is barely over 3 hours drive from Geneva via the Mont Blanc tunnel. Driving distances over there are child's play vs. Montana. You could probably fit the entire Alps between Whitefish and Big Sky.

So I'm a bit surprised q doesn't wander around to some of the places james does, as it's a short trip from Scotland. I do understand the attraction of Discovery though. For North American "under the radar" areas, IMHO only Castle Mt. exceeds Discovery in terrain quality.
 
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