I pondered which order to ski Grimentz and Crans-Montana and guessed that incoming overcast would be easier to handle at south facing Crans Montana. From our hotel in Sierre we could walk 10 minutes to a funicular up to Crans-Montana.
I made some errors in ticket purchases (funicular is not included with the ski lift ticket) so again we reached Cry d’Er after a bus to Arnouva and two lifts (G and H on map) to start skiing after 11AM.
We took a lap to the National (Lift I on map) then into Bellalui. View north from Bellalui piste to a dam:
From there we headed toward the Zabona (J on map) poma. The #9 ungroomed looked worth a try.
The background is up the Rhone Valley.
Powder was still good, so Liz followed.
The #11 piste was closed so we had to backtrack to the top of Bellalui.
We skied the long 14 and 15 pistes to Marolires and took the gondola to Les Violettes. View from there across the Rhone Valley to Vercorin.
By now ~1PM it’s completely overcast, but we only had one run with enough flat light to affect skiing, so the south exposure probably helped.
We took a lap on the N chair before riding the funitel up to Plaine Morte. View from Funitel down the Rhone Valley:
We took a lap (piste 21) on the glacier poma. Riding up the poma we saw this dog sled team running into the top Funitel station.
Here’s Liz at the sign that the famous Kandahar run (#19) is closed, which we knew when we went up there.
Riding the Funitel down, Kandahar descends somewhere in the middle of this pic.
Why was it closed? A deep snowpack built up by mid-December, but then wet storms opened crevasses in it.
We skied #17 to the R chair. Riding that lift we have another view of the terrain under the Funitel.
That opening in the rock band is where the #11 piste comes from the Zabona poma.
This view is farther up the gondola with Kandahar’s path somewhere.
The pistes on the R and S lifts were in good shape, similar to those on Bellalui and Zabona. At sufficient altitude the pistes could be well maintained despite the south exposure. As you approached tree line, scraping on the pistes became more evident, though some of that might be late afternoon weekend traffic.
We exited the eastern side via #18 and rode National back to Cry d’Er. We took a lap on the Chetseron poma, where we saw a sunny break in the distance.
We skied piste #4 past the typical Alps sign.
Below the sign the piste became more scraped so we joined James’ “weak sauce” group and rode gondola G down into town. Liz with store mascot in Crans-Montana:
We skied 15,100 vertical.
I made some errors in ticket purchases (funicular is not included with the ski lift ticket) so again we reached Cry d’Er after a bus to Arnouva and two lifts (G and H on map) to start skiing after 11AM.
We took a lap to the National (Lift I on map) then into Bellalui. View north from Bellalui piste to a dam:
From there we headed toward the Zabona (J on map) poma. The #9 ungroomed looked worth a try.
The background is up the Rhone Valley.
Powder was still good, so Liz followed.
The #11 piste was closed so we had to backtrack to the top of Bellalui.
We skied the long 14 and 15 pistes to Marolires and took the gondola to Les Violettes. View from there across the Rhone Valley to Vercorin.
By now ~1PM it’s completely overcast, but we only had one run with enough flat light to affect skiing, so the south exposure probably helped.
We took a lap on the N chair before riding the funitel up to Plaine Morte. View from Funitel down the Rhone Valley:
We took a lap (piste 21) on the glacier poma. Riding up the poma we saw this dog sled team running into the top Funitel station.
Here’s Liz at the sign that the famous Kandahar run (#19) is closed, which we knew when we went up there.
Riding the Funitel down, Kandahar descends somewhere in the middle of this pic.
Why was it closed? A deep snowpack built up by mid-December, but then wet storms opened crevasses in it.
We skied #17 to the R chair. Riding that lift we have another view of the terrain under the Funitel.
That opening in the rock band is where the #11 piste comes from the Zabona poma.
This view is farther up the gondola with Kandahar’s path somewhere.
The pistes on the R and S lifts were in good shape, similar to those on Bellalui and Zabona. At sufficient altitude the pistes could be well maintained despite the south exposure. As you approached tree line, scraping on the pistes became more evident, though some of that might be late afternoon weekend traffic.
We exited the eastern side via #18 and rode National back to Cry d’Er. We took a lap on the Chetseron poma, where we saw a sunny break in the distance.
We skied piste #4 past the typical Alps sign.
Below the sign the piste became more scraped so we joined James’ “weak sauce” group and rode gondola G down into town. Liz with store mascot in Crans-Montana:
We skied 15,100 vertical.
