jnelly
Member
Arosa w/ Lenzerheide sampler
One of the main reasons I decided to come to Graubunden was not only the plethora of skiing ; but I also really wanted to fold another ingredient into this exploratory trip The train. I chose Arosa mainly because everyone on FTO had good things to say about it. When @ChrisC , @Tony Crocker /Liz and @jamesdeluxe all have good things to say about its different aspects, it’s seems like a can’t miss. It also got a refresh earlier in the week, is higher, drier and has that east-west exposed I think worked good for the snow that wasn’t super fresh.
My hotel in Chur was < 10 min walk to the train stop but I decided to drive to St. Peter and pick it up there. There were a few motivations to that. One I didn’t feel like hauling gear and walking in ski boots tur town..nor packing a backpack not knowing how the system worked and have to be fumbling around with a bunch of junk. Two, I wanted to scope out Hochwang and see if it was favorable for a day trip. Once I got to St. Peter, as per everyone-ever, when the Swiss train says it arrives at __:39 it’s there at that time. The ride up was great! Scenic, comfortable and flawless. How those trains are that spotless with hoards of humans and wet, dirty gear is mind boggling. I found this a huge consideration for another trip and saying screw a car and in retrospect I wish I had just gotten on in Chur.
Arriving into Arosa and seeing how all the moving parts worked was cool to experience. In the back of my mind I though all this was going to be a royal pain in the ass. But the seamless train to ticket to lockers to lifts, was so simple it was amazing. It really makes you like it immediately.
I took the tram up to the mid station and did a few warm up runs that ended up back at a chair near the tram base. The snow there was fine. No complaints at all with the lower sections the entire day. I worked my way toward the Hornli gondola where when I came over a rise I had an oh shit moment. The line for the gondola was really backed up…I had already committed to the slope so I had no choice but to go to it. A 20-30 min wait ensued. It seemed like 2 hours due to the German techno blaring from the jam-box from the bro in front of me…when we got to the corral I happily let some folks in front of me as to avoid getting trapped inside with that box with him and his lady…who proceeded to twerk in the gondola window for half the ride up…no short duration at that.
Anyway Arosa was now fully coming into view. All I can say is if this is a medium size complex, I simply cannot grasp how a place like 3V or the like would look. Totally mind blowing the scale here. To my virgin eyes, Silvretta Montafron was impressive. Arosa was on another level, it was just incredible. I honestly spend more time here just doing some turns, stopping and talking to myself about how stupid it was. I don’t need to flesh it out to you all.
Generally the snow at Arosa was great. A lot of pitches that I enjoy, lots of curves and undulations. The snow was soft to firm, nothing too hard and just great, long and wide cruisers for taking in the sights…which is what I mostly did. Off piste, same story, kinda not worth the effort or ACL rupture. I pretty much did Arosa and did leave some time for a few runs over on the Lenzerheide side. There is no way I was going to come here and not ride on that bad ass piece of engineering that connect the two.
Upon getting over to Lenzerheide it was about 3 pm and the initial trial down to the lifts was kind of a mess. It was really scratchy and although the Arosa side was full sun all day, this area at the crossing had some cloud cover and the light was pretty bad. So after an entire day of being scraped off , the vizability and the full tram load of folks heading back, it equated by far the worst “run” of the week was (that red out of the tram).
Ironically enough I did utilize the crud here to be able to see and actually turn w.o sheer ice. After I reached the immediate exit the snow was super soft and really enjoyable. (I wish I had come over earlier). Here was also where I was finally able to take in the sheer volume of terrain that was new to my eyes, again, totally awestruck…….I only managed two runs on this side as the day was winding down. Headed back to the base, hopped the 439 and called it a successful week...I had intended on taking a day trip Obersaxen on Sunday, but opted against it. I can’t say I was tired bc I def had more days in me, but there was no new snow inbound and I didn’t want to get bored with more of the same on-piste only stuff.
In the end I feel like I got a good sampler platter in all manner of things.. Be it logistics, mountain sizes, operations, weather & snow conditions. Learning the ropes was a great experience overall with minor quips and challenges. I figured I’d quit with a ‘W’. All parts intact and leave some intrigue for the next time.
One of the main reasons I decided to come to Graubunden was not only the plethora of skiing ; but I also really wanted to fold another ingredient into this exploratory trip The train. I chose Arosa mainly because everyone on FTO had good things to say about it. When @ChrisC , @Tony Crocker /Liz and @jamesdeluxe all have good things to say about its different aspects, it’s seems like a can’t miss. It also got a refresh earlier in the week, is higher, drier and has that east-west exposed I think worked good for the snow that wasn’t super fresh.
My hotel in Chur was < 10 min walk to the train stop but I decided to drive to St. Peter and pick it up there. There were a few motivations to that. One I didn’t feel like hauling gear and walking in ski boots tur town..nor packing a backpack not knowing how the system worked and have to be fumbling around with a bunch of junk. Two, I wanted to scope out Hochwang and see if it was favorable for a day trip. Once I got to St. Peter, as per everyone-ever, when the Swiss train says it arrives at __:39 it’s there at that time. The ride up was great! Scenic, comfortable and flawless. How those trains are that spotless with hoards of humans and wet, dirty gear is mind boggling. I found this a huge consideration for another trip and saying screw a car and in retrospect I wish I had just gotten on in Chur.
Arriving into Arosa and seeing how all the moving parts worked was cool to experience. In the back of my mind I though all this was going to be a royal pain in the ass. But the seamless train to ticket to lockers to lifts, was so simple it was amazing. It really makes you like it immediately.
I took the tram up to the mid station and did a few warm up runs that ended up back at a chair near the tram base. The snow there was fine. No complaints at all with the lower sections the entire day. I worked my way toward the Hornli gondola where when I came over a rise I had an oh shit moment. The line for the gondola was really backed up…I had already committed to the slope so I had no choice but to go to it. A 20-30 min wait ensued. It seemed like 2 hours due to the German techno blaring from the jam-box from the bro in front of me…when we got to the corral I happily let some folks in front of me as to avoid getting trapped inside with that box with him and his lady…who proceeded to twerk in the gondola window for half the ride up…no short duration at that.
Anyway Arosa was now fully coming into view. All I can say is if this is a medium size complex, I simply cannot grasp how a place like 3V or the like would look. Totally mind blowing the scale here. To my virgin eyes, Silvretta Montafron was impressive. Arosa was on another level, it was just incredible. I honestly spend more time here just doing some turns, stopping and talking to myself about how stupid it was. I don’t need to flesh it out to you all.
Generally the snow at Arosa was great. A lot of pitches that I enjoy, lots of curves and undulations. The snow was soft to firm, nothing too hard and just great, long and wide cruisers for taking in the sights…which is what I mostly did. Off piste, same story, kinda not worth the effort or ACL rupture. I pretty much did Arosa and did leave some time for a few runs over on the Lenzerheide side. There is no way I was going to come here and not ride on that bad ass piece of engineering that connect the two.
Upon getting over to Lenzerheide it was about 3 pm and the initial trial down to the lifts was kind of a mess. It was really scratchy and although the Arosa side was full sun all day, this area at the crossing had some cloud cover and the light was pretty bad. So after an entire day of being scraped off , the vizability and the full tram load of folks heading back, it equated by far the worst “run” of the week was (that red out of the tram).
Ironically enough I did utilize the crud here to be able to see and actually turn w.o sheer ice. After I reached the immediate exit the snow was super soft and really enjoyable. (I wish I had come over earlier). Here was also where I was finally able to take in the sheer volume of terrain that was new to my eyes, again, totally awestruck…….I only managed two runs on this side as the day was winding down. Headed back to the base, hopped the 439 and called it a successful week...I had intended on taking a day trip Obersaxen on Sunday, but opted against it. I can’t say I was tired bc I def had more days in me, but there was no new snow inbound and I didn’t want to get bored with more of the same on-piste only stuff.
In the end I feel like I got a good sampler platter in all manner of things.. Be it logistics, mountain sizes, operations, weather & snow conditions. Learning the ropes was a great experience overall with minor quips and challenges. I figured I’d quit with a ‘W’. All parts intact and leave some intrigue for the next time.
