St. Moritz/Corviglia, CH: 12/15/23

jamesdeluxe

Administrator
As mentioned in my report, there were still some visibility issues at Corvatsch on Thursday; however, the stars finally aligned on Friday with clear blue skies at south-facing Corviglia.

The only weather anomaly was big winds the further you got up the mountain, with some gusts easily above 30 mph -- a day where you're grateful for chair bubbles. I only took one chair all day that didn't have a bubble and it was bracing without a face gator. Oddly, the snow felt nice and soft. A guy sitting next to me confirmed that he hadn't run into any wind compaction either and that even lightly tracked-up stuff skied great.

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Without a guide or local friends, I followed people alongside marked trails whenever possible.
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Even the completely tracked-out stuff on the left here had virtually zero resistance.
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After the three previous attempts, I finally had the opportunity to ski Corviglia on a sunny day and get an impression of its size. The Google map says 5 miles wide and 5 miles deep but it feels bigger.
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This guy getting some air:
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The next set of photos are from the afternoon, when I skied the looker's left with beautiful views of Lake Silvaplana and Corvatsch above it.
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The pix don't quite convey how gorgeous it was in person. Many people stopped to admire the vistas.
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You can see the wind blowing around the snow -- creating Tony's beloved windsift, one hopes.
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This is one of the times I saw a guy running through a nice line of soft chop just off the piste and I followed him all the way down. :eusa-dance:
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After skiing, I dug out/cleaned off my Citroën Cléo (an incomplete job, as you can see) and had Turkish food in the beautiful old town.
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No question, this day made the entire trip worthwhile for me; however, the following two days were just as enjoyable even without any new snow.
 
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Nice photos. St. Moritz really is a beautiful, rugged area. Definitely one of the best in Switzerland.

Amazing to see south-facing Corviglia with such powdery snow - ahhh, mid-winter!

Do you carry chains with your rental? Or is it all-wheel?
 
Do you carry chains with your rental? Or is it all-wheel?
I always rent budget cars like the one above -- no chains or AWD for me! As long as they have snow tires, I'm good. Of course, if I were driving around in California's atmospheric river last season, that would have been a different story.
 
Also car-related:
  • The current gas price in Switzerland is approx. 1.75 CHF per liter. If my math (not a special skill) is correct, that's something north of $7 a gallon.
  • I drove 330 miles during my visit, yet only spent 51 CHF in gas. A good surprise!
 
I always rent budget cars like the one above -- no chains or AWD for me! As long as they have snow tires, I'm good. Of course, if I were driving around in California's atmospheric river last season, that would have been a different story.

That's one area where I default to 'Americanism'. I do my SUV. Manual or automatic.

I never know where I will go - and do not want to do chains. I did chains in Seattle at times up in the passes, and I do not really want to learn new things on a foreign rental car.

James - they can require chains on the road up to Val d'Isere/Tignes when it's snowy. There is a road condition section on the website. For a place that attracts as many skiers as Vail, the road is not great. Link
 
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James - they can require chains on the road up to Val d'Isere/Tignes when it's snowy. There is a road condition section. For a place that attracts as many skiers as Vail, the road is not great
Thanks. Within a couple days of arrival, I'll reassess needs.
 
I am taking on a manual rental car in left hand drive for the first time in a month. It will be interesting driving on the 'opposite' side with a manual.
I was pleasantly surprised that was not a big deal; first time for me was New Zealand 1982.

James, I take it from pics and lack of comment that the Piz Nair tram was not open? Any idea why not?
 
James, I take it from pics and lack of comment that the Piz Nair tram was not open?
It was absolutely open on Friday (this report) and passed right over my head while I was skiing a run with a pair of locals. I made a mental note to take it to the top but was having such a great time everywhere else on the mountain that I ended up forgetting. :eusa-doh:

I'd be curious to know how hard the winds were gusting that day at 3,067m.
 
It will be interesting driving on the 'opposite' side with a manual.
Likewise and I don't want to find out how well I'd do with that. That's always an additional win from going on a ski trip to Europe: driving a manual car.

A reminder to everyone to check your car for a windshield ice scraper (Eiskratzer!) before leaving the airport. I didn't realise that my car was missing one until Thursday morning in St. Moritz with a foot of snow on top of it. I had to improvise by using the parking disc timer!

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Europe: driving a manual car
There is a trend toward automatic transmissions over there in recent years. I'm guessing that's due to the reversal of the historic rule of thumb that manuals were more fuel efficient. Porsche's PDK transmissions now accelerate faster than their manuals too.
 
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