ChrisC
Well-known member
I had meetings in Europe in early March - so I was looking for an Alps resort that had made it through a relatively snowless and sunny mid winter with good conditions. Andermatt previously received the large early season snowfall from the South (i.e. Venice floods) in November and December - reporting a 450 cm base .... and there was on/off snow forecasted for the weekend.
Tony and I skied Andermatt-Gemstock last year, but it was not really advisable to ski a lot of the famous off-piste routes/faces since it is difficult to scope them out from from the pisted/developed bowls. The Gemstock is a conical stand almost stand-alone mountain - with the option of skiing nearly 360 degrees from the summit.
Another reason it is difficult to explore Andermatt-Gemstock - the lack of opportunities for joining a guided group. A standalone guide for a day from Andermatt Guides http://www.andermatt-guides.ch/EN/winter.htmlis" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; 650 CHF. Guided groups are only available on Fridays for a more reasonable 170 CHF. (Comparatively, neighboring Engelberg had guided groups to join on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays to ski their BIG 5 off piste areas for 170 CHF). The first time exploring the remote off-piste in Andermatt - you should have a guide
The exception to the above guiding options is once a year - early March - when Andermatt Guides host Freeride Days over a long weekend -- Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This year's dates were March 6-8, 2020 -- and there are a ton of great choices -- Freeride full days, Freeride half days, Avalanche Courses, Steep Skiing Courses, Touring Courses, Technique and Demo Days - combined with block parties in town on Friday and Saturday A guided Freeride Day was 170 CHF - and you could also purchase lift tickets via Andermatt Guides for 50 CHF.
Prior to arriving in Andermatt on Thursday night, I signed up for full day Freeride Groups on Friday and Saturday -- and was enjoying it so much I added a half day AM on Sunday. This also let me ski the 'new' Andermatt-to-Disentis link on Sunday afternoon.
Piste Map - Some of the more famous off-piste lines are spelled out: Guspis, Felesental, Giessberg, etc.
Fat Map - The blue are the off-piste routes
Topo Map -Major Off piste areas highlighted.
I prefer North being page up
Day 1:Friday, March 6th
I arrived in Andermatt Thursday evening March 5th. The town is really dead during the week. Restaurants/bars were maybe 30%+ full and no one on streets - but that's fine with me. It's very much a weekend town.
(Just a note about lodging in Andermatt - you cannot just go to Expedia and book a room. Most inns are still very local and not on American travel sites - you need to use either 1. Booking.com (European origination) or 2. Email/call places directly.)
It started snowing lightly in the evening and continued on/off throughout the night - awoke to about 4-6" new in the morning (near 8" by day end). There were only 2 Freeride groups on Friday (they would run a lot more on the weekends). I was the only American - and English speaker. No Brits :shock: Most group members were Swiss-German and a couple of Swiss-Italian. The guides could speak much better English than they gave themselves credit for - and all the Swiss could speak English. They would help out. Some alpine ski terms - combined with ski pole pointing - are universal. I never felt lost. They also were extremely nice to me - always giving first tracks. \
/ Sometimes even before the guide.
Friday was snowy and cloudy all day -- combined with some wind on top - the summit tram never opened. Me: crap - I'm at Andermatt paying for a guide ....and just the T-bar is open...lower tram and 6-pack too. I was wrong. No one was at the mountain but us Freeriders and a Touring Group. And the T-bar was access to some nice off-piste.... and the famous East Side of Andermatt. We would either traverse off the backside/eastside from T-bar ... or hike above the T-bar. I probably did every variation of the off-piste areas known as Geissberg and Gemsplaggne. The vertical was a respectable 3200-3400 vertical ft.
Overview
SkiTracks
Due to the snow and wind - not too many photos. Most of these are on the East Side - Geissberg and Gemsplaggne areas since the Gemstock semi-shielded these areas from the fog/low clouds. There was noticeable wind-loading due to westerlies / northwesterlies. Overall - it turned out to be a great storm day. The terrain was a series of steep open faces - with some cliffs/rocky areas separating them. Quite steep in parts. Important note: there were some Alders that provided definition on the lower 1/3 of the run.
Our group hiking made the Instagram feed
My photos:
Alders at the base:
There is a huge waterfall/gorge that you must cross to get back to the tram - with a rather tenuous traverse intersecting it. In order to find the safe crossing - you must keep your eye out for a small church located above the town of Andermatt.
Tony and I skied Andermatt-Gemstock last year, but it was not really advisable to ski a lot of the famous off-piste routes/faces since it is difficult to scope them out from from the pisted/developed bowls. The Gemstock is a conical stand almost stand-alone mountain - with the option of skiing nearly 360 degrees from the summit.
Another reason it is difficult to explore Andermatt-Gemstock - the lack of opportunities for joining a guided group. A standalone guide for a day from Andermatt Guides http://www.andermatt-guides.ch/EN/winter.htmlis" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; 650 CHF. Guided groups are only available on Fridays for a more reasonable 170 CHF. (Comparatively, neighboring Engelberg had guided groups to join on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays to ski their BIG 5 off piste areas for 170 CHF). The first time exploring the remote off-piste in Andermatt - you should have a guide
The exception to the above guiding options is once a year - early March - when Andermatt Guides host Freeride Days over a long weekend -- Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This year's dates were March 6-8, 2020 -- and there are a ton of great choices -- Freeride full days, Freeride half days, Avalanche Courses, Steep Skiing Courses, Touring Courses, Technique and Demo Days - combined with block parties in town on Friday and Saturday A guided Freeride Day was 170 CHF - and you could also purchase lift tickets via Andermatt Guides for 50 CHF.
Prior to arriving in Andermatt on Thursday night, I signed up for full day Freeride Groups on Friday and Saturday -- and was enjoying it so much I added a half day AM on Sunday. This also let me ski the 'new' Andermatt-to-Disentis link on Sunday afternoon.
Piste Map - Some of the more famous off-piste lines are spelled out: Guspis, Felesental, Giessberg, etc.
Fat Map - The blue are the off-piste routes
Topo Map -Major Off piste areas highlighted.
I prefer North being page up
Day 1:Friday, March 6th
I arrived in Andermatt Thursday evening March 5th. The town is really dead during the week. Restaurants/bars were maybe 30%+ full and no one on streets - but that's fine with me. It's very much a weekend town.
(Just a note about lodging in Andermatt - you cannot just go to Expedia and book a room. Most inns are still very local and not on American travel sites - you need to use either 1. Booking.com (European origination) or 2. Email/call places directly.)
It started snowing lightly in the evening and continued on/off throughout the night - awoke to about 4-6" new in the morning (near 8" by day end). There were only 2 Freeride groups on Friday (they would run a lot more on the weekends). I was the only American - and English speaker. No Brits :shock: Most group members were Swiss-German and a couple of Swiss-Italian. The guides could speak much better English than they gave themselves credit for - and all the Swiss could speak English. They would help out. Some alpine ski terms - combined with ski pole pointing - are universal. I never felt lost. They also were extremely nice to me - always giving first tracks. \
/ Sometimes even before the guide.Friday was snowy and cloudy all day -- combined with some wind on top - the summit tram never opened. Me: crap - I'm at Andermatt paying for a guide ....and just the T-bar is open...lower tram and 6-pack too. I was wrong. No one was at the mountain but us Freeriders and a Touring Group. And the T-bar was access to some nice off-piste.... and the famous East Side of Andermatt. We would either traverse off the backside/eastside from T-bar ... or hike above the T-bar. I probably did every variation of the off-piste areas known as Geissberg and Gemsplaggne. The vertical was a respectable 3200-3400 vertical ft.
Overview
SkiTracks
Due to the snow and wind - not too many photos. Most of these are on the East Side - Geissberg and Gemsplaggne areas since the Gemstock semi-shielded these areas from the fog/low clouds. There was noticeable wind-loading due to westerlies / northwesterlies. Overall - it turned out to be a great storm day. The terrain was a series of steep open faces - with some cliffs/rocky areas separating them. Quite steep in parts. Important note: there were some Alders that provided definition on the lower 1/3 of the run.
Our group hiking made the Instagram feed
My photos:
Alders at the base:
There is a huge waterfall/gorge that you must cross to get back to the tram - with a rather tenuous traverse intersecting it. In order to find the safe crossing - you must keep your eye out for a small church located above the town of Andermatt.
