We didn’t get out super early because early morning weather wasn’t great but was predicted to improve later.
We rode the Sunnega - Blauherd gondola about 10AM, saw Rothorn above socked in, but several tracks dropping off the #7 blue piste toward Findeln. So that was our first run.
The partial south exposure meant some crunch under the powder but also better visibility.
We saw across the valley that Breitboden chair was running, so headed there next. The top section was just above the trees for a few short powder turns.
Evidently the chair had just opened because there was untracked on the #25 piste back to Findeln for the first run. We took 2 more runs, cutting through one pitch of scattered trees near Grunsee.
Next time we went the opposite direction from Bretboden toward Riffelalp, working as much powder as possible before dropping onto the #27 piste.
From Riffelalp the only lift is the Gornergrat train. We got off at Rotenboden and headed down to Furi. Visibility in the bowl below Riffelberg was as bad as Monday, but with the fresh snow I dropped into it anyway. I could use a few rocks and shrubs as points of reference, but since this was the kind of run admin and Patrick have declined to ski with me in the past, I sent Liz on a path nearer the piste so she could bail out to it. I continued through a narrow saddle into more powder among scattered trees. When the terrain began to narrow into a V-shaped gully, I followed a traverse track back to piste #42.
The reason for the detour to Furi was to go up to Schwarzsee and ski yellow routes 59 and 60, half below tree line, which Fraser Wilkins had recommended. This was a good call, as visibility was better than at comparable elevation at Riffelberg and few people had been skiing here. Both runs had mellow pitch above tree line, steepening into gullies below. #60:
And #59:
Both of these runs had about 1,500 vertical of lightly cut up powder. As good as Schwarzsee was, I still wanted to head back toward Hohtalli and Rothorn just in case the anticipated clearing materialized. The cloud had lifted well above Riffleberg when we arrived, so we took a mellow powder run near the igloo.
There were never blue skies, but about 3PM the cloud layer finally lifted over the top of Hohtalli and we saw its tram moving. So we headed over there via pistes 29 and 26. There was lots of untracked between the switchbacks of #29.
We skied the yellow route 30 that I had skied late Sunday. With the tram only recently open there were just a handful of tracks over 2,000 vertical, so we had plenty of room to make our own.
This would have been quite a finale to our week in Zermatt, but I got greedy with the powder and followed tracks into the trees on the lowest 500 vertical of Hohtalli. Liz broke off partway in and followed a track that led to a blind rollover into much steeper trees. She decided to climb back up, and I decided to wait for her rather than go down to the lifts at Gant. As a result we both arrived at Gant at 4:40PM, 20 minutes after the lifts had closed. No one was there, so I called the phone number on the trail map and was informed that it would cost 270CHF to turn the gondola back on.
So we chose to do a little hiking, which would surely be less strenuous than our Schwarztor two days earlier. Here we’re walking from Gant up toward Grunsee.
We took a short cut over to piste #25.
There was already a winch cat grooming #25.
At Findeln we had to hike a short distance up piste #6. This cat driver showed us where the hiking trail down to Zermatt started.
The hiking trail goes by the Enzian restaurant and a few other huts.
Down lower the hiking trail is a narrow cut into a steep hillside with lots of trees, so even though it’s tedious snowplow we thought it best to stay on the trail most of the way down.
When we saw the Gornergrat train tracks I suggested we go to them. I skied but Liz chose to slide down.
Finally an easy ski alongside the track to our hotel, where we arrived 6:15PM.
24,200 vertical, 11K of powder. This was probably the most powder Liz has skied in one day. She agrees with jamesdeluxe that it’s easier to learn or practice powder skiing in the less competitive environment of the Alps.
We rode the Sunnega - Blauherd gondola about 10AM, saw Rothorn above socked in, but several tracks dropping off the #7 blue piste toward Findeln. So that was our first run.
The partial south exposure meant some crunch under the powder but also better visibility.
We saw across the valley that Breitboden chair was running, so headed there next. The top section was just above the trees for a few short powder turns.
Evidently the chair had just opened because there was untracked on the #25 piste back to Findeln for the first run. We took 2 more runs, cutting through one pitch of scattered trees near Grunsee.
Next time we went the opposite direction from Bretboden toward Riffelalp, working as much powder as possible before dropping onto the #27 piste.
From Riffelalp the only lift is the Gornergrat train. We got off at Rotenboden and headed down to Furi. Visibility in the bowl below Riffelberg was as bad as Monday, but with the fresh snow I dropped into it anyway. I could use a few rocks and shrubs as points of reference, but since this was the kind of run admin and Patrick have declined to ski with me in the past, I sent Liz on a path nearer the piste so she could bail out to it. I continued through a narrow saddle into more powder among scattered trees. When the terrain began to narrow into a V-shaped gully, I followed a traverse track back to piste #42.
The reason for the detour to Furi was to go up to Schwarzsee and ski yellow routes 59 and 60, half below tree line, which Fraser Wilkins had recommended. This was a good call, as visibility was better than at comparable elevation at Riffelberg and few people had been skiing here. Both runs had mellow pitch above tree line, steepening into gullies below. #60:
And #59:
Both of these runs had about 1,500 vertical of lightly cut up powder. As good as Schwarzsee was, I still wanted to head back toward Hohtalli and Rothorn just in case the anticipated clearing materialized. The cloud had lifted well above Riffleberg when we arrived, so we took a mellow powder run near the igloo.
There were never blue skies, but about 3PM the cloud layer finally lifted over the top of Hohtalli and we saw its tram moving. So we headed over there via pistes 29 and 26. There was lots of untracked between the switchbacks of #29.
We skied the yellow route 30 that I had skied late Sunday. With the tram only recently open there were just a handful of tracks over 2,000 vertical, so we had plenty of room to make our own.
This would have been quite a finale to our week in Zermatt, but I got greedy with the powder and followed tracks into the trees on the lowest 500 vertical of Hohtalli. Liz broke off partway in and followed a track that led to a blind rollover into much steeper trees. She decided to climb back up, and I decided to wait for her rather than go down to the lifts at Gant. As a result we both arrived at Gant at 4:40PM, 20 minutes after the lifts had closed. No one was there, so I called the phone number on the trail map and was informed that it would cost 270CHF to turn the gondola back on.
So we chose to do a little hiking, which would surely be less strenuous than our Schwarztor two days earlier. Here we’re walking from Gant up toward Grunsee.
We took a short cut over to piste #25.
There was already a winch cat grooming #25.
At Findeln we had to hike a short distance up piste #6. This cat driver showed us where the hiking trail down to Zermatt started.
The hiking trail goes by the Enzian restaurant and a few other huts.
Down lower the hiking trail is a narrow cut into a steep hillside with lots of trees, so even though it’s tedious snowplow we thought it best to stay on the trail most of the way down.
When we saw the Gornergrat train tracks I suggested we go to them. I skied but Liz chose to slide down.
Finally an easy ski alongside the track to our hotel, where we arrived 6:15PM.
24,200 vertical, 11K of powder. This was probably the most powder Liz has skied in one day. She agrees with jamesdeluxe that it’s easier to learn or practice powder skiing in the less competitive environment of the Alps.
