It was certainly great to go to Andermatt yesterday and a) see why it's such a well-known ski area, b) get a first-hand impression of how much excellent offpiste there is under better conditions. Still, being one of several thousand other customers always makes me a bit squeamish, so I got back on track today with my kind of hill, Airolo, located in the Ticino canton, only a short distance from the southern end of ten-mile-long Gotthard Tunnel.
Separated into two halves: the looker's right side is red (a few trails off that surface lift aren't marked on the map) while most of the left side is a strong single-back in pitch. The total T2B vertical is 3,400 feet, about the same as Whiteface, with most of the lift-served skiing is on the upper 1,400 feet: It doesn't look like much on the map but all that terrain on the far left is beautiful offpiste that was still in the shade during the second week of March. I took two runs through it and the snow preservation was excellent/skied well.
On my first ride up one of Airola's surface lifts, I shared a t-bar with a local woman. Between my schoolboy Italian and her passable French, we had a nice chat and she confirmed that it's a defiantly locals' joint with no BS. Here she is on tele skis:
You know you're in the southern Alps when you see lots of larch trees:
While there's been no recent snow, Airolo certainly offered a better brand of hardpack than yesterday, probably because it's directly north-facing (keeps most of the ski terrain in the shade until the end of February) and skier density is so small.
I had a nice early morning lunch break at the only on-mountain establishment. I like the waitress on the right chatting with her colleague. -- leaning against the hut and smoking while on the job. Only in Europe's Latin cultures!
That's my short and sweet report; however, if you want several dozen more pix and lots of background info from a visit at the same time of season nine years ago, check out this Alpinforum report (I put the link through Google Translate).
Separated into two halves: the looker's right side is red (a few trails off that surface lift aren't marked on the map) while most of the left side is a strong single-back in pitch. The total T2B vertical is 3,400 feet, about the same as Whiteface, with most of the lift-served skiing is on the upper 1,400 feet: It doesn't look like much on the map but all that terrain on the far left is beautiful offpiste that was still in the shade during the second week of March. I took two runs through it and the snow preservation was excellent/skied well.
On my first ride up one of Airola's surface lifts, I shared a t-bar with a local woman. Between my schoolboy Italian and her passable French, we had a nice chat and she confirmed that it's a defiantly locals' joint with no BS. Here she is on tele skis:
You know you're in the southern Alps when you see lots of larch trees:
While there's been no recent snow, Airolo certainly offered a better brand of hardpack than yesterday, probably because it's directly north-facing (keeps most of the ski terrain in the shade until the end of February) and skier density is so small.
I had a nice early morning lunch break at the only on-mountain establishment. I like the waitress on the right chatting with her colleague. -- leaning against the hut and smoking while on the job. Only in Europe's Latin cultures!
That's my short and sweet report; however, if you want several dozen more pix and lots of background info from a visit at the same time of season nine years ago, check out this Alpinforum report (I put the link through Google Translate).
