Since the first four of my ski days on this visit had been to decent-sized, generally well-known (at least amongst the Swiss) ski areas, I wouldn't have been living up to my reputation as a "Mountains Less Traveled" kook if I didn't go somewhere a bit odd for Day 5, so early Monday morning I reviewed the situation:
Driving there from my hotel in Amden was, uh, sporty. About four inches of slippery snow on the roadways, a few steep inclines and switchbacks, a very narrow country lane that went right through people's garden's and barnyards, and absolutely no signage indicating that a ski area was nearby -- thank god for GPS. I pulled in at 10 am to see five cars in the parking area:
And lots of snow, even at the base of 820 meters:
Going uphill was a 46-year-old double chair moving VERY SLOWLY and a t-bar. Unfortunately, they were only running the chair; the drag lift would've been faster.
A full-day lift ticket is $35 and they offer three convenient half-day options for $25 -- I went with the midday variant then asked the lady how many people were on the hill; she held up four fingers on each hand.
The 13-minute uphill ride gave me plenty of time to consider the graphics on my top sheets:
And then I enjoyed three hours of a private-ski-area experience where the most difficult thing was finding people to use as photo subjects. Just like the previous two days, photos with great visuals weren't in the cards -- this is what it looks like with moderately better sight lines -- but great conditions were: bootcuff-deep untracked or chop on the groomers, knee-deep offpiste.
Between the total quiet, the lack of other people, and the pleasant rhythm of gliding down non-technical double-blue trails with no interruptions, it got pretty zen at times:
Lake Zurich is in the valley underneath the clouds:
I arrived at the airport by 3 pm, packed my luggage in the rental-car garage, and drank a couple beers while waiting for my 5:15 pm Swissair flight back to Newark.
Although only one of the five days had the grandiose panoramas that one hopes/expects from the Alps, four straight days of powder is a great way to start the season, and way better than if I'd gone forward with my planned Wasatch trip (I saw the weekend's awful LCC trip report
).
- The final outing of my 2017-18 inaugural ski trip; my legs were a bit tired; I didn't need top-shelf terrain or hundreds of miles of trails.
- 6-8 inches had fallen overnight in addition to the previous days' accumulations.
- The forecast called for more heavy flurries and low clouds; all I needed was a low-elevation joint with top-to-bottom trees.
- I had to be at Zurich airport by mid-afternoon for a 5:15 pm flight and didn't want a long drive back to the city.
Driving there from my hotel in Amden was, uh, sporty. About four inches of slippery snow on the roadways, a few steep inclines and switchbacks, a very narrow country lane that went right through people's garden's and barnyards, and absolutely no signage indicating that a ski area was nearby -- thank god for GPS. I pulled in at 10 am to see five cars in the parking area:
And lots of snow, even at the base of 820 meters:
Going uphill was a 46-year-old double chair moving VERY SLOWLY and a t-bar. Unfortunately, they were only running the chair; the drag lift would've been faster.
A full-day lift ticket is $35 and they offer three convenient half-day options for $25 -- I went with the midday variant then asked the lady how many people were on the hill; she held up four fingers on each hand.
The 13-minute uphill ride gave me plenty of time to consider the graphics on my top sheets:
And then I enjoyed three hours of a private-ski-area experience where the most difficult thing was finding people to use as photo subjects. Just like the previous two days, photos with great visuals weren't in the cards -- this is what it looks like with moderately better sight lines -- but great conditions were: bootcuff-deep untracked or chop on the groomers, knee-deep offpiste.
Between the total quiet, the lack of other people, and the pleasant rhythm of gliding down non-technical double-blue trails with no interruptions, it got pretty zen at times:
Lake Zurich is in the valley underneath the clouds:
I arrived at the airport by 3 pm, packed my luggage in the rental-car garage, and drank a couple beers while waiting for my 5:15 pm Swissair flight back to Newark.
Although only one of the five days had the grandiose panoramas that one hopes/expects from the Alps, four straight days of powder is a great way to start the season, and way better than if I'd gone forward with my planned Wasatch trip (I saw the weekend's awful LCC trip report
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