As this high-pressure system continues, I had to make up my mind whether to hit another big name in the Swiss skiing pantheon despite the lack of recent snow. I decided to go ahead with it because the following two days will likely have some level of cloud cover.
Composed of the renowned Titlis and Jochpass sectors along with a separate much smaller sector, Brunni, I knew going in that this is not a mountain where you go to ski groomed trails. That said; I saw a handful of guided groups venturing into the extensive north-facing offpiste, which included ski tracks in major DFU zones
Onpiste was, all things considered, in good shape so I started my survey at Jochpass on the skier's far right:
Then moved over to Titlis via a connecting lift, which made the area feel a bit disjointed. In three hours, I covered pretty much all of the often steep groomed terrain, where many of the reds would be black at other places.
I did get to do one intermediate offpiste run below the Titlis summit with a father and his 14-year-old daughter through baby bumps covered with chalky snow. I went back and did it again; however, I didn't feel comfortable venturing off by myself.
Here's the iconic Titlis Rotair tram, billed as the "the world's first revolving aerial cableway," getting ready to dock.
I wondered about the accuracy of this claim as you may recall that during an arrival-day snowstorm nine years ago, I rode on what was billed as the first rotating gondola at a locals area Hochstuckli (scroll halfway down). I guess that both superlatives are true if you're talking about a cablecar/tram vs. a gondola.
On the 3000m summit of Titlis is a five-story lodge with several attractions including a "glacier igloo," where you walked on what felt like freshly zamboni-ed ice, which was especially challenging in ski boots. The only warning was an "Achtung: Danger of Slipping!" sign. In the U.S., they would've made you sign a waiver of responsibility or just covered it with a rubber mat.
Around 2:30 pm, I downloaded and took the bus to the Brunni tram, where I hoped to ski a bit of south-facing terrain, ride what's billed as the steepest surface lift in Switzerland, and then sit back with a beer in the sun. By the time I got there at 3 pm, they'd just shut down the tram for the rest of the afternoon due to the strong föhn wind and I was forced to call it a day.
Similar to Andermatt, this was another instance of a "world-class ski area" under less than ideal conditions. I'm sure that a guide may have made it more interesting but without fresh snow in many moons, it didn't seem worth the investment. Still, it was a gorgeous sunny day amongst my people (my brother in Denver jokingly refers to anyone who speaks German and French as "my people") with perfect early-spring temps and I got to see why Engelberg is such a highly-rated expert ski area.
Composed of the renowned Titlis and Jochpass sectors along with a separate much smaller sector, Brunni, I knew going in that this is not a mountain where you go to ski groomed trails. That said; I saw a handful of guided groups venturing into the extensive north-facing offpiste, which included ski tracks in major DFU zones
Onpiste was, all things considered, in good shape so I started my survey at Jochpass on the skier's far right:
Then moved over to Titlis via a connecting lift, which made the area feel a bit disjointed. In three hours, I covered pretty much all of the often steep groomed terrain, where many of the reds would be black at other places.
I did get to do one intermediate offpiste run below the Titlis summit with a father and his 14-year-old daughter through baby bumps covered with chalky snow. I went back and did it again; however, I didn't feel comfortable venturing off by myself.
Here's the iconic Titlis Rotair tram, billed as the "the world's first revolving aerial cableway," getting ready to dock.
I wondered about the accuracy of this claim as you may recall that during an arrival-day snowstorm nine years ago, I rode on what was billed as the first rotating gondola at a locals area Hochstuckli (scroll halfway down). I guess that both superlatives are true if you're talking about a cablecar/tram vs. a gondola.
On the 3000m summit of Titlis is a five-story lodge with several attractions including a "glacier igloo," where you walked on what felt like freshly zamboni-ed ice, which was especially challenging in ski boots. The only warning was an "Achtung: Danger of Slipping!" sign. In the U.S., they would've made you sign a waiver of responsibility or just covered it with a rubber mat.
Around 2:30 pm, I downloaded and took the bus to the Brunni tram, where I hoped to ski a bit of south-facing terrain, ride what's billed as the steepest surface lift in Switzerland, and then sit back with a beer in the sun. By the time I got there at 3 pm, they'd just shut down the tram for the rest of the afternoon due to the strong föhn wind and I was forced to call it a day.
Similar to Andermatt, this was another instance of a "world-class ski area" under less than ideal conditions. I'm sure that a guide may have made it more interesting but without fresh snow in many moons, it didn't seem worth the investment. Still, it was a gorgeous sunny day amongst my people (my brother in Denver jokingly refers to anyone who speaks German and French as "my people") with perfect early-spring temps and I got to see why Engelberg is such a highly-rated expert ski area.
