Europe 24/25

I had to look into Zermatt. I think it's going on almost year 3 of 'no opening' of the Yellow Freeride Itineraries at Hohtalli/Rote Nase, and now even Rothorn.

Assume there is almost no off-piste/freeride skiing on the Swiss side of the Matterhorn Ski Paradise (i.e. Zermatt). This is also incredibly high alpine, rocky terrain - your skis will pay the price!

Yellow = Closed Freeride Areas. Conditions must be simply icy skied-off groomers for the most part. Cervinia seems much better.

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Finally, I found some off-piste Cervinia freeride maps by local Italians. Never knew where any of the lines were since there are not many written guides describing Zermatt-Cervinia.

Cervinia - Plateau Rosa / Testa Grigia
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Numbers will bounce around, and storm tracks will change, but SW/W Alps might do the best. However, OpenSnow models change in a heartbeat, even 24-48 hours out, so all I would take is that a stormy pattern might return to the Alps.

Even Zermatt and the Monterosa ski areas might get some snow......

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ChrisC said:
I also get easily confused at night about how to get on auto trains in Switzerland through mountain passes. I cannot read any signs/directions, so I just wait to follow someone else. Never sure where to pay tolls for these trains - but they are fun as hell! I have done 3 different ones now.
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Most Swiss car trains are in/out of the mountainous SW Valais area. It can add time when trying to get from Jungfrau/Interlaken, Engelberg, and Andermatt to --> Zermatt, Saas Fee, Grimentz/Zinal, Verbier, etc.

The five car trains in Switzerland:
  • Furka: car train between Oberwald (Valais) and Realp (near Andermatt). Reservation isn’t possible. An alternative is the Furka Pass road.
  • Lötschberg: car train between Kandersteg (Bernese Oberland) and Goppenstein (Valais). You can’t make reservations. There is no alternative road.
  • Simplon: car train between Brig (Valais) and Iselle (Italy). Reservations aren’t possible. An alternative is the Simplon Pass road.
  • Lötschberg and Simplon combined: direct car train between Kandersteg (Bernese Oberland) and Iselle (Italy). Reservations are required. There is no alternative pass road.
  • Vereina: car train between Selfranga (Klosters) and Sagliains (Lower Engadine). Reservations are not necessary. An alternative is the Flüela Pass road.
  • (Oberalp: the former car train between Andermatt and Sedrun [Graubünden] has been discontinued in 2023.)
 
jamesdeluxe said:
Will look at Alpinforum reports for recent photos and descriptions.
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I was looking at Euro conditions on a few more sites.


You can also see from the Swiss government's snow site that snow totals are relatively low for this time of year - mostly in the east and lower elevations.

However, there are average snowfall areas (yellow seems like a weird neutral color to use): West: PduS, Verbier/Valais, Central: Engelberg/Jungfrau, South Central: Airolo...maybe Diavolezza. February was quite dry - you can click into individual snow sites under Measured Values for daily snowfall.

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Verbier - Lac des Vaux - 2550m.
After a decent Dec/Jan, things dried out in Feb.

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Another excellent site for Swiss snow bases and forecasts.

I did not have time to check out Laucheralp this year (like Tony did last year). And Melschsee - never knew existed before this sort.

Getting from Central to SW Switzerland is a 3hr+ trip, but a lot of that is on a car train, so it does not count.

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Wepowder had an update on conditions. They seemed a bit negative during this high-pressure week. https://wepowder.com/en/weblog/2025/03/02/sunny-and-increasingly-mild

This is a bit of a bad-angle photo coming out of Kitzbuhel - looking north from <1000m town at south-facing slopes. Conditions will not be good outside the Arlberg/Swiss border ( Saalbach, Kitz, SkiWelt, etc).

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ChrisC said:
. FYI, my guide from the Dolomites has taken up residency in Engelberg.
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James, you might want to get this guy’s contact info from ChrisC, especially if he’s charging Italian vs. Swiss guide prices!

That Airolo clip looks nice. Airolo is probably close enough to Andermatt to get some of its microclimate benefits.
 
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