Hi Folks, driving to the Alps on Saturday for 2 weeks.  First stop Engelberg, 2nd stop prob Andermatt, last stop La Grave.  I see its been snowing and windy and is Category 3 across most of Switzerland.

http://www.slf.ch/lawineninfo/lawinenbulletin/regionale_lawinenbulletins/rbbob/rbbob_c_EN

A few questions spring to mind, and i,m bored at work.

1) I,m assuming the Furka pass from Andermatt to the Valais will have an efficent swiss car-on-a-train-through-a-tunnel going on?

2) I,m investigating tree skiing options in the Valais in case avalanche risk high.  Quite fancy Zinal as walked through it a few summers ago and it looked spicy. Ise i think you live there. Is it good for trees?  Any accomodation tips?

I,ve tree skied Champex also, but any other tips?  Quite like to stay away from the Mega-Circus beginning with V.  Criteria are cheap bunk house, nice bar, bucket fulls of powder and steep trees.

Cheers

Alan

So sounds like your plan is to drive right past lots of us without attempting to say Hello.

Also sounds like, though you’ve posted in a forum titled “backcountry”, that you have no interest in doing any real backcountry touring.
(which could be OK—some of us do ski lifts sometimes)

La Grave? I can understand how staying in La Grave makes sense for lots of English-speaking visitors who are arriving by air or train. But if you have control over a motor vehicle, I think it makes more sense to be based where you could exploit your car with much greater flexibility to access the much wider range of great skiing around Isere + Savoie + Hautes Alpes.

Ken

Hi Ken, yes thats right i,m just after your “beta”.

I was focussing on the blabber, but yes, mostly lift served but we,ll take touring kit in case the lifts break down.

Yes, we intend to drive staight past the much wider range of skiing and go straight to where the action is.
But i dont see how you figure it easy to get to by plane or train....thats why we need a car!

cheers anyway…

Next!

McHardski

You should check out you Swiss piggy-back train in advance. At peak periods ( don’t know when they have Feb School hols )trains can be booked-up for several days.

McHardski - 03 February 2010 05:00 PM

2) I,m investigating tree skiing options in the Valais in case avalanche risk high.  Quite fancy Zinal as walked through it a few summers ago and it looked spicy. Ise i think you live there. Is it good for trees?  Any accomodation tips?

There’s not much tree skiing in Zinal, there’s slightly more in Grimentz. I’m not sure I can immediately think of anywhere locally in the Valais that does have a lot really.

Ok thanks mountainwalker - thanks thats a good heads up

Ok Ise thanks.  Have a new tops tip, Bruson near Verbier is supposed to be excellent trees & w/o the crowds

Whoah, if the TGR guys here you talking about their secret spots there will be trouble!