A Weekend of Snow Shoes and Igloos

It's starting to feel like the holidays now. The Erasmus Student Network of Zurich organised a weekend away in the mountains. A popular event – I remember having to sign up for it pretty much as soon as the registration window opened in order to get hold of a place. Much like many of the other events held by ESN.

It was good to be back in Flumserberg.

We headed over to Flumserberg, the same area I recently went skiing in, but this time to go snow-shoe hiking. It was an unfamiliar feeling being on the piste, equipped with ski poles, without being able to actually ski. Left to my own devices, I probably would never have even tried snow-shoe hiking. I'm glad I did. It's a whole different way of enjoying the mountain. The pace alone allows you to take in the impressive scenery, which isn't necessarily what I would normally focus on if I were skiing - indeed if I did, I would probably end up crashing my way down the pistes!

The Quinzy method of building igloos seemed to work the best.

After reaching Panüöl, we set about constructing igloos. It was good fun making them, but I'm glad that we had a plan B, else we would have had to spend the night in unfinished and rather unstable igloos that better resembled wind breaks, than actual feasible shelters. Well, all except one – those lucky guys finished theirs and spent the night in it. Me and most of the other students made a strategic withdrawal to the alpine huts, where we could enjoy a decent warm raclette meal, the bar and the comforts generally associated with not having to worry about a dodgy igloo collapsing in on you whilst you sleep.

The alpine hut in Panüöl.

The next morning we continued our hike to the main piste area, where we swapped our snow-shoes for toboggans. There's nothing quite like throwing yourself down a hill on waxed aluminium, without brakes, whilst wearing all the kit attempting to steer, kicking up snow spray which both blinds and freezes you at the same time. It was quite awesome!

Skiing in Flumserberg

On Boxing Day, whilst my mum was here, I went to the Flumserberg ski resort. The area is spectacular and I thought it would be a great place to take her, and show her what the Swiss Alps have to offer.

To get to the Flumserberg ski resort, take the train to Unterterzen.

With Unterterzen being just over an hour's train ride from Zurich, the ski resort attracts many skiers and snowboarders from the city. The resort itself is quite big and offers predominantly red ski pistes. Although if you're going there with any uneasy skiers or snowboarders, it's best not to take the cable car right to the top, as the pistes leading down are rated either red or black. My poor mum found that out the hard way!

Thanks to clear weather we enjoyed the awesome views from the top.

Conveniently, the ski lift is located right by the train station in Unterterzen and, if you're needing to hire a pair of skis or a board, there's an Intersport located nearby too. We payed 67 Franks for the day ski pass, which was reasonable – given that it is an expensive sport. The ski pass can also be bought at Intersport, which saves queuing twice if you're going to hire / buy equipment anyway.

The slopes were pretty busy with it being Boxing Day, making for a few close shaves on some of the narrower sections.

After spending a day at Flumserberg, I've got the urge to go skiing again – so watch this space. There's nothing quite like carving your way down a beautiful mountain side in the Alps. And then of course, there's the apres ski...

Alpine Hike

The beauty of living in Zurich is that I'm not too far away from escaping city life and making the most of the proximity of the Alps. On Sunday I went to Walenstadt – about an hour away by train – which is also one of the closest ski resorts to Zurich. As the skiing season hasn't really begun yet, I spent the day hiking.

Walenstadt is the name of the town closest to the ski resort.

Walenstadt itself is a small town situated on the border between Canton Sankt Gallen and Canton Glarus. It's a really picturesque area as the mountains look quite dramatic and there is also a lake in the valley, the Walensee. Once I arrived at Walenstadt train station I took a proper esoteric bus full of cheery locals up to Walenstadtberg, where I begun my hike.

Walenstadtberg is easy to get to from Zurich and it makes quite a pleasant day out.

Despite it being neither the hiking season nor the skiing season, the mountain seemed to attract quite a few people. I can understand why, it was nice to get on some high ground above the eternal fog which seems to have it's grip over much of lowland Switzerland.

Paragliders were also out in force.

Perhaps I will return here once the ski season gets under way, I've heard Flumserberg is particularly good and easy to get to too. From what I saw this side of the valley, it seems to have quite a varied range of pistes.