Davos Klosters Ski Resort

Sundays can be quite difficult to deal with in continental Europe. Unlike back in the UK, almost all grocery shops and supermarkets are closed on Sundays (excluding those found in major train stations). This can make forgetting to go food shopping on the Saturday before a punishing mistake. Sundays are often very quiet, even the centre of Zurich seems to become a sleepy town. One often finds himself planning how best to spend such days. Many Swiss take this opportunity to head into the Alps to enjoy the mountains.

The alpine ski resort of Davos, Graubünden.

I did the same, this Sunday. A small group of us went skiing and snowboarding in Davos Klosters. Davos lies in the canton of Graubünden in South East Switzerland and is the venue of the World Economic Forum. The ski resort itself attracts a range of public figures, including members of the British royal family for example.

We did the ski trip in a day, it's do-able as the train ride takes less than 2 hours. I wouldn't however recommend it for a day's skiing. The Davos ski resort is quite big, having around 300 kilometres of pistes, but it's spread over a large area and a number of different peaks. This means that if you want to try and ski down most of the resort, you will spend a lot of time in shuttle buses between gondula stations in the valley. No, instead, the resort is best visited over a number of days so that you can concentrate on one mountain at a time and thus minimizing time spent in shuttle buses.

The ski resort is quite large, covering the valley from Klosters to Davos.

Unfortunately the visibility on the peaks was really poor due to fog, making identifying piste boundaries almost impossible in the white out; (we even ended up finding and guiding a lost Ukrainian woman, stuck in deep snow between two pistes, less than 20 metres away from the piste she was looking for!).

That being said, despite only spending one day in the area and the poor weather, the day was really enjoyable - the snow conditions were perfect. I just couldn't see the snow I was skiing on, that's all...

Skiing in Engelberg

Skiing and Switzerland are two words which both conjure up thoughts of the snow capped Alps. They both however also carry the connotation of expense. Fortunately, I was invited to stay at a friend's chalet in Engelberg, making the whole venture affordable. While many people were still studying for exams, I was lucky enough to have spent the last week or so skiing.

Engelberg is nestled between Mt. Brunni and Mt. Titlis in central Switzerland.

The ski resort is in many ways different to Flumserberg, where I've previously been. First of all, Engelberg has a lot of steep slopes – not an ideal place to bring a beginner, as one of my poor friends had to find out! Another difference to Flumserberg is that, although Engelberg is pretty much just a village, there seems to be a small, yet decent, Apres Ski scene. And, thanks to the Talabfahrt (a ski run which descends into the valley), it's possible to spend a bit more time on the mountain, have a drink or two in the igloo bar and not have to worry about missing the last gondola to the bottom!

The top gondola station at Mt. Titlis.

A rather curious observation that was made, was that the number of Asian tourists equipped with cameras and smart phones (all wearing jeans) out numbered the number of actual skiers and snowboarders on the mountain! Strange indeed, although at least that meant that the pistes weren't too congested.

The village of Engelberg seen from the Talabfahrt.

I also have a pair of rather nice souvenirs at the end of it all too. A pair of skis I essentially bought for 20 Francs! Well, my options were to either rent the skis for 180 CHF or buy them for 200 CHF (exc. boots and poles). A no brainer, I think. Besides, it makes for a good excuse to do even more skiing this season!

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...