Melchsee Frutt, the next worst-kept secret?

After a disappointing Saturday in Engelberg, where the snow was soft
and very heavy (too warm), the light was flat to non-existent and the
thick cloud layer hovered between 1800 and 2000m, we moved over to
Melchsee Frutt on Sunday and were pretty much blown away by the place.

It's geographically only a few km from Engelberg - in fact, you can
see the lifts of the Jochpass area (of Engelberg) from one of the
peaks in MF - but the difference was startling. The almost exclusively
North-facing aspect had kept the snow much better and allowed a great
day's skiing and the apparently low total of pisted runs was more than
compensated for by the variation and the off-piste

It's a very small resort with two distinct areas. MF village itself
has a couple of drag lifts going up to 2250m, with blues and reds
leading down and intersecting, but also a _huge_ gently sloping
plateau, somewhat reminiscent of la Plagne, with almost limitless easy
off-piste potential.

Bonistock, the other area, accessed directly from the base station or
via cable-car from MF has two marked blacks and two suggested
itineraires running from 2160m, but again allows a massive amount of
off-piste to be accessed, including some interesting-looking couloirs
which were not skiable yesterday.

Snow conditions were much better then Engelberg, with some boilerplate
on the pisted runs first thing, but _glorious_ spring snow appearing
from late morning and moving slowly around the slopes as the sun got
to work. Some areas were still very firm after lunch, so the skiing
was good right up until late in the afternoon.

So, Switzerland's best-kept secret? If so, it's getting out :-) I'd
thoroughly recommend it for a day or two to anyone wanting to get away
from mainstream resorts but still find good challenging skiing. Next
time I might organise a group with a guide and _really_ start
exploring it :-))

--
Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club.

Try Vals as well (via Ilanz). A secret - beautiful, quite and fine piste.
And very different people there, not the mass-factory type of resort at all.

Piste from 3,000m to 1,800m, good food, not expensive, great nature.
--
Simon Brown
www.hb9drv.ch

"Ace" wrote in message
...

So, Switzerland's best-kept secret? If so, it's getting out :-) I'd
thoroughly recommend it for a day or two to anyone wanting to get away
from mainstream resorts but still find good challenging skiing. Next
time I might organise a group with a guide and _really_ start
exploring it :-))

On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 09:18:31 +0100, Ace wrote:

After a disappointing Saturday in Engelberg, where the snow was soft
and very heavy (too warm), the light was flat to non-existent and the
thick cloud layer hovered between 1800 and 2000m, we moved over to
Melchsee Frutt on Sunday and were pretty much blown away by the place.

My feeling was right not to go to Engelberg, i was at Grindelwald. The
sight was good at Männlichen & Lauberhorn only the Eiger was in fog.
But i think the snow wasn't better than at Engelberg and the cover is
poor.


Snow conditions were much better then Engelberg, with some boilerplate
on the pisted runs first thing, but _glorious_ spring snow appearing
from late morning and moving slowly around the slopes as the sun got
to work. Some areas were still very firm after lunch, so the skiing
was good right up until late in the afternoon.

Coming weekend could be good. They say for Central Switzerland till
Prätigau(Davos) 50cm new snow.
But i don't know where i should go at the moment :-)
(Andermatt, Engelberg, Flumserberg or Pizol)

Johannes

Coming weekend could be good. They say for Central Switzerland till
Prätigau(Davos) 50cm new snow.
But i don't know where i should go at the moment :-)
(Andermatt, Engelberg, Flumserberg or Pizol)

Johannes

I went to Flumserberg on Sunday. I was suprised to see still that much
snow. Nice skiing until about 14:30 when the föhn set in.

On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 20:38:35 +0100, Johannes
wrote:

On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 09:18:31 +0100, Ace wrote:

After a disappointing Saturday in Engelberg, where the snow was soft
and very heavy (too warm), the light was flat to non-existent and the
thick cloud layer hovered between 1800 and 2000m, we moved over to
Melchsee Frutt on Sunday and were pretty much blown away by the place.

My feeling was right not to go to Engelberg, i was at Grindelwald. The
sight was good at Männlichen & Lauberhorn only the Eiger was in fog.
But i think the snow wasn't better than at Engelberg and the cover is
poor.

We had some friends who were in Grindelwald on Sunday and said it was
really quite poor snow - very slushy even quite early on. Seems that
we did much better.

Coming weekend could be good. They say for Central Switzerland till
Prätigau(Davos) 50cm new snow.

Excellent.

But i don't know where i should go at the moment :-)
(Andermatt, Engelberg, Flumserberg or Pizol)

Is there some reason you're excluding Melchsee Frutt? Having said
that, I'm not sure where we'll go - haven't done Andermatt this
season, so maybe there...

--
Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club.

HI

On Wed, 24 Mar 2004 11:26:11 +0100, Ace wrote:

On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 20:38:35 +0100, Johannes
wrote:

On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 09:18:31 +0100, Ace wrote:

After a disappointing Saturday in Engelberg, where the snow was soft
and very heavy (too warm), the light was flat to non-existent and the
thick cloud layer hovered between 1800 and 2000m, we moved over to
Melchsee Frutt on Sunday and were pretty much blown away by the place.

Always the same story you have to be at the right time at the right
place. 32cm new snow at the village and 50cm at the top.

We had some friends who were in Grindelwald on Sunday and said it was
really quite poor snow - very slushy even quite early on. Seems that
we did much better.
Jep Engelberg is know for the plenty of snow. Meanville 495cm at the
top.

Is there some reason you're excluding Melchsee Frutt? Having said
One reason are the drag lifts. Other is what i rember from a walk
years a go: it's splited at 2 parts and the lift up the valley is flat
from the Gondola.

that, I'm not sure where we'll go - haven't done Andermatt this
season, so maybe there...

hmm wispo.stnet.ch say 0 cm at the village i can't belive that. At the
top 30cm new snow.

Johannes