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Trip Report: Davos and Engelberg
As an occasional lurker on this group I though I'd contribute this
report on an end of season ski trip I made to Davos and Engelberg in Switzerland over easter. Bit of a last minute decision to go and did a DIY job over the internet to book travel and accommodation. Flew KLM from Glasgow to Zurich via Amsterdam. Slight hiccup at Glasgow when airport security didn't want to let me through with my ski boots as hand luggage. Some new policy apparently (hopefully one that will be rescinded before next season...). Anyway in the end they let me through on condition I checked them in at the gate as "gate baggage". Otherwise all went fairly smoothly, retrieved boots at Amsterdam and on to Zurich (no further questions with taking boots as hand baggage). Got train from Zurich Airport to Davos Dorf, via Zurich and Landquart. Had booked 3 nights in the Solaria (www.solaria.ch) which I've used before - reasonable location and relatively cheap (SF97/night in their "superior" 2 person studios). There is a bus stop at the entrance which takes you to the Parsenn lift in 5 mins and Solaria run a mini bus to the Jakobshorn lift. Anyway, got ski hire and lift pass organised and next morning (Saturday) made go up the Parsenn lift about 9am. Fairly sunny and I'd characterise the runs as being busy but not crowded. Above about 2000 metres the snow was in excellent condition. I'm an OK intermediate skier and happy to keep to the pistes and had an excellent time. The run down to Klosters was open but the conditions on the run between Obersaas and Shifer convinced me not to bother trying (very heavy snow, and distinct "brown" patches lower down). The black runs down from Weissfluhgipfel were however in excellent nick. After lunch the weather started to get worse with clouds coming in and light snow. The runs back down to Davis Dorf were open, but by the time it was time to call it a day, I just skied down to Hohenweg and caught the train on down. My legs didn't fancy the heavy snow and it was raining at the lower altitudes. Next day (Sunday), woke to more rain and low cloud. Decided to try Jakobshorn (the only other ski area open at this time of year). Got to the top in pretty unpromising conditions of no visibility and snowing, but descending a few hundred metres took me out of the clouds and within about 30 minutes the conditions changed dramatically with brilliant blue skies, a few cm of fresh snow and almost noone on the slopes. I think its fair to say that the blues and reds on Jakobshorn are not too challenging (to be honest, this is probably true of the Parsenn as well - there's just a bit more variety there), but the combination of good snow, blue skies and empty pistes more than made up for that. Had an excellent morning. In the afternoon I decided to go back over the Parsenn area (which meant a lift down and bus from Davos Platz back to Davos Dorf). Skied around the Gotschnagrat area mostly, but the visibility wasn't great. Enjoyable enough, but the snow lower down was pretty sugary. Left next morning in brilliant sunshine (grrrh) for Engelberg. Had booked two nights B+B in the Hotel Europe (http://www.hoteleurope.ch/willkommen/e_start.htm) which was OK. Only the Titlis/Jockpass area is open at this time of the season. Unfortunately on the Tuesday the conditions were pretty poor looking - rain at the town level and heavy cloud. As it was my only day for skiing here, I had little choice. Visibility at the top in Klein Titlis was a little better - cloud above and cloud below, but a little pocket of half decent visibility. Apparently Engelberg is a well known location spot for Bollywood films - so it was a little weird to be taking the cablecars up with lots of Indian (and Japanese) tourists. Fairly quickly got bored with the simple reds at the top so skied down the black (only option - fairly mogully but since visibility was 10 metres it was hard to know what to make of it). Visibility between Stand and Trubsee didn't improve and the snow was distinctly ropey on the last few hundred metres above Trubsee. Took the lift across to Alpstubli, had lunch and then tried the runs up at Jochpass and Jochstub. Visibility was a little better over there and there was plenty of snow, albeit poor quality lower down. Finally went back to the top of Titlis and had a final run down to Trubsee - but again the visibility was very poor although (probably for that reason) the runs were empty. Had to queue to get back down from Trubsee - all the tourists returning from the mountain! Of course next morning, when I was leaving, the sun was shining and the mountains were cloud free... :-( Hard for me to judge Engelberg. The skiing felt much more limited compared to Davos (even allowing for the conditions). For piste skiers like me I cannot imagine wanting to spend more than 2, maybe 3, days here max. Perhaps more experienced off-pisters can get more from the resort? Engelberg itself suffered a bit from the obvious "end of ski season" air about the town, with some restaurants already closed. It looks like the new rail tunnel is not that far from being completed, so I guess the train journey there may become less interesting when it does. I continued to be quite impressed by Davos - though I guess none of the pistes on Parsenn or Jakobshorn are challenging for the more advanced skiers, at least towards the end of the season with the more limited ski area. Anyway, enough of this - if you've read as far as this, well done ;-) Rod |
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Thanks for the report Rod. I keep meaning to explore more of the Swiss
resorts and it sounds like I should give Davos a try one year. Certainly appeals to the snob in me.. :-) Cheers, Matt |
#3
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On 30 Apr 2006 06:50:13 -0700, "Matt T"
wrote: Thanks for the report Rod. I keep meaning to explore more of the Swiss resorts and it sounds like I should give Davos a try one year. Certainly appeals to the snob in me.. :-) That must just be good (?) Davos marketing then (and I suppose the World Economic Forum descending on them every year helps). Davos doesn't strike me as being a posh destination and to be honest probably counts as being a bit of an ugly place - though its no Arc 2000 either. Its certainly not in the Zermatt league for conspicuous wealth. Now Klosters is perhaps a different matter... ;-) Rod |
#4
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On Sun, 30 Apr 2006 12:52:00 +0100, Rod
wrote: Hard for me to judge Engelberg. The skiing felt much more limited compared to Davos (even allowing for the conditions). For piste skiers like me I cannot imagine wanting to spend more than 2, maybe 3, days here max. There's a bit more than you've seen, with a couple of nice long runs down to the resort from the Jochpass area, some blues (nursery runs, really) with two or three drag lifts above Gershnialp, then another mainly nursery area (Klostermatt) at the top of the village and an entirely separate area just the other side of the village at Brunnli with blues, reds and even a black run. But even so, for Int-Adv pist skiers I'd suggest 3-4 days would be enough before you started to get bored. Perhaps more experienced off-pisters can get more from the resort? Hoyuss. I'd suggest that even if you just took all the 'known' off-piste runs without any variations there is probably more mileage off-piste than on. Over the back of Jochpass, for example, there's at least five distinct routes, some of which need just a little walk out) compared with a single piste down. Then there's the whole area between Jochstock and Stand, with another three or four classic descents, plus many variants, and several more on the glacier above it (only with guides, of course) from the top of Titlis. Then there's the Laub, dropping skier's right from the top of Stand, with at least two distinct runs down, each with 1200m vertical all the way down to Gerschnialp, or drop even further right (can't remember the name of the run) to end up at the head of the valley and get a taxi back to town. Plus the many routes above and over from Brunni dropping down to the road below Engelburg, taking the train (included on the lift pass) back into town. I could go on, but I have to do some work today as well ;-) Anyway, enough of this - if you've read as far as this, well done ;-) To the bitter end - thanks for your report. -- 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. |
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