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#11
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Zermatt for the Sort-Of Beginner
Skiing down the blue run from the Gornergrat involves a tunnel at one
point. You want to be certain that you can snowplow this or keep your speed down with tight turns. In article , h23 wrote: Yes, especially the stretch before this tunnel, against the wall I did not like when I went there the first year I skied. Especially when its icy. And suffering from vertigo. Well the problem which occurs about this, especially with first timers is that your eyes, on a clear day, can fix on the Matterhorn. It's the Matterhorn, the visual symbol of all mountains. And you are there. And it's somewhat hard to believe. And you don't want to ski into the wall. This is only the first of many ski tunnels in various parts of the Alps. And this is nothing. The death cat tracks are on some of the others (the ones with the nets to stop you if you miss a turn). But then, that's where you can take the train at Hotel Riffelberg to avoid it. Naw. Nice cruising off piste left after exiting the tunnel. -- |
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#12
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Zermatt for the Sort-Of Beginner
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#13
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Zermatt for the Sort-Of Beginner
Naw. Nice cruising off piste left after exiting the tunnel.
In article , h23 wrote: Well, I know that *now* ;D One has to be reasonably skilled/trained in powder skiing or general ungroomed snow. And be willing to scrape bases. Only thing I haven't found a solution is when skiing down completely from Gornergrat is how to get up from the busstop to the Trockener Steg cable cart. I hate walking You have to get used to walking in the Alps. Part of the way down, the road into town makes a right turn. I believe it's signed. Going left with a tiny bit of uphill takes one to the tram station. A little skating works fine. One also has to watch out for electric carts on the final bit, and they do sand/gravel the road and it's not the most pleasant skiing. Doing it once is fine, and it stops near the gondola. It's a bigger problem for boarders, but skiers who know how to skate: no big deal. It's all part of how much of a beginner one is. -- |
#14
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Zermatt for the Sort-Of Beginner
I'm an American and a long time Zermatt skier. And a Zermatt lover.
Sadly, my advice is, you're not ready. Richard wrote in message ups.com... Hello, My wife and I will be skiing in Switzerland for a week in February of 2007 and have been considering staying in Zermatt. I have heard comments on Zermatt ranging from "Experts find it boring" to "Ski Zermatt only if you can ski a black diamond in the states" My wife has been skiing for years but I am fairly new to the sport. I spent a week in Monarch in Colorado last year and learned to ski. By the end of my stay I was able to ski greens without any real difficulty. Later that year I did some skiing in Utah and also had no difficulties. I plan on going back there for a couple days this winter sometime before our Swiss adventure. On American standards, I feel like, with some work, I would be ready to tackle intermediate runs in a place I was familiar with. Given my level of experience (a beginner but not really a novice), would I have difficulty handling the beginners runs? Also is it really difficult to get around as a beginner? I have heard that most of the beginners runs transition very quickly into intermediate. |
#15
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Zermatt for the Sort-Of Beginner
Felly sgrifennodd :
The discussion, and the website that dh suggested (best ski travel website I have seen by the way) leans me toward what was our other possible Alpine itinerary - the Jungfrau region (probably staying in lauterbrunnen and skiing wengen). It looks like It may be a situation where I could have a fair amount of runs I feel comfortable with and still have enough that would challenge me and not bore my wife. Lauterbrunnen is a great choice. There is no apres-ski worth mentioning, but that suits us. Don't just ski Wengen though; Muerren may be smaller but has some great pistes, and IMHO a better range of pistes in terms of difficulty. If you're in Lauterbrunnen, it's actually easier to get to the Muerren slopes than the Wengen ones. Adrian -- Adrian Shaw ais@ Adran Cyfrifiadureg, Prifysgol Cymru, aber. Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Cymru ac. http://users.aber.ac.uk/ais/weather/ uk |
#16
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Zermatt for the Sort-Of Beginner
You have made my point. The run from Gornergrat to Riffelberg is rated
blue/easy on the map. It is not for beginners!! The instructors laughingly refer to the wall as "the wall of death" because of the fear it creates in beginners. On the other side of the wall is a steep drop. If a new skiier cannot side slip (a skill not usually taught in the USA) he's in huge trouble. The stretch is too steep for a snow plow. The are after the tunnel has finally been rated red. Calling it blue was totally crazy. "Eugene Miya" wrote in message news:44d79bb4$1@darkstar... Skiing down the blue run from the Gornergrat involves a tunnel at one point. You want to be certain that you can snowplow this or keep your speed down with tight turns. In article , h23 wrote: Yes, especially the stretch before this tunnel, against the wall I did not like when I went there the first year I skied. Especially when its icy. And suffering from vertigo. Well the problem which occurs about this, especially with first timers is that your eyes, on a clear day, can fix on the Matterhorn. It's the Matterhorn, the visual symbol of all mountains. And you are there. And it's somewhat hard to believe. And you don't want to ski into the wall. This is only the first of many ski tunnels in various parts of the Alps. And this is nothing. The death cat tracks are on some of the others (the ones with the nets to stop you if you miss a turn). But then, that's where you can take the train at Hotel Riffelberg to avoid it. Naw. Nice cruising off piste left after exiting the tunnel. -- |
#17
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Zermatt for the Sort-Of Beginner
Wow, So my ISP goes down for one day and all this posting happens
Anyway, another possibility (just in case I havent thrown out too many already is to go to Saas-Fee, which is supposedly a great beginners resort, and then, If I feel like I am ready for a challenge take a day trip to zermatt. One saas-fee question and one general question - It looks like getting from one of the other cities in the saas valley (Saas grund, etc) to the more extensive slopes at saas fee is a bit of a pain, is that true?. And a general question, how would you rate the lift lines at the three areas (zermatt, wengen/murren/grindelwald,Saas-fee) Just to fill in the back story to this, I'm turning 40 on 4 February (alas, the same birthday as Dan Quale but I get Rosa Parks too so I guess it balances out!). We are flying into zurich on 02 Feb, spending a week skiing and then taking a train down to rome, doing another week there. I think, given that we are looking at a week any trips to other resorts would be day trips. Thanks so much for all the feedback on this. |
#19
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Zermatt for the Sort-Of Beginner
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#20
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Zermatt for the Sort-Of Beginner
How many times must I say this. A red run in Zermatt is suicide for a
beginner!!!!! "Turan Fettahoglu" wrote in message ... Zermatt offers anything except low prices. but in a skiing resort like this the upmarket prices are allright. I do not like black-diamond runs. Years ago I spent a week in Zermatt for skiing, and I always found a red or blue run. So you won't have much of a problem. Look in here, they have all the maps, even in English. http://bergbahnen.zermatt.ch/e/ HTH Turan |
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