6 minute read
Journey Skiing the Swiss Alps.
86 JANUARY 2015 MARIN VERBIER
A Marin ski enthusiast finds a powdery heaven on the other side of the world.
BY BEN DAVIDSON
Opener: Powder paradise in the Verbier’s Val de Nendaz. This page: A skiing exploration at the summit of Verbier’s Mont Fort. Opposite page, clockwise from top left: Snowshoers touring Verbier’s pristine winter backcountry; views of the Swiss Alps on beanbag chairs at Verbier’s mid-mountain Le Break Dahu cafe; eatery at the base of Verbier’s scenic La Chaux base area.
IN THE THIN, cool air at the summit of Mont Fort, the highest point above Verbier, Switzerland, the Alps spread far to the horizon, a vast winter panorama of snow and ice, jagged mountain peaks, crumbling glaciers, and deep, frozen valleys. It looked like the Himalayas, but I was in the heart of Europe.
From a steel mesh observation platform at the 3,330-meter summit, the slopes drop steeply into untouched white valleys on one side and to groomed ski runs on the other. It’s a jawdropping and (literally) breathtaking view that stretches to lofty Mont Blanc and the iconic Matterhorn and, for adventureseeking schussers like me, was as sweet as Swiss chocolate.
An Epic Pass
I was inspired to head to Verbier and the French-speaking Valais region by last season’s mediocre snow in the Sierra and the fine print on my season pass to the Vail Resorts–owned ski areas in Tahoe (Northstar, Heavenly and Kirkwood). The aptly named Epic Pass also gives skiers and snowboarders unlimited access to Vail’s other resorts in Colorado and Utah and is a really sweet deal, if you roam the West’s ski slopes each winter.
But it was the wording about using the pass to “ski the world” that really got me going. After reading it, I had an epiphany: I could jump on a plane with my ski gear and this little piece of radio-frequency-embedded plastic and embark on an “epic” overseas ski adventure at three of the most renowned ski areas in Europe — Les 3 Vallées in France, Austria’s St. Anton and Verbier–Les 4 Vallées in the Swiss Alps.
Succumbing to temptation and a love of Swiss skiing, I embarked on an Internet search for cheap tickets to Geneva, the nearest major airport to Verbier. After finding a nice deal from SFO to Geneva and a centrally located small hotel, the Phenix, for a decent rate (including daily Swiss breakfasts), I packed my skis and headed out for a winter adventure sans pareil.
Off to Verbier
After an overnight flight from SFO via DFW and Heathrow to Geneva, followed by a two-hour “Alpy” bus shuttle past the shores of Lake Geneva and the vineyards of Martigny, we were transported to the Swiss village of Verbier, one of Europe’s premier ski destinations, on par with the Swiss resorts of Zermatt and St. Moritz and France’s legendary Chamonix.
Perched on a sunny plateau in the heart of the mountains, Verbier with its slate-roofed chalets has carefully maintained its charm as an alpine village. The village center has a lively buzz, thanks to an international stew of skiers and winter travelers — Brits, French, Germans and Italian-speaking Swiss, Dutch and Scandinavians — who descend on the place each winter to celebrate skiing and a Swiss-style mode of mountain living that’s as hearty as raclette and fondue.
Like many large alpine ski resorts, Verbier has numerous private and rental chalets scattered about the town and dozens of hotels, ranging from modest but comfortable family-owned inns like the Hotel Phenix, where I stayed for five nights, to luxurious full-service hot spots like the five-star W Verbier, the luxury chain’s only Alps property. Verbier has long been popular with Brits, and billionaire travel magnate Richard Branson owns a high-end lodge here called, well, The Lodge. Numerous restaurants, nightclubs and pubs serve up a lively après-ski scene that infamously continues into the wee hours throughout the season.
But Verbier is mostly about skiing, and Les 4 Vallées boasts nearly 100 lifts and more than 400 kilometers of ski runs for all levels of expertise. If you’re really adventurous, local guide services, like Les Guides de Verbier, can take you down the backside of Mont Fort into an off-piste wilderness for truly stellar ski adventures — avalanche air bags included. But most skiers, myself included, are happy to explore the hundreds of established pistes in this large, interconnected ski region, which includes the little villages of Nendaz, Veysonnaz, Le Chable and Thyon.
Hit the Slopes
Clicking on skis and negotiating a steep but short descent to the narrow groomed run below Mont Fort, we began the long, winding ski run from the summit through glaciercarved valleys and open piste all the way back to the base of the Médran gondola in the village of Verbier, a drop of nearly 2,000 meters. Each day, our ski adventures started from this dual gondola, which rises above the tree line to a large midmountain restaurant complex at les Ruinettes, which in turn accesses the Attelas and Fontanet gondolas and ski lifts. One of my favorite runs headed from the top of the Jumbo gondola down a long, scenic glacier valley to the sublimely scenic La Chaux base area, where we took regular baguette-and-beer breaks at outdoor tables and in beanbag chairs at Le Break Dahu cafe. Another favorite run led from the top of the Jumbo gondola to an adjacent valley through the Col des Gentianes, a long descent to the Tortin and Siviez base areas above the village of Nendaz. The choices for ski runs were seemingly unlimited and, as they say in Verbier, simply magnifique. m
IF YOU GO
• The perfect place to start planning a Verbier vacation is
the official Verbier tourism website verbier.ch/en/discover/ verbier-val-de-bagnes. Numerous self-serve and fully catered chalets are available via British website chaletfinder.co.uk.
• The new W Verbier is situated directly across from the
Médran gondola. The upscale lodge pampers guests with 123 luxurious guest rooms and apartments, ski valets, an ultramodern tapas bar and the gastronomique Restaurant Arola, featuring the Spanish-influenced cuisine of Michelin-starred chef Sergio Arola, his first restaurant in Switzerland. The restaurant, opened in December 2013, features the same sleek modern interiors and contemporary menu as his namesake restaurant in Paris, including items like carpaccio of langoustines, oxtail ravioli and the signature patatas bravas Arola. For more information, visit wverbier.com/en.
• Other restaurants around the village offer traditional moun-
tain cuisine, like raclette, rosti and fondue — a must for those seeking the complete Swiss ski experience.
• For skiing the West and the Alps, Vail Resorts’ unrestricted
Epic Pass is a good deal. New for the 2014–15 season, the pass is also good for five days of skiing at Japan’s Niseko United. See snow.com/epic-pass/passes/epic-pass.aspx for details.
• For complete Swiss travel planning and information visit the
