The secret Switzerland

THE SPORTING LIFE THE SECRET SWITZERLAND

Swiss skiers in the know consider Val d’Anniviers the place to go—not for chic ski crowds, but for skiing. By Everett Potter

I have been skiing in Switzerland for decades, visiting classic resorts like Zermatt, which is dominated by the imposing presence of the Matterhorn and welcomes an international mix of skiers and riders. I’ve skied the glittering slopes around Gstaad, which attracts some of the most moneyed skiers in the world. It’s outflanked only by St. Moritz, which is even flashier and wealthier, a place where Dolce & Gabbana and Prada are paraded après ski. I’ve also spent time in smaller, homier resorts like Villars, Leysin and Les Diablerets, which are French-accented and charming and have a loyal British clientele who love the fact that these slopes are only an hour from Geneva’s airport.

Yet I had never discovered one of the sweetest spots of Swiss skiing until I chanced upon the resorts in the Val d’Anniviers, a place where alpine powder meets oldfashioned Swiss villages. A Swiss friend suggested these slopes, which have plenty of challenges but a delightful lack of the kind of international Bogner-wearing ski crowd one finds at a typical well-heeled resort.

Val d’Anniviers is an isolated, 15-mile-long valley encircled by 4,000-meter peaks and accessed by vertigo- inducing roads. There are six resorts here—Grimentz-St Jean and Zinal are the largest, and then there’s St-Luc Chandolin, Vercorin and Vissoie—and I’ll wager you’ve never heard of any of them before.

I think of this as the secret Switzerland, the ski areas that the Swiss take their families to, the resorts that friends in Geneva and Zurich head to when they want deep powder and no crowds, seeking prices for lodging and dining that are a far cry from nearby and far tonier Swiss resorts like Verbier, Crans-Montana and that all-time classic, Zermatt. It so happens that all of those resorts are also here in the Valais, the canton where the Val d’Anniviers is found, but the latter is a different beast altogether.

Grimentz sits at about 5,200 feet in Val d’Anniviers, which is an offshoot of the Rhône Valley. It’s overlooked by the jagged peaks of the mountain known as the Becs de Bosson. This French-speaking part of the Valais lies south of Sierre, and while there are groomed runs, it’s especially noteworthy for its backcountry skiing.

Lift lines are rare, and after dark the villages are pretty quiet. Grimentz and its siblings are not for the nonstop party crowd. They exist for those who really want to ski and enjoy old-fashioned Swiss mountain hospitality. Those in the know come for the powder, which is legendary and can remain for several days, unlike at larger resorts, where it is summarily skied off within a few hours. Remarkably, these areas are just two hours by car from Geneva. That’s easy enough now that all COVID entry requirements have been lifted for Switzerland.

Grimentz has the look and feel of a traditional Swiss mountain farming town, and that’s a huge part of its charm. There are mountain huts called mazots that were historically used to store grain. Built of larch wood, they are blackened by centuries of sunshine and date back as far as the 12th century in some cases. There are also venerable chalets and newer chalets mixed in, the latter constructed according to strict guidelines to blend in.

This is the sublime side of Swiss skiing. You come to Grimentz if you’re an expert skier or rider because so much of the off-piste terrain can be accessed by the lifts. There is a good variety of such terrain, from tree skiing lower down to a true bowl. Yet if you’re traveling with skiers of lesser ability, there are beginner and intermediate runs that are accessible from the Bendolla ski area, a major advantage when you want to meet up at the end of a few laps. The Bendolla gondola, from the base area to the main resort area, offers access to tree runs, a godsend on those flat light days. There’s a total of 115 kilometers of pistes in Grimentz, connected by 21 lifts. The views of the Rhône Valley are a delightful bonus.

Grimentz was connected to Zinal by the Sorebois cable car in 2013. That gave skiers an easy way to access about 43 kilometers of challenging red runs in Zinal, as well as a selection of blue and black runs. It also provided access to some of the best backcountry terrain in Switzerland. On the return back to Grimentz, I skied the Chamois run, a favorite of experts, where you can test your mettle on 1,326 meters of vertical that can humble all but the best skiers. Let’s just say I was humbled. Equally compelling was an off-piste run to Vercorin.

Zinal is known for its venerable chalets and vintage mazots. It has a few hotels and auberges, but the village has also witnessed newer high-rise buildings and a spate of chalet-condos. The pick of the accommodations here is the Swisspeak Resort Zinal. Comprising six minimalist wooden buildings, it has apartments of varying sizes, all done in a modern Swiss chalet style.

In Chandolin, a good bet for a hotel with a wellness center is the Chandolin Boutique Hotel, considered one of the country’s best mountain hostelries. I had a memorable massage here following a day of leg-pounding runs down the slopes. Aesthetically, it helps that the village is long on charm and tranquility—it’s one of the highest inhabited places in the Alps.

The smaller hamlets have their delights as well. My favorite hotel in the region is in St-Luc, the Bella Tola, which was built in 1859 on the foundation of a Roman villa. This stuccoed mountain hotel has painted ceilings, wooden paneling, antiques and historic rooms that have been gracefully modernized, a remnant of the grand hotels that once could be found throughout Switzerland.

You don’t come to Val d’Anniviers for cutting-edge chefs and menus. The fare adheres to the tried and true mountain food that has kept Swiss skiers happily sated for more than a century. In Grimentz, the Becs de Bosson restaurant offers traditional alpine cuisine— think fondue, raclette, gnocchi and roast pork and veal dishes—while Chez Florioz is where to try Bündnerfleisch (air-dried beef), an extensive Swiss wine selection and even Alsatian-style tartes flambees.

If you’re looking for further challenges in the snow, Grimentz is one of the few resorts in the world that offers guided snowshoe hikes into the ice caves of a glacier, in this case the Zinal glacier. This five-hour walk with mountain guides is a memorable excursion, though you may prefer less rigorous Swiss activities such as good old-fashioned tobogganing.

What you won’t find are packs of Euro glitterati here for partying and aggressive Instagramming, dancing on tables après ski or a competition among Michelinstarred restaurants offering tony fare at astronomical prices. If you’re in search of those elements, head to Zermatt, Crans-Montana or Verbier. If you come to Val d’Anniviers, it’s because you’re seeking the essence of the Swiss ski experience.