Snow Sure Skiing in Switzerland

With more surrounding glaciers and 4000m+ peaks than we have fingers and toes, this neck of the woods hoards snow like no other – to the point that it sticks around all 365 days of the year. Being the highest ski area in Europe helps… The main bulk of the slopes can be found in the Rothorn and Gornergrat areas; both peak at over 3000m and the depth’s known to reach between 1.5m and 2.5m come March, with their north-facing orientations warding off any slush. Higher yet, the Theodul glacier has red and blue runs from a mighty 3883m, which are skiable even in the height of summer. There’s another perk of having the highest pistes on the continent, the views: not only are you eye-to-eye with the south face of the Matterhorn, you can also spot Gran Paradiso, Mont Blanc and the Jungfrau on a clear day. It hardly seems necessary but the snowmaking technology is among the best there is - the world’s premier Snowmaker creates a healthy base of white stuff every autumn, and this plus an army of cannons provide extra dustings in the winter if the powers that be take a day off.

Mother Nature had great plans for Saas-Fee from the start; blessing it with a plush seat in a snowy bowl, she keeps it cool - and stupidly pretty - with an impressive circle of thirteen 4000m+ peaks. The Dom Mountain’s the highest of these at 4545m (it’s also the country’s second highest mountain, and comes third in the entire Alps) – and between this and the Allalin Mountain lies the socking great Fee glacier. Pistes stretch down from 3600m here, with the upper slopes blanketed in average depths of 2-4 metres. With most of the other slopes being above 2000m too, it’s extremely unusual to find a day between May and November when less than 70% of the ski area’s open. If you think that even the sun would have a tough feat melting that lot… you’d be right – come back in sizzling August and you can don the skis for a spot of T-Shirt skiing on 20km of crisp, white terrain.

Glacier 3000 stretches high above Les Diablerets, and helping the area vie for top spot is its trump card: it opens way before any of the other ski areas in its vicinity (usually from October all the way through to May). 10 lifts serve the 25km of pistes up here, which are shared between Les D and Gstaad, so it’s a no-sweat affair when hunting out the best quality slopes. Starting from the very top of Dôme at 3016m, a lovely selection of cruisy blues wind across the plateau, with a pro-standard snow park shaped into the landscape. Alongside these, a steep 7km black shoots down through the Combe d’Audon valley and the off-piste potential’s never-ending. Don’t miss the views from the top at any cost – you can see over twenty 4000m+ summits, including the familiar faces of Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn.

Teetering over the 4 Valleys at 3300m, the Mont Fort glacier leads the way for the world-class powder Verbier’s so loved for. Pretty much the whole collection of runs here is above 2000m, with the annual snow depth regularly topping 4 metres (think the height of an African Elephant…). The north facing valley into Tortin not only gets a huge amount of snow, but keeps it cold and fresh longer than most. Bruson faces the same direction and has some fabulous tree runs that tend to collect pockets of deep white, so whether you’re above the clouds or between evergreens, conditions are bound to be brilliant.

St Moritz has always been the Grande Dame of the skiing world, and snow quality’s no exception. Things in these parts are never done in halves, so it’s no surprise that the Upper Engadin is home to some of the highest mountains in the eastern Alps, with the Piz Bernina (4049m) peaking its nose up above the rest. The resort itself sits at an impressive 1856m, and the crowning Piz Guglia rises to 3380m with an enormous 1587m skiable vertical. Stick to north facing areas like Corvatsch for some of the best preserved white stuff or for glacier skiing, take the aptly named Glacier Express to the Diavolezza region - where a fabulous 10km trail on the Pers and Morteratsch glaciers is the longest ungroomed glacier run in the country. This area has been known to open from mid-October and with a main season that runs from late November through to mid-April, there’s plenty of time to make the most of the good stuff.

Eastern Switzerland has cooler climes than the west (average annual temp’s a nippy 2°C), and Klosters is plonked in a bowl that just seems to gather oodles of white when the storms roll in from the north – nearly 5 metres most years. That’s more than you’ll find in neighbouring Davos, and an amount other ski resorts can only dream of. The Parsenn Mountain is your key to the best conditions in the area, and Klosters sits right beneath it for speedy access via the Gotschna cable car. It climbs to a hefty 2844m on Weissfluhgipfel, where something like 10 metres of snow falls from the sky each winter. It’s this mountain that tends to stay skiable the longest, with the lifts churning until the end of April in previous years - though with 80% of the ski area above 2000m, the rest of it is often in pretty good nick too.

When a ski area’s one of the world’s sunniest and has a skiable glacier to boot, the season sees some incredible mountain conditions. Crans-Montana’s top point is a mighty 3000m, where the Plaine-Morte glacier covers a whacking great 10 square kilometres. A fabulous red run snakes down to Les Violettes at 2250m – but before you ski it, the ‘Imperial Crown’ of surrounding 4000m summits are well worth a gawp at. For the most snow and coolest temperatures, set course for the slopes in December and January. Though famed for its sunny disposition, the top half of the area’s generally high enough to hold onto the white stuff all winter, with the rest of the slopes getting a discrete top up via snow cannons.

At 1560m Davos is the highest city in Europe – and it’s all uphill from here. With more than 80% of the ski area over 2000m and top altitudes of 2844m at Weissfluhgipfel in the Parsenn area towards Klosters, the area has a pretty glistening snow acumen. Around 10 metres of snowflakes fall up top on your average year, with Davos itself getting a generous 4m share. It starts piling up early too, starting off the season in fine style in November, with a little help from snow they’ve ‘farmed’ from the previous year’s dumping. To experience this in all its ungroomed glory, ski to Küblis from Weissfluhjoch or head to the Pischa Freeride Mountain, where the runs are marked and hazard protected, but left wonderfully powdery. North-facing areas on the Jakobshorn and Rinerhorn shade the white stuff from any sunshine as spring approaches, with the last lift running usually being the Parsenbahn, which is known to operate until the end of April.

Sitting in Bernese Oberland’s highest ski area, Mürren has a smashing reputation for raking in all the good stuff and hogging it all season. The village itself is perched on a mountainside at 1650m (access up is via a gondola or cog-railway ride) and the pistes rarely dip below 2000m, with north-facing options into Winteregg and Blumental protecting the snow from the sunshine. Topping up the runs, snow cannons can cover 40% of the area, keeping the popular routes as ship-shape as can be. Owing its snowy repertoire to the looming 3000m Schilthorn summit (which you can reach by two lifts from the village), brilliant conditions in these parts can last until late April – and with a carpet of white softening the runs, you can often ski a whopping 16km from the top all the way to Lauterbrunnen.

Nendaz is part of the Printze ski area – which has some impressive conditions in itself – but it’s also an honoured member of one of the most prized and super-snowy groups around: the 4 Valleys. The local slopes face north, keeping slush to a glorious minimum, and the bulk of the area’s above 2000m – but, it has yet another ace up its sleeve: 90% artificial cover. Snow usually falls think and fast over here, making the mountains a magnet for freeriders, and on a good year it comes early enough for the lifts to open in November. That’s just the start of it: Get your mitts on a 4 Valleys pass and you’ll have access to the Mont Fort glacier, the highest point in the area at a corking 3330m, where the white stuff usually piles up to a whopping 4m and the powder terrain is stonkingly fine.