Away.com Travel Blog: The Case for Skiing Europe

By Gerry Wingenbach
01/09/2009

CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN: And then ski down to an Old World village (Photodisc)

Every big wall rock climber should make a pilgrimage to Yosemite. Every fly-fisher should wade the backwaters of Montana. And every serious skier or snowboarder should, anyway they can, get to the European Alps.

The prime Alpine nations of Europe—Austria, France, Switzerland, and Italy—offer the broadest range of lift-serviced skiing in the world. The mountains are bigger than North America’s, as are the ski resorts. The extraordinary slopes run the gamut from see-forever beginner trails to double-black-diamond-way-out-there commitment. Many of the vertical drops are like stacking your favorite Utah resort on top of your favorite Colorado resort. Even more seductive are the interconnected circuits that link resorts. They stretch over hundreds of miles, and over hundreds of ski lifts, even into neighboring countries.

Nightlife? It’s legendary, especially at Austrian resorts, where the dancing-on-the-tables theme rattles until dawn. One result of the increased job mobility offered to citizens of the European Union is a new energy off the slopes as the hip and restless from Scandinavia to Spain settle in the Alps.

And then there’s the Old World feel of it all. I can’t even paint a picture of that for myself yet alone for anyone else. But if you’ve been there, you know what I mean. And if you haven’t, you’re poorer for it.

If you’re fit and know how to finish your turns, the happening place is La Grave, France, where the scare-your-mother experience is everything. There are no runs. It's like Silverton in Colorado. La Grave is a gondola clinging to an in-your-face mountain. It makes its own rules. And you better find humility before it finds you. You probably already know about the elevator-like shafts at Verbier, Switzerland, and the skiers and boarders running on all cylinders over miles and miles at St. Anton, Austria. Down the rail line at Kitzbühl, above that glamorous Aspen-like resort, the surrounding humpbacked mountains can give anyone cold feet.

But the Alps also offer plenty for novice and intermediate-level skiers. The range and depth of blue cruisers is enough to make you believe in intelligent design. Let’s begin in Switzerland.

You know those chocolate bar wrappers with scenes of a 500-year-old-town at the foot of the Matterhorn? Welcome to Zermatt, where the skiing is out of this world and the only way up there is a journey of joy on one of those Lego-like red trains. The far-reaching slopes are groomed to the texture of a worn carpet. And they weave down a six-mile run to the resort town of Cervinia, Italy, where you can save a few bucks on lunch. If you want to see how things looked when the world was young, take the fork in the road on the way up to Zermatt and venture to Saas-Fee, Switzerland, perhaps the most scenic resort in the Alps. Above the centuries-old, car-free village, boarders and skiers carve swooping parabolas on active glaciers next to boxcar-sized boulders of prehistoric ice.

But if all you want is snow and sun, the 200 lifts spanning some 400 miles of slopes in the Portes du Soleil region of France is your field of dreams. A well-positioned base are the neighboring family resorts of Avoriaz-Morzine, which represent the two contrasting styles of French ski resorts. Avoriaz is a typical purpose-built resort consisting of mostly ski-in/ski-out highrises catering to families—the French condo. Nearby Morzine is just the opposite—a lovely old village typical of the Haute Savoie where the digs have been family run for generations and recipes are kept secret.

Sunny Italian resorts like Cortina d’Ampezzo ooze Alpine charm with la dolce vita. The venue for the 1956 Olympic Winter Games offers world-caliber shopping, stylish promenades and, arguably, the best cuisine in the Alps. Cortina delivers mostly gentle slopes weaving through the ancient coral-tinged Dolomites. Many come to explore the Sella Rhonda, a network of interconnected villages covering 750 miles of downhill trails and more than 450 lifts. It would take an endless silken string of see-forever days to ski it all. Guided groups of intermediate skiers whittle the Sella Rhonda down to a popular 14-mile circuit winding through the villages of four valleys including the heaven-like resort of Val Gardena.

But however you compare the American-European ski experience—terrain, snow, or cost—the Alps always blindside you with history. And in winter, the cultural attractions are without the obscuring overlay of hoards of summer tourists.

The oldness is everywhere in the Alps, but among ski destinations it’s particularly evident at Innsbruck, the 800-year-old Tyrolean capital of Austria and host of two Olympic Winter Games (1964 and 1976). The past seems joyously present there. And you can schuss on the sunny days and loaf in splendor on the bad-weather or bone-tired days. They ought to let you ski free and charge admission just to stroll past the city’s Baroque and Rococo architecture. Six nearby ski resorts are reached via a free shuttle from Innsbruck. The best cruising is on the sun-splashed slopes of Axamer Lizum, where most of the Olympic ski races were held.

It’s also easy to fall under the spell of Bern, Switzerland, where covered arcades from the 17th century front shops, leading past bell towers to an even older Old Town. Trains cannonball from Bern to the ice-covered waters surrounding Interlaken and on up to Grindelwald, where the real adventure begins in the Bernese Oberland. There you board a caramel-colored cogwheel train for the grind up to the ski area at Kleine Scheidegg. Now you’re directly beneath the Eiger’s infamous North Wall in the heart of the Jungfrau region. The history of Alpinism hardly gets any richer than this. From there you can ski and ride a network of lifts to reach Wengen and Mürren, two historic, car-free villages lying across from each other along the deep Lauterbrunnen Valley. To me, these are the two quintessential European ski destinations. There’s nowhere else like this in all the Alps. Find a local’s wine bar and make yourself at home. Just the fact that you can get there means you belong there.

Picking your pleasure may be an adequate way to sum up skiing in Europe.