Jon Paget

3 August 2012. 18 comments

Category: News, Switzerland

Switzerland gets new super ski pass

The south west of Switzerland is home to a number of the country’s very best ski resorts. It was announced recently that a new ski pass will be available for 2012-13 which will join three of these resorts up – providing skiers with 420km of piste to explore, and in doing so introduces a Swiss multi-resort pass to rival some of the established passes on offer in Austria, Italy and France. 

With its high, snow sure resorts and best-in-the-world mountain restaurants, Switzerland is considered to have some of the best ski resorts in the world. Its traffic (and now largely smoking) free resorts are as popular during the summer as they are in the winter and many of the resorts are run by a small number of family businesses. Why does this matter? Because Switzerland’s ski resorts have retained every bit of their picturesque mountain village character and charm.

Unfortunately in the last few years the British pound has fallen against both the Euro and the Swiss Franc (more so against the Swiss Franc) meaning it’s become more exclusive to many UK skiers – however many skiers return year after year for exactly this reason; the exclusive, un-crowded resorts and luxury accommodation.

With the introduction of the new Swiss super pass it’s looking even better for those returning in 2012-13 or those wishing to try something a little different.

Introducing the Swiss Super Pass

The Swiss super pass will link the resorts of Villars and Gryon with the ski areas around Gstaad through both ski lifts and slopes. This combined area will now include the Glacier 3000, 116 ski lifts and 420 km of piste; making it one of the world’s 20 largest ski areas. It will still be possible to purchase lift passes for the smaller individual resorts within the ski area – an option not available for some of the other large ski areas.

Above: Les Diablerets – just one of the resorts to be joined up by the new Swiss super ski pass.

So what are the other super ski passes available?

Italy’s Dolomiti super ski pass

Thanks to the Dolomiti super ski pass you can ski on 1,200 km and use 450 lift facilities in 12 ski resorts. These include:  Cortina d’Ampezzo, Kronplatz, Alta Badia, Val Gardena, Alpe di Siusi, Val di Fassa, Carezza, Arabba/Sellaronda, Marmolada, Sextner Dolomiten-Alta Pusteria, Valle di Fiemme, Obereggen, S. Martino di Castrozza/Passo Rolle, Valle Isarco, Trevalli-Moena/S. Pellegrino/Falcade, Civetta.

Like many ski passes there are a range of options from rechargeable chipcards to 1-28 day more traditional passes.

Above: The Italian Dolomites offer skiing in spectacular scenery

Austria’s Zillertal Super Skipass

This pass is valid for all areas in the Zillertal including the most well known resort of Mayrhofen. The pass opens up 671 kilometres of piste to explore with use of 174 lifts. South west of Mayrhofen is the Hintertux glacier, guaranteeing snow sure conditions. There are 2 – 21 day options and children born after 1st January 2007 go free of charge with reduced prices for children born after this date.

An added bonus is that almost all buses in the area as well as the Zillertalbahn (train) are free to use with the pass too. Passes can be bought from 1st December 2012.

France’s 3 Valleys lift pass

Les Trois Vallées started in 1973 and, what started out as the 3 valleys of Saint-Bon, Allues and Belleville, now actually includes a fourth. Set within this ski area is over 180 ski lifts, 600km of ski slopes and almost 2,000 snow cannons.

The 3 Valleys includes the resorts of Courchevel, La Tania, Meribel, Brides-les-Bains, Val Thorens, Les Menuires, St Martin-de-Belleville and Oreille.

America’s Vail Resort’s EpicPass

Vail resort’s Epic Pass is, well, epic. Covering the staggering  resorts of Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Heavenly, Northstar, Kirkwood and Arapahoe Basin with no restrictions or blackout dates. There’s also the ability to track your progress across the mountain with Epic Mix – something Vail  added to the experience last season.

Through the use of some clever technology you can download your entire route
to your PC, automatically update facebook and twitter with photos or stats from the slopes and compete for badges with other skiers on the mountain. We looked at this technology in a previous post, and as you will see, the EpicPass really is something else.

 

 

Crystal Ski offer ski deals to Switzerland and across Europe. For more information visit the Crystal Ski website.

Keep up to date with the latest ski news – join Crystal Ski on Facebook or follow us on twitter. Alternatively you can visit the Crystal Ski website for more information about ski holidays.

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  • rob milburb

    best place i have ever skied is mayrhophen for the pure fact everyone has a laugh then gets hammered together

  • NorthernCozzie

    3 Vallees, booked to go back for the 3rd time in Jan, can’t wait to get back out there and still find new runs and the Americains in Meribel are awesome!!

  • http://www.facebook.com/tom.phillips.75 Tom Phillips

    Best place has to be Les Arcs 1800. The scope is epic and, with the Vanoise Express letting you explore La Plagne and its Glacier, it makes for a truly brilliant week of skiing or boarding. Then there’s the nightlife. Great bars and clubs and the BEST kebab from ‘Le kebab’ a drunk could ever have. Well worth a trip, oh, and don’t forget to take on the Aiguille Rouge, a massive run well worth the wait for it to open in good weather.

    Enjoy all!!!

  • Neil Phillips

    Whistler BC, vast skiing. In Europe we are happy to get a inches of fresh powder, BC gets acres of the stuff! Go in May, dead quiet and cheap accommodation and passes. Win win!

  • http://www.facebook.com/nick.winn.3154 Nick Winn

    Mayrhofen in the ziller valley for me, massive area, a glacier all year, amazing people in a really nice picturesque village, it has a great board park and the most importantly the best apres ski anywhere

  • http://www.facebook.com/lee.norris297 Lee Norris

    So far the best plce I’ve skied is Cortina d’Ampezzo. This was only my second ski trip and as a mere novice, the extensive blue slopes around Pocol where great for getting loads of practice miles on before progressing onto some very good reds around Faloria by the end of the weeks.

  • Rebecca1

    my best place was Courchevel 1850 as the scope of skiing is fantastic and you can ski across to Meribel and Val Thorens which are also amazing in their own right so to join all three makes it the best ever. I do also have to say that although the resort isnt the best Ive been to, the best snow conditions I had were last year in Les Deux Alps due to a massive dump over night and insane deep powder literally everywhere so everyone skied ‘off piste’ and were woops of excitement and laughter all the time and everyone looked after each other. It was an amazing atmosphere.

  • Richard Ives

    For me in europe it has to be hintertux gletscher so much to do off piste and with mayrhofen round the corner cant get much better than that :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/jane.hubbuck Jane Hubbuck

    Best place I have been to is Heavenly/Lake Tahoe (USA) – 7 resorts around the lake, you can even do a trip across the lake on a steamboat (inlcuding cooked breakfast) to Squaw Valley and then back again at the end of the day with a live band on board (and bar of course). The area is fantastic, it is amazing being stood on top of a snow clad mountain looking down into the desert! As you are on the boarder one side of the street is full of casinos etc – the other side is more quiet and sedate. Excellently groomed pistes, plenty of off piste opportunity and fantastically organised queues… if you are unlucky enough to find a queue, we spent one morning in knee deep powder and only saw two other people on the same slopes :-)

    • Ski-buzz

      Hi Jane, we’ve picked yours as the winning comment. Please drop us an email to contact@ski-buzz.co.uk, provide us with your address and we’ll pop the copy of WTSS 13 in the post.

  • Susan scott

    The favourite ski area was the milky way. Loved the area, plenty of good skiing

  • http://www.facebook.com/nstone12 Nick Stone

    Without sounding stupid… I would say the best resort in the world has to be Glenshee in Scotland… I’ve skied all over Europe and I find the best terrain and natural features at ‘Shee… The infrastructure may be prehistoric but only 2.5hours from Glasgow and Edinburgh you can experience (on its day) the best skiing in my opinion in Europe! The staff are friendly, the locals are cracking, the foods a great deal cheaper than Europe!!! I love Scottish skiing!!

  • steve

    The best place is saalbach hinterglemm in ausria. Loads of runs and great night boarding & tobogganing along with some mad apries ski.

  • Tom Blake

    Best place I have been in Kranjska Gora in Slovenia 9 years ago, simply because it is the only time in my life I’ve been skiing. I absolutely loved it, the food/drink was cheap, the hotel we stayed at was brilliant, I loved the cosy and quaint village atmosphere of the resort and the Ski Instructors were top draw and got me up to speed on the many nursery slopes in no time :)

  • Romo

    Steamboat in Colorado is brilliant, with some amazing powder days. In Europe, I like la plagne and courcheval. (les arcs was the liveliest though)

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=880880236 Kevin Brown

    For me it has to be Vail, Colorado. The slopes have something for everyone, great snow, tree lined runs, steeps, wide open bowls and backcountry. The lift network is fantastic and everyone is polite and friendly. Lift queues hardly exist and lifties and the slope users make sure chairs are filled up so no single people riding a six seater whilst there is a mile long queue and no locals trying to barge through the line. It’s also the place where it “clicked” for me and I found I could actually snowboard to a decent level. Ok it’s a long flight from the UK but well worth it.

  • Susie H

    I love Winter Park , Colorado due to it being less hyped . Decent terrain and plenty of it and fairly quiet slopes . Great snowfall too . Not a big town by any means but more than adequate . Prices for eating out are a bit lower than the likes of Vail and Breck . Can’t fault it .

  • http://www.facebook.com/nat.j.haynes Nat Haynes

    Its been said, but for me nothing can top Lake Tahoe, in particularly Heavenly, I love the views and scenery you get from snowsports anyway, but to be on the top of a mountain looking down to a gorgeous deep blue lake on the Calfornia side of the mountain and then the vast Nevada desert on the other side… Breathtaking!!