The only downside on hiring a guide is that it takes away part of the pleasure of discovering and the “I did it myself” thing... but it’s the best way to break the ice....
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The only downside on hiring a guide is that it takes away part of the pleasure of discovering and the “I did it myself” thing... but it’s the best way to break the ice....
I started a Zermatt thread over here to get into details without messing up the BBI Organisation.
This says mountain guide necessary: https://www.zermatt.ch/en/Media/Attractions/BreithornQuote:
Originally Posted by Leavenworth Skier
If the weather is fine you can hike it in flip flops. If not.... Well you're at 4000m on a glacier without any points of orientation.
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Two quick points:
1) Guides aren’t legally required anywhere that I know of in Switz; I’d suggest comfort with BC skiing, the terrain you’re targeting, etc should dictate whether to get a guide.
2) If you go it alone, make sure you aren’t going through any nature protection zones which pop up in winter. You’ll get whacked with a hefty fine. You can see them easily if you go to https://map.geo.admin.ch and turn on the Designated Wildlife Areas under GeoCatalog in menu. (Website also has a good app).
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I've thought of mentioning the wildschutz deal, the zones closed to human access in Switzerland.
They are serious about them and for we Americans that are used to blowing off closed zones, they Swissies can be really uptight about it.
There's a few around Andermatt clearly marked that are kind of obnoxious as they block traverses back to the lifts (from the Felsenthal) or deny access to some nice tree skiing (below the lower Gemsstock tram) but evidently the threat of fines and police being called is real.
I'm going to stick with LeoK's Zermatt thread for my Zermatt questions and leave this for the main event. Thanks for the responses so far everyone.
;-) I was just surprised to not find any recent topic on Zermatt info and I think it deserves a thread here that can be found again for future mags going there.
On the BBI Image: I agree with Leavenworth Skier on watches, toblerone and such!
Such an awesome resource. Does there exist a version where you can save / plan routes on a la CalTopo?Quote:
Originally Posted by bw_wp_hedonism
Just when I was being depressed at how awesome the train system is in Switzerland compared to NA, I am not depressed at how shoddy and slow our mapping tools are.
EDIT: Holy shit. Turning on the "Ski Routes" layer made me real sad. A national catalog of ski routes. Rad. Any place I can look these up by number?
Great tip, thanks.Quote:
Originally Posted by bw_wp_hedonism
damn socialists
The Number refers to the SAC Guidebooks. You will be depressed again once you discover those.Quote:
Originally Posted by doebedoe
Quick Edit: but when it comes to guidebooks the "Ski- und Snowboard Tourenatlas" is my favorite.
New guided poll: https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...ded-Objectives .
It looks like we've got between 7 and 10 people already interested in at least one guided day.
Please review the choices in the poll and discuss so I can specify what we're looking for guidewise and help Danny organize his resources.
It's an absolute gem.Quote:
Originally Posted by doebedoe
wow there is some great information in this thread. Much appreciated. That Swiss site is amazing.
I’ve only discovered the site this summer so still discovering. There is an App in the App Store (for free, called Swiss Map I think) that looks like it might allow you to set waypoints. Not familiar with CalTopo so can’t compare.Quote:
Originally Posted by doebedoe
Poking around on the swiss map it appears there is a tram on the north side of the Ober Gutsch but i can't find anything about it. Some kind of private lift?
Also, with the wildlife closures it appears people don't ski trees in Andermatt? What's the skiing like on a foggy/storm day? Are there certain areas with better contrast? If you Euro mags poke through the BBI Alpy threads you'll see us PNW types are quite used to our heavy tree cover.
There's some military lifts and private farmers lifts that are shown. I think that one is a military lift if you're referring to one that goes down towards Goeschenen.Quote:
Originally Posted by Leavenworth Skier
This is a problem on storm days and one of the reasons the pistes are marked with flags. The lower Gemsstock also has some scrubby trees. On some storm days we skied the rocky chutes off the upper Gemsstock for contrast, but yeah, storm days can be bad whiteout.Quote:
Also, with the wildlife closures it appears people don't ski trees in Andermatt? What's the skiing like on a foggy/storm day? Are there certain areas with better contrast? If you Euro mags poke through the BBI Alpy threads you'll see us PNW types are quite used to our heavy tree cover.
Disentis has more tree lined runs on the lower mountain
More poking around google reveals what looks like pretty good tree skiing on the lower mountain at Disentis.Quote:
Originally Posted by Buster Highmen
Let's see some more ski stoke in here
Quote:
Originally Posted by Leavenworth Skier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64fj8HgjgjgQuote:
Originally Posted by Norseman
I’ll take a big ole heapin helpin of that^
Pow looks fun!
I'll bet that we get sun and corn.
With Kai from Hotel Krone in Goeschenen. If you have an hour or so to stop in Goeshenen, go have a beer with Kai at the Krone, it's literally a 5 minute walk up the little hill from the trains station.
At about 5:45 -6:00 this shows the climb up to the Guspis:
I'm thinking good snow and at least 1 storm.