TR - Zinal (Suisse) 24-30.12

[dorfke]

First TR I ever do here, so be kind...

Second: no action pictures as I was with the non-extremo girlfriend.

A bit late, but nevertheless, the not-not-so-good-snow-quality TR for Zinal during the Christmas period. As most of you Euro's will know we had not much to go for at the beginning of Christmas. We arived Saturday evening, not hoping for much. At least there was now in the village (1700m) and it appeared that there was somethinh with up there in the mountains. Early bed time, and woke up with a beautiful shining sun. First thing we noticed was the unreal view you have in Zinal. Several +4000's could be viewed right from our terrace (of which the Matterhorn and the Weishorn).

After breakfast we went up and noticed theer was almost nobody up the slopes. There was some decent cover on the slopes and the groomers skied alright, better than expected. Away from the groomers things looked sketchy and depending on the face, you got windblown, concrete, light powder, rocks, mud, any type of snow you can imagine. North facing slopes were still doing ok if not affected by wind. There was some powder to score the first few days, but things deteriorated fast (as did the crowd).

Th enxt few days, more and more people made their way to the resort and we made a few excusriosn to Grimets and St Luc, which both have some pretty good psosibilities/terrain if they get the right amount of snow. St Luc is South faced, so will be getting tracked out pretty fast but both Grimetz and Zinal have some decent north facing hors piste that can give you some powder shots weeks after the last dump.

Some sceneries:


St-Luc, view over Sierre:


Weishorn if I'm not mistaken:


South facing slopes at 2300m




On top of Zinal, the freeride part

[Ripzalot]

noice. thanks for posting.

the snow should be a lot better now, not that it helps. i need to get down there this season. when is the problem.

[comish]

Well done. Always wanted to get there as well. Bummer about the snow.

[ryank]

Looking better and better every TR.

[ulty_guy]

eesh, well not quite as good as the last time i was there

[Split-It]

nice views. oh so dreamy.

[TeleAl]

Thanks for those pics.
I've been to Zinal, but not for skiing.
Always looking for the opportunity,
and will take it when it comes.

[Spaniard]

I made a small report of my trip to Anniviers a couple of years ago. In spanish Grimentz

[dorfke]

I talked to a liftie and he told me they had (at that moment) one of the best conditions in the region. Don't know who trustfull he was but...

Seems that they now have conditions that are not too bad

At least the views are fenomenal

[IridePow]

Nice pics.
Glad you guys got some snow in the meantime... even though is quite warm.

Stay safe out there...... I just read about the numerous avalanche accidents.