Every person has dreams of having a Swiss Alps vacation and skiing the Swiss Alps.
Most resorts have easy cruising terrain and excellent learning programs. Many have dedicated slopes and lifts just for learners and beginners. And while après-ski may be much more lively in some larger ski centers, Swiss ski resorts are equally well-tuned to the needs of families, with family-friendly lift passes, lodgings, and packages.
Some skiers love first tracks in fresh powder, others prefer groomed trails—both will be happy skiing in the Swiss Alps.
Everyone loves great scenery, dependable snow conditions, and a good network of lifts; Switzerland promises all these and a choice of resorts to appeal to every taste.
Vincent Jets has chosen its favorite Swiss slopes for your next winter vacation….Zermatt.
As the highest winter sports area in the Alps, with ski terrain at altitudes between 2,500 and 4,000 meters and more than 2,133 meters of vertical drop, Zermatt rises directly behind the town and is visible from much of the mountain’s 360-kilometer trail system, which connects two countries and three resort towns. The other side of the Matterhorn is in Italy, and one of the greatest moments in a skier’s lifetime is skiing over the Theodul Pass and down into the Italian trail system.
The world’s highest 3S cableway opened for the 2019 season after 2.5 years’ construction work. The “Matterhorn glacier ride” carries 2,000 skiers an hour to the Matterhorn Glacier, at 3,883 meters altitude, where you can ski year-round.
A free Zermatt Skiguide app uses GPS to help skiers navigate between mountain locations, with time and routes adjusted to the user’s skiing style, safety concerns, weather, and the currently open lifts and pistes.
Along with offering skiing and snowboarding 365 days a year in a postcard setting, Zermatt is famous for its long ski runs, with terrain for all skill levels. Beginning skiers and children will find non-threatening terrain as well. From here, experienced skiers can access the gondolas, chairlifts, and a cable car up to the Rothorn’s trails and snowfields.
Children up to age nine accompanied by an adult with a multi-day travel pass free on the mountain lifts, and the free Wolli Card, valid for one year, gives them access to the Gornergrat Bahn and free lodging in some Zermatt hotels. All skiers pay only for the mountain areas they ski, with the new Easy SkiCard that bills only for actual rides taken. This season Zermatt becomes the first destination in Europe to be a partner on the Ikon Pass, allowing access to 41 ski destinations on five continents.
New on the mountain for 2020 is the Stoked Kids Club in the Schweigmatten, a snow sports school that has the latest learning aids and a conveyor belt lift on kid-friendly terrain. New, too, is the creative new terrain in Snowpark Zermatt, a course challenging riders with tunnels, hills, banked curves, jumps, and obstacles. It will also be possible for the first time to toboggan down the Alps’ highest toboggan run on a Snooc, a toboggan with a seat-mounted above a single ski.
Overall, it’s safe to say, we are ready to take flight this ski season…straight to Zermatt!