Central Switzerland
We chose a small spot that will hopefully remain as it is for a long time to come. Enough vertical meters, fat terrain, few locals, a relaxed atmosphere and, in addition to great weather, a good connection between the fresh snow and the old snow
We made friends with some locals on our first run, who were just as stoked about the day as we were. All the weather stations had reported a maximum of 15 cm of fresh snow and clouds - but it turned out to be three times as much!
In the morning, despite a few photo sessions, we easily covered 5000 meters of altitude at its finest. After a short breather, a few more clouds and increasingly heavy snow showers arrived in the afternoon. The locals and the last skiers gradually withdrew, but that didn't stop us from covering another 5,000 vertical meters in the best snow until 3 pm. The visibility was pretty poor, but it was once again an experience to feel the cold on your face, whether you were looking into the white cloud soup in front of you or being sprayed by one of his countless face shots.
Unfortunately, I had to say goodbye to "Mr. Powderspray" Uli in the evening. It was probably better for him to leave, on Wednesday he would have seen no more land with his snowboard in the forest with another 50 cm of dry fresh snow.
You know those days when there is simply TOO MUCH snow. Slopes below 30° could only be mastered by pushing, every attempt at a turn inevitably led to a face shot and cliffs could not really be stood on as you were stuck up to your neck in snow after landing.
Wednesday (26.3) I followed the locals' advice to go back to the same location, as there was still plenty of nice terrain above the tree line waiting for us
As the sun appeared from midday and the snow slowly became damp, we treated ourselves to a "Chässchnitte" (melted raclette cheese with bread and bacon), a cold drink and drove comfortably down to the valley at 17.30 pm into the valley.
Finishing up in Verbier
My now very tired bones, equipment problems and the bad weather made it easy for me to decide on Thursday:
By the evening, however, I was feeling that tingling in my legs again and, after another extensive weather search, I set off for Verbier with Jonas.
Shortly before 9 a.m., we met up with our mountain guide David. Initially a little taken aback by our wide skis, he suggested we head straight up to Mont Fort. Once at the top, he asked us if we would like to ride a little steeply. He probably took our hesitant nod as an invitation to give us a real go. A short hike along the exposed ridge at the summit station, a short traverse in the 50° drop and a lot of sweat later, we were greeted by a nice 400 m face that spread out between 42-45° on the north side in front of us. As soon as we heard that a winner of the Verbier Extreme had been caught by a snow slab on this slope a few years ago, David set off down the slope without hesitation. 40 cm of loose snow, a soft base, a nice gradient, only two tracks ahead of us and perfect weather. That's how it should be!
One leisurely cruising section and another perfect full-throttle north-facing slope later, it was time to push back down the traverse along the reservoir. The last few exhausting days, the lack of sleep and the rapid difference in altitude were making themselves felt on me. David and Jonas both had to wait for me for around 20 minutes.
After a more or less restorative break, we took the 3 lifts back to Mont Fort in 2 hours(!!!) in total Easter stress to repeat this lap again
Three snowboarders snatched the first line away from us in a variation of the lower section, but we coped with this disgrace quite well as David still had a nice groove in his repertoire.
Run three took us to Mont Gele. As the main face was completely ripped up and the main gully (nickname: "Banana") had already been ridden by a group, we decided to go for first lines in the gully next door. Jonas wanted to take a few photos and David agreed to let me take the first line. A nice powder finish to my road trip. There were also some amazed spectators on the mogul slope below for free.
As the time after these three runs was already very advanced thanks to the Easter crowds and waiting times at the lifts and my stamina was also waning, David showed us a small variant (Col des Mines) that leads directly back to Verbier.
After a good beer with a view of the well-dressed English high society, we said goodbye to David and quickly started the evening program after the descent into the valley. A delicious homemade Swiss fondue, a few beers and various other alcoholic drinks kicked off the evening on the bus. Afterwards, we visited the Mont Fort pub, which David had recommended to us.
The author's and his companion's recollections show strong memory gaps at this point, which is why the evening cannot be described further.
Due to the night's debauchery, skiing was out of the question the following Saturday and so, after a little sunbathing, we made our way home.
I dropped Jonas off at the train station in Bern and reached my home again after countless hours in Easter traffic.
A firm bed, a shower, hot running water, regular nutritious meals - luxuries that you learn to appreciate again after a month in industrial areas and fast food chain store parking lots.
At the end of this trip report, I would like to thank everyone who supported me on my road trip:
In particular, I would like to thank all the helpers, friends, fellow riders and photographers. Thank you so much for your help! Without you, the trip would never have been so much fun.