Laax - Switzerland

[missyd]

Today I took a day off from work and went skiing.
For the 3rd time this year I went to Laax in the eastern part of Switzerland ---> https://www.laax.com

The day ticket is rather expensive with 58$. But I went there so many times for snowboarding (big park and a superpipe) and I know nearly all slopes.

Snow conditions are top class at the moment. On the upper parts of the resort its powder and on the lower parts a mix of powder/artificial snow. Grooming of the slopes is mostly top class. The resort has a huge fleet of machines!!!!

First for warming up I took my favorite slope a mix of easy blue and red. Sorry I do not know the classification of the slopes in the USA.
Then I went for the sunnier part of the resort and stayed there all day. They have a new 6 person chairlift with heated seats! Very nice if you are feeling the cold. The slopes there are also a mix of blue/red/black.
Today everything went well ... I could go fast and take big turns (I can't carve) and if very steep I tried to go down as directly as possible.

I stayed there for over 6h and took a break for a hot tea only once.

Wonderful day, with wonderful snow condition and blue sky.

Just a few pics I took with the camera in my mobile ... sorry the quality is not ok.

Equipment today:
Salomon Psychic one piece ski suit
K2 First Luv ski
Lowa Ski boots
Dainese back protector
Smith helmet
Level mitten

Myself

K2 First Luv (Perfect Luv = First Luv)

Please feel free to ask question about this resort.

I must say that this was one of the best days I ever had on the slopes!

Cheers
Danielle

 

[RachelV]

Oh hey, I've been there! Maybe 4 years ago my ex was on a business trip in Zurich, I went over to join him for a few days, and we skiied one day here. The weather was terrible, though -- most of the lifts were closed and there was absolutely no visibility at all. It looks really beautiful in your pictures. I'll have to ski in Europe again soon.

 

[amanda]

Wow - Looks really beautiful!

 

[Christy]

Gorgeous!

 

[Jenny]

What a beautiful day!

 

[missyd]

Thanks a lot! The view of the mountains from most of the slopes is just fantastic. :D

I must say that in bad weather its hell to ride there .... I must say that I normally do not ride in bad weather. No way to spend a lot of $$$ for a bad weather day riding.

 

[SkiNurse]

Nice TR & beautiful pics...thanks for sharing.

 

[missyd]

missyd, what do you think of Laax as a resort?
I'm considering a trip next month and Laax is one of the potential destination...

Well I think it is very nice there! I like the fact that it has a lot of chair/skilifts and so you can ski all day long and change slopes/lifts all the time. There are some slopes that are on the flat side (greens, blue over here) but I don't mind. I just like to cruise on the slopes. If you like freeriding Laax has plenty of save areas where you can leave the groomed slopes and go into the powder. They use a very big fleet of Pistenbully slopegroomers and so most of the time the slopes are top class. They use a lot of artificial snow on the lower slopes so you can ski down into the valley till the end of the season.

If you have a car you could also travel to other ski resorts nearby!

Look at the homepage its also in english and has lots of informations: https://www.laax.com

The views are spectacular and at the moment snow conditions are famtastic.

If I would stay overnight I would choose a hotel in Flims. Its a nice village with lots of restaurants and shops. Laax is not very interesting in the evenings.

Well this is my personal opinion!

I also suggest other resorts in Switzerland .... the two famous ones .... St.Moritz, Grindelwald ...... there are plenty of other resorts and each of them has something special ....

 

[abc]

Thanks! Sounds nice.

I must say that in bad weather its hell to ride there .... I must say that I normally do not ride in bad weather. No way to spend a lot of $$$ for a bad weather day riding.

That's unfortunately the experience I had when I went to Wengen 2 years ago. The mountain was spectacular -- the short time we could see it, that is! Out of 8 days we were there, 6 of them were of zero visibility!

Are there much ski below the tree line at Laax?

Wengen only have maybe 5-6 runs below tree line. It got boring after skiing for the umpteenth time!

 

[missyd]

Are there much ski below the tree line at Laax?

Wengen only have maybe 5-6 runs below tree line. It got boring after skiing for the umpteenth time!

Do not forget that the tree line in Europe is around 6000ft .... I think in N.America its much higher ...

Most slopes are above the treeline. Wengen/Grindelwald is ok (skied there for 15 years in the 60/70ties) but not as big as Laax.
If you are looking for a resort with slopes below tree line .... there are plenty of them in Switzerland. But most of them are small and snow conditions may be not so good ... most resorts have the slopes above the treeline.

If you want a really big resort I suggest Val d'Isere/Tignes in France ... HUGE resort with so many slopes that you can't ski all of them in 1 day!!!

Val d'Isere / Tignes

 

[abc]

Not really LOOKING for below tree line skiing. More as an alternative for snowy days.

Wengen was good enough. And together with Grindlwald and Murren, big enough for even a week (or even more). But the lifts are somewhat antiquated. Or should I say the train as lift being so. It's charming to ride the train with your skis in the back but when it only comes once every half an hour, it seriously cuts into skiing time.

Looking back in my photograph of Wengen, I saw there're actually a lot of trees in the lower part of the mountain. But there seems to be not a habbit for European skiers to ski between the trees, which would open up a lot of skiable terrain for high wind days or poor visibility days. The few cut trails in lower mountain are merely "home runs" for people to get back to the village. In N. America, skiing between trees is quite popular for intermediate or above skiers. (unfortunately quite hazardeous for ribs and skulls)

 

[missyd]

OK .... I know there is a problem with bad weather days in the mountains. For this problem there is no solution. if the resort is very low in altidude you may have the chance to ride below the fog/clouds. But there is no warranty for that.
Most forested aeras in the mountains are off limits here! It's the shelter for some very nice animals that shouldn't be disturbed in winter ....

 

[abc]

Most forested aeras in the mountains are off limits here! It's the shelter for some very nice animals that shouldn't be disturbed in winter ....

So I've heard. Understood.