photos by Whit Richardson

Austrian Arlberg I Ski the Dream Zermatt - Lotschental - Saas Fee I Les Trois Vallees/Haute Savoie

Austrian Arlberg
Descend into the history, heart and soul of skiing. Oft copied and never equaled , the Arlberg is the birthplace of modern skiing. High mountains and soft hills are covered each winter by a deep blanket of legendary snow. The sense of warmth of the classic Tirolean ski village must be experienced to be believed. Above the villages lie hundreds of miles of marked pistes. Thorough exploraiton can take a lifetime.

Nestled in the heart of the Tirol, a breathtaking mountainous province in Western Austria, the Arlberg region is unparalleled for the variety and beauty of its ski terrain. The milestones of modern skiing and ski life were marked here. The Arlberg - Kandahar, the first alpine combined ski race was held here in 1908. In 1910 Johannes Schneider, then a ski guide at the Hotel Post in St. Anton began his study of ski theory. In 1920 his Arlberg Technique was born and revolutionized the sport of skiing the world over. Ultimately it was brought to America by Sepp Ruschp and his Arlberg Ski School at Mt. Mansfield (now Stowe in Vermont).

Attempts to recreate the color and character of skiing in the Arlberg have been vigorously pursued the word over with little success. At best a hotel here and a restaurant there have captured the spirit but nowhere has anyone integrated the hotels, the villages and the regional antiquity into anything approximating the original.

Austrian innkeeping is legendary. They have set the standard that the world looks up to, not for decades or even centuries, but millennia. The hotels and hostelries of At. Anton, Stuben and Lech are the most delightful you will find in any ski experience.

The Arlberg ski system (it is a disservice to call it a ski area!) offers lifts and runs in the hundreds and acres in the many thousands. The difference between this terrain and North American areas is that every acre is skiable in the Arlberg. Add to this a 5000 foot lift served vertical drop and the result is ecstasy!

Ski the Dream Zermatt - Lotschental - Saas Fee
This unique itinerary is in the Valais canton of Switzerland.  Switzerland has 48 4000 meter peaks, more than any other Alpine country.  The Valais has 40 of those peaks.  It could not be a more dramatic setting. 

We begin this journey in the fabled ski paradise, Zermatt, beneath the Matterhorn.  Zermatt has a remarkable lift system accessing limitless terrain.  The lifts ascend as high as 3917 meters (fifth highest lift in the world) ensuring spectacular skiing on both the Swiss and Italian (Cervinia) sides of the ski area.

You will ski the flanks of the world's most famous peaks, the Matterhorn, Monte Rosa and Lyskamm.  Exceptional inn-keeping assures that we will sleep and be fed well in this incredible resort.

Mid-week we move on to one of the least known ski stations in Europe, the Lotschental.  This valley is so hidden and remote that it was cut off from the rest of Swiss civilization for centuries.  Charming little hamlets dot the floor of the valley with the lifts rising high above.  The Lotschental has just completed a significant lift upgrade opening access to thousands of acres of new terrain - We have to be here!

The map of the Lotschental ski region looks tiny - in fact this place is HUGE!  Access actually extends now to the Kandertal to the north in the Berner Oberland.

We enoy exceptional hospitality in the tiny hamlet of Blatten in an atmosphere of eras long gone by.

Finish the trip in the "Pearl of the Alps, Saas Fee.  Saas Fee is nestled on a glacier polished bench high above the valley floor and beneath the Alps third and fourth highest peaks, the Dom and Taschhorn.  Saas Fee is absolutely idyllic but has recently gained an energy not found in many other resorts in the Alps.

We will ski routes emanating from the famous Alpin Express.  This incredible feat of engineering is an underground funicular that takes skiers to the base of the lovely Allalinhorn.

Our accommodations are centrally located beneath the cascading icefalls of the Alphubel, Taschhorn and Dom.  

Les Trois Vallees/Haute Savoie
Lets put this in perspective, the late Ski Country Magazine once made an interesting calculation. You can take the six largest ski areas in the United States and fit them inside the Trois Vallees and still have 10,000 acres left over! And with all the lifts providing access to virtually every point in the valley, the region is so vast that intrepid skiers can head off into the hinterlands and ski for thousands of vertical feet without ever seeing a lift, and in some cases without seeing another skier. If you are someone who feels comforted by lifts within sight, you will have your fill. If you are the type of skier who wants to feel you are alone in the winter wilderness, the Trois Vallées has plenty to offer.

Skiing just doesn't get any better served than that found in this region. When you gaze at the mountains from any valley, what you can see you can ski-and it is most likely lift-served to some degree. Mountain restaurants are plentiful and the food is as good as anyone imagines when they conjure up French cooking. Make sure to test the tasty local specialties such as tartiflette, fondue and raclette.

The geopolitical boundaries of the Savoie have migrated continually since the Romans "civilized" it approximately two thousand years ago. Originally Sapaudia, anthropologists can trace hominid inhabitation here back 70,000 years.

In its "modern"context the Savoie was the domain of the House of Savoy. This, the oldest ruling house in Europe, was founded around 1000 by Humbert the Whitehanded. It was developed by the Dukes of Savoy and was made a sovereign state between the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire. In the early 1800's the Dukes were clever enough to establish themselves as the Kings of Sardinia at which point the Savoie became a province of the Sardinian States.

The Savoie has always had a colorful history. One such example is a brief occupation by the Burgundians who, occupants of what now is western Switzerland, were chased over the high country into Savoie by the Huns in the latter 5th century. Described, thus, "the Burgundians are brave soldiers and good, but heavy and course people; they consume a lot of garlic and smell mightily since they are in the habit of greasing their hair with rancid butter". Better them.

A frequent target of invasion by France, the Savoie was finally annexed by France during the French Revolution. The region was subsequently returned to Sardinia. The Dukes of Savoy, always looking out for a good career, move became the Kings of Italy in 1860 and the Savoie was given to France once and for all. Approved by plebiscite by the Savoyards, the transfer emerged as two French departments: the Savoie and Haute-Savoie.

The departmental seat of the Haute-Savoie is Annecy but modern mountain lovers will always focus on the small herding villages that once dotted the alpine landscape and have now been converted into perhaps the most sophisticated ski system in the world.