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Gstaad is quite an exclusive resort, but is relatively low level - the village is at about 1,000m. I once shot some photos for the local ski club at one of the
by leejo 4y ago
Gstaad is quite an exclusive resort, but is relatively low level - the village is at about 1,000m. I once shot some photos for the local ski club at one of the slopes there and they wouldn't let anyone but the racers use the piste as they wanted to keep it in good condition. IIRC it was one of the privately owned runs, and they really didn't want this snowboarder wrecking the piste so I had to hike up to shoot photos...
Anyway, Gstaad is not far from Glacier 3000 which has most of its slopes at, yes, 3,000m, so anyone in Gstaad doesn't have to go far for (currently) guaranteed snow. The snow up there should be pretty good.
Lack of snow in this region isn't unusual at this time of year, we had a good amount at the beginning of Dec. What has been unusual is the high temperatures, which has meant that snow is now mostly gone and the snow generating machines are of no use. We've also had a lot of rain, which has made managing the existing snow difficult.
This is the future of low to mid level resorts however. In a couple of generations time they won't be able to offer skiing, or the length of the ski season will be significantly reduced. I shot a photo project on this when I first arrived here, nearly a decade ago: https://www.formulanon.com/switzerland-bergbahnen https://www.formulanon.com/switzerland-bergbahnen
- anon23anon 4y agoHow do snowboarders wreck the slopes anymore than skiers?
- blastro 4y agoYes, they tend to scrape snow off of the mountain moreso than skiers.
- jlarocco 4y agoBesides scraping up the snow in general, they can really mess up bump runs because they travel through them a lot differently than skiers.
- MichaelZuo 4y agoCouldn't ski resorts just charge snowboarders more to make up for the extra grooming costs?
- jlarocco 4y agoThey do, and that grooming cost is indirectly covered by the lift ticket prices or the event sponsors. But the run will still be closed for a while, because it doesn't make sense to continually groom the run leading up to and during competition or practice. Generally it's not closed to just snowboarders, but to anybody who isn't involved with the event. At least that's how they do it here in CO.
- chasebank 4y agoAh, thanks for reminding me of my favorite youtube archived video - Skiers vs Snowboarders circa 1985. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPZDEWBzneY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPZDEWBzneY
- Terretta 4y agoYes. One easy place to see this is Alta (skiing only) and Snowbird (mixed use) side by side on the same mountain in Utah. I enjoy both and prefer skiing the snow and runs of Alta. I'd prefer snowboarding Alta too, but seeing for myself the difference to the snow and to the traffic patterns, I can see my snowboard would undermine Alta's preferential characteristics, so I'm happy they're separate.
- hef19898 4y agoTgat slopes are closed for competition or training is normal in the alps so, nothing special about Gstaad here.
- leejo 4y agoNah, this was (IIRC) very much a privately owned piste with a privately owned Poma lift. Not the usual case of "this piste is closed for competition/training". Gstaad is an interesting place. They have a yacht club but no lake for example...
- snakke 4y agoIt is also important to note for our North-American friends what exactly an exclusive resort means in this context. Some North-American exclusive resorts consist more like a golf-club where all slopes are not accessible unless you pay the "club fee" or in some cases buy a house in the village. While here Gstaad is still open to the "common man". Yes, it's expensive skiing eating and hotels, with a lot of celebrities coming and going. It's also pretty big with 176km of pistes (where in NA how big a resort is is measured in skiable acres instead, so to give you an idea, it has 10 cable cars, 13 chairs and 13 surface lifts). So big enough they have to also aim for "normal people". Just mentioning it since the word exclusive might spring to mind a different kind of resort than some Americans are used to.
- MichaelZuo 4y agoAre there North-American style exclusive resorts in Switzerland?
- snakke 4y agoNot as far as I know. There's probably some guy who has a small surface lift in his garden that only friends use, but that is not really comparable.
- dsfyu404ed 4y ago>While here Gstaad is still open to the "common man" The cost to exist and engage in the day to day commerce of life there is sufficiently high that the common man does not and mostly cannot bother hence no need for other forms of exclusivity.
- RHSman2 4y agoIt is no more expensive than any other ski resort close by. But it is expensive for what it is. Very moderate skiing.