In Valais, the “most alpine and ‘valleyly’” canton of Switzerland

Snapshots during a great day of ski

Despite the suboptimal weather, I had promised my friend to go skiing when he visited -and so we did. The intense snow of the previous days gifted us quite stunning views here and there.

Canton Valais in French, or Wallis in German, is where valleys and peaks dominate. And also ski centers! With a visiting friend we just took a full Sunday of ski, after a Saturday of heavy snowfall in Verbier/4 vallees, one of the most important ski centers of the region. Because the weather wasn’t perfect, the center wasn’t crowded, so we could run some tracks with barely some people around. And the weather wasn’t that bad either, so the center was a ski paradise!

Shots while going up

From the town of Verbier at around 1600 m.a.s.l., to the top at > 2000 m.a.s.l. This is already a great start because you go comfy barely hearing the cabin as it slides. The deep snow suppresses all other sounds. It feels so quiet as you go up through the forest.

Shots in a ski valley above 2000 m.a.s.l.

This valley is very high and offers you easy to intermediate tracks. It’s a perfect place to warm up and load my limited ski skills into memory. It’s so high that the snow is usually abundant and soft; you are enclosed in a kind of valley so it’s virtually impossible to fall off on a side; and there are even some blue tracks, which are the easiest. Plus the views are stunning, as you get to see peaks and summits all around you. And when there’s no wind, like on this occasion, it feels so, so quiet too.

Shots as we ski down

This ski complex has a very long, quite easy route that goes all the way down to the city center. High up there, it begins through very open spaces as a broad track, but as you go down and get closer to the forests the route gets narrower until you essentially ride right in the middle of the forest or with the forest on one side and an abysm on the other:

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