Where to Ski And Snowboard -

Fab snow and sun in Saas-Fee

28th March 2011, by Dave Watts

The Berghaus Plattjen mountain restaurant has fabulous views of Saas-Fee’s spectacular glacier

WTSS has always recommended Saas-Fee as a good late season resort. Our view was reinforced by my visit last Friday and Saturday. After travelling from La Plagne and seeing the bare lower slopes of Megève and Chamonix on the way I arrived to baking hot temperatures in Saas-Fee on Thursday afternoon – it was just like summer but the après-ski bars were rocking.

The next morning we headed straight to the top at 3500m in brilliant sunshine. The snow was fabulously cold and powdery and we skied virtually the whole mountain before heading for lunch at our new Editors’ Choice restaurant, the Vernissage Berghaus Plattjen. This was taken over by the 5-star Hotel Ferienart a couple of seasons ago and now serves excellent (but not fancy) food, including spicy asian soup and rösti. It also has fabulous views of Saas-Fee’s glacier and 4000m peaks. In the afternoon, only the snow below around 2400m was slushy (the vast majority of the skiing is above that height and the village is at 1800m).  And it was possible to ski right back to the village on red and blue runs.

Saturday morning saw similar conditions, with most runs in excellent condition.  Saas-Fee has mainly easy blue and red runs and is great for intermediates who love gentle cruising with few challenges and don’t mind the limited 100km of pistes. The village is car-free and has a mixture of charming old buildings and barns and more modern additions which have been built in a tasteful way that fits in well.

I stayed at the 5-star Hotel Farienart (of Berghaus Plattjen fame – see above), which was superb. The rooms are huge and many feature ‘open bathrooms’  (the bath and sink are in the bedroom – not to everyone’s taste). And the food is outstanding – I had one of the best half-board meals I have ever had in a hotel, which was worthy of a Michelin star or two.

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