Went to Zermatt over half term and I’m going to go against the accepted view of it
-The food was fantastic, Notably Chez Verony which was amazing,we were put in the wine cellar
-The snow was also great for the week we were there
-There were no queues at all, other than the Glacier Cable car
However….. There were no on piste challenges
- The red runs were rather…. Well rubbish, too soon they became cattle runs that were completely flat and I have to admit that the rating in the book for expert is wrong because it only concerns off piste. Maybe it’s because I have been spoiled by the posted of St Anton but I was expecting a bit more from Zermatt.

What are the thoughts of other people who have been to Zermatt…?

The only challenging piste skiing in Zermatt is off the Stockhorn, which is a little fiddly to get to. I cannot recall any other blacks in the resort (OK some were called blacks but were really reds).

John

One black run I skied honestly could have been a blue

Yes the glacier section is extremely cold, oh well, off to St anton again in three weeks

Where would you recommend for an expert with good extent and relatively few lift queues

Good resorts for an expert with short lift queues?

Well my coach raves about Jackson’s Hole. Lots of really steep powder and few queues.

Based upon my personal experience
If you like Switzerland then Verbier is much better for experts than Zermatt. I cannot think of another resort where the only way to get from one part of the resort to another is a massive moguled off piste run. But the queues, even in quiet weeks, are pretty big.

Provided you avoid New Year and the last couple weeks of feb then the tarrentaise resorts such as Tignes and Les Arcs offer some pretty big black and off piste challenges with lift queues less than a minute. The 2 km mogul field of Combousier in Les Arcs or the several km of Valle de Sache in Tigne spring immediately to mind.

My personal memories of St Anton is of lift queue after lift queue, even in normally quiet weeks. But the skiing (when you eventually got to it) was excellent.

John