Summary

For serious off-piste routes and for mogul fields, Verbier is one of the world’s cult resorts. It has other attractions, too: for vibrant après/nightlife it is difficult to beat, and it has some lovely swanky chalets and hotels. But what if those are not the things that float your boat? In particular, what if you’re basically a mileage-hungry piste skier who maybe dabbles in powder, like so many Brits? Well, Verbier doesn’t measure up well against other big-name resorts.
The experience of piste skiing in Verbier has been much improved over many years – the lifts are better, the slopes have been improved and are less congested, the signs and maps are easier to follow. But there remains the question of quantity. We reckon the local slopes of Verbier amount to less than half the claimed 195km. Leaving aside the daunting itinerary runs, an energetic skier could cover these local pistes in a day.
Yes, Verbier is part of the 4 Valleys network, doubling the piste extent. But the 4 Valleys is nothing to get excited about – it’s an inconveniently sprawling affair, with lots of tedious links. It’s not even a continuous piste network – to reach the other resorts from Verbier you must ski a serious mogulled itinerary route or ride a lift down to Tortin.
The major 4 Valleys resort outside Verbier is Nendaz, which gets its own web page.

Blogs, features and news

• Verbier working to reduce avalanche fatalities
• Verbier upgrades Médran gondola
• The world’s most sustainable ski resorts
• What really happened in Verbier?
• Now Austrian ski areas close