jamesdeluxe
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2020
I headed back to other end of Lake Lucerne to one of the ski areas on the Swiss Knife Valley Pass that covers most of the Schwyz canton: Stoos. On the way to the Autobahn along the lake, I stopped for a photo op.
Stoos isn't a big area for the Alps (21 miles of marked trails, 2,100 vertical feet) and everything is basically served by two high-speed sixers, but there's a ton of off-piste between (more than a mile as the crow flies) and outside of the lifts:
As a train freak, it was cool to take the funicular/cable railway that takes you from the valley floor up 2,400 vertical feet to the bottom of the ski area. It felt like an insane incline for something that was built in 1933. I'd guess that the current cars are almost 50 years old. I read in the base station that they've just finished drilling the tunnel for a new high-tech funicular, slated to open in 2017 (the dotted line in the map above):
The entire railway is single track EXCEPT a 50-yard section. The trains are attached to the cable so that the one going downhill hits the siding at exactly the same time as the one going uphill:
Here's the view from the top of the funicular:
You have to do a bit of skating, then take a rope tow and a couple t-bars to reach the chairlift:
I did a warm-up powder run right alongside the t-bar and the lift attendant at the bottom yelled at me for cutting straight to the lift:
Most of the offpiste near the trails was chewed up, but because it's been cold lately and the terrain faces directly north, it was in real soft condition:
Without local guidance, I didn't feel comfortable getting real ambitious with the solo reconnaissance missions. Too bad, I could see locals getting beautiful untracked runs in the distance. Still, with a bit of traversing, I found a bunch of areas like this -- better than a kick in the head:
Here's the view from the top:
Heading into a mountain hut for lunch:
Stoos isn't a big area for the Alps (21 miles of marked trails, 2,100 vertical feet) and everything is basically served by two high-speed sixers, but there's a ton of off-piste between (more than a mile as the crow flies) and outside of the lifts:
As a train freak, it was cool to take the funicular/cable railway that takes you from the valley floor up 2,400 vertical feet to the bottom of the ski area. It felt like an insane incline for something that was built in 1933. I'd guess that the current cars are almost 50 years old. I read in the base station that they've just finished drilling the tunnel for a new high-tech funicular, slated to open in 2017 (the dotted line in the map above):
The entire railway is single track EXCEPT a 50-yard section. The trains are attached to the cable so that the one going downhill hits the siding at exactly the same time as the one going uphill:
Here's the view from the top of the funicular:
You have to do a bit of skating, then take a rope tow and a couple t-bars to reach the chairlift:
I did a warm-up powder run right alongside the t-bar and the lift attendant at the bottom yelled at me for cutting straight to the lift:
Most of the offpiste near the trails was chewed up, but because it's been cold lately and the terrain faces directly north, it was in real soft condition:
Without local guidance, I didn't feel comfortable getting real ambitious with the solo reconnaissance missions. Too bad, I could see locals getting beautiful untracked runs in the distance. Still, with a bit of traversing, I found a bunch of areas like this -- better than a kick in the head:
Here's the view from the top:
Heading into a mountain hut for lunch:
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