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Downhill Skiing

Inntravel Guide to Downhill Skiing

If you associate downhill skiing with crowded slopes and aggressive skiers, then think again. There are still villages in the heart of the Alps and Scandinavia that boast pistes to rival many of the better-known resorts but which remain completely unspoiled. The pace of life is refreshingly slow, the slopes pleasantly quiet (particularly during the week), and the skiing first-rate as a result. With no crowds to negotiate, experienced skiers spend more time skiing, while beginners can enjoy learning in a relaxed atmosphere that will help them quickly gain in confidence. Here, we review those villages in our programme which offer the best downhill skiing.

For a week devoted entirely to downhill skiing, we highly recommend St-Luc. For such a small village, it boasts a very large ski area, ensuring that the slopes are virtually empty during the week. We first featured the village in 1998, and it continues to earn high praise – not only is the skiing superb, but the 4-star Romantik Hotel Bella Tola is a wonderful, typically Swiss hotel, made all the more special by the genuinely warm hospitality of hosts Claude and Anne-Françoise Buchs. Access to the slopes, the majority of which are graded are blue or red, is easy. From the hotel you can walk or catch the shuttle bus to the base station of the funicular, and on emerging from the car a couple of minutes later, you can don your skis and take one of the drag lifts to the start of the slopes. There are a couple of cafés which offer tasty lunches of onion soup, egg and ham on toast, rösti, fondue or goulash, and at the end of the day you can return to the village on the funicular or on skis – there is a fantastic 7-kilometre run which takes you to the bar at the far end of the village, where you can enjoy a refreshing beer before catching the shuttle bus back to the hotel. Beginners and intermediates will find the range of slopes at St-Luc wide enough to ensure a varied week of skiing without venturing further afield, especially as it is possible to ski to neighbouring Chandolin and from there take the chair lift back. However, more advanced skiers may like to spend a couple of days at nearby Zinal or Grimentz, both easily reached by the post bus. The two villages boast some exhilarating red and black slopes, with some particularly rewarding pistes at Grimentz, where the greater vertical range makes for plenty of long runs.

Another good choice in Switzerland is Engelberg, a bustling village in the shadow of Mount Titlis with a friendly atmosphere that makes it popular among the Swiss themselves. Here you will find excellent, well-organised skiing (a free ski bus gives easy access to the lifts), with several good beginners’ runs as well as extensive skiing for intermediate and advanced skiers. The more experienced will find it thrilling to take the revolving cable car to the summit of Mount Titlis (3,020 metres) and ski all the way down to the village. Peter and Susanne Kuhn are enthusiastic hosts – the Hotel Edelweiss is one of the friendliest in our selection – and each week lead sessions which focus on powder skiing and the technique of carving.

In Austria, the Saalbach-Hinterglemm domain in the Salzburgerland region offers some 200 kilometres of slopes and, as you would expect of such a large domain, caters very well for skiers of all levels. We have the best way to enjoy it – instead of staying right in the heart of it all, in the evening you escape to the tranquillity of Leogang, a small, deeply traditional village that feels like an entirely different world. Fittingly, our hotel here is the oldest in our programme – the Kirchenwirt first opened its doors in 1326, and the low, vaulted ceilings and suits of armour create an almost tangible sense of history. Regular buses make the ten-minute journey from the village to the ski school and lifts, from where you can easily get into the heart of the domain. When it comes to the end of the day, competent skiers can, if they wish, ski all the way back to the hotel.

The same formula works well in Kastelruth in Italy, a picture-book village where winter is truly enchanting. Here, you stay on the village square in the Posthotel Lamm, a hotel that combines the charm of a 200-year-old coaching inn with all the facilities you would expect of a modern 4-star hotel (including an attractive spa). From the village, it is an easy bus ride to the Seiseralm Plateau high above (we include a travel pass in our prices). The plateau is a winter playground, with good slopes for beginners and intermediates served by lots of easy-to-use chair lifts. For us, one of the great attractions of the downhill skiing here is that it is so close to the cross-country trails, making it easy for mixed groups of skiers to meet up for lunch and at the end of the day. Further top-quality skiing, including extensive slopes for advanced skiers, is available in the Dolomiti Superski area, accessed by ski bus.

Further west from Kastelruth, the only place in our programme that can boast year-round downhill skiing is the Schnalstal Valley. Despite its glacier skiing, the valley remains a well-kept secret, ensuring virtually no lift queues, uncrowded slopes and a friendly, laid-back atmosphere. All this makes it a great place to learn or improve – the domain caters best for beginners and intermediates. Just 25 minutes away, served by free buses, is picturesque Karthaus and the Goldene Rose Hotel, the epitome of a charming small hotel. Paul and Steffi Grüner have succeeded in combining style and understated elegance with cosiness and intimacy, and their attentive service and superbly crafted Tyrolean cuisine provide the icing on the cake.

Finally, Norway, too, offers excellent downhill skiing, usually best suited to intermediates and beginners. In true Scandinavian style, both the ski schools and the lifts are efficiently organised. Located in the heart of a range of mountains so majestic that they are known as the 'Scandinavian Alps', Hemsedal boasts one of Scandinavia's best alpine ski domains, with pistes for all levels. Other options in Norway are Geilo, which is renowned for its relaxed atmosphere and superb skiing, and Gålå.

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