The Skiing in Crans Montana

Now, you readers, being the fantastically clever bunch that you are, might well be forgiven for surmising that the available skiable terrain in Crans Montana is vastly overcrowded, and that there is no room for you. Well, in fact, such is not the case at all. More statistics; there are also 41 ski lifts to serve these runs. Almost one per slope. Indeed this system can shunt 38,800 skiers per hour around the mountain. Consider too, the abundance of other sporting activities on tap in Crans Montana, that include almost as much cross country skiing as there is alpine, and you will soon deduce that the number of people are spread thinly among a wide variety of activities.

So lets assume that you are an "up market" keen skier, and that Crans Montana sounds like your type of place. What can you expect, ski wise, when you get here? First of all there's a relatively new lift, the Funitel that transports skiers to the Plain Morte Glacier.

This opens up about 12 glacier kilometers for skiers and snowboarders and all but guarantees good snow conditions for most of the year. The 160 Kms of Alpine skiing that we mentioned earlier are very easy to reach, and mostly easy to moderately difficult to ski.

The area is skiable to an altitude of 3,000 meters on the Plaine Morte, from where it is possible to ski to Crans, Montana, or Aminona, the smallish village we referred to earlier. It's amazing how well laid out this ski field is though. A quick look at the ski map will show that all but the very least experienced skiers can enjoy almost the whole mountain side.

One can ski from any base in any of the three above mentioned towns, so select where you stay by any criteria you like. In summer Crans Montana takes on a decidedly golf like persona, and, as if to prove it, the resort plays host to the Swiss Open each year. Golf is not the only game in town when the sun shines, but it is the main game.