Apparently global warming is only taking aim at North America this winter, as Europe has been experiencing record breaking snowfall ever since October. With tales of steep lines and deep powder throughout Austria and Switzerland, this was the year to go investigate. So calls were made, tickets were booked and immediately following the Red Bull Snowscrapers event in NYC, I jumped on a plane bound for Munich to meet up with Atmosphere’s Chris Prosser, who was there wrapping up the ISPO tradeshow (Europe’s much larger version of SIA). The plan was to check out Switzerland for about a week or so and hook up with Nate Deschenes who’s working on his big feature story for the mag before heading up to Norway for the Arctic Challenge. I was hoping it was going to be okay; little did I know, we were in for the greatest adventure of the entire winter.
So fresh off the 10-hour flight from New York I touch down in Munich around 7am to meet up with Chrissy Pross, and we head to the main train station to figure out how we were going to get to Switzerland.
It’s pretty cool how dialed the train system is in Europe; you can get just about anywhere you need to go and it’s not super expensive. Prosser and I flirted with the idea of renting a dope Audi but then figured we’d either get lost and/or arrested if we didn’t slide off a 300 meter cliff and die somewhere in the Alps. Better stick with train and let the locals do the driving.
Hello Europe, I’m America. Nice to meet you.
Are they ready for us?
The first of many Ham and Cheese sandwiches while waiting for the train to depart.
We finally got on, loaded up our giant board bags and settled in for the inital leg of what would turn into many transfers to get to our first stop: St. Moritz in the Engadine Valley. I was pretty worked from the flight and the crazy all night party in New York the night before and ended up crashing out on every train. Prosser thought it was funny and took many pics of the heavy napping.
Fancy McDonald’s.
So tired.
Another transfer…
Man this is a long one.
Seriously. We gotta transfer again? Turns out all the roads and many of the train routes into St. Moritz were buried in snow from the recent storm! So we had to go the long way around or something, which little did we know at the time meant good news. Really good news.
I hope this is the right train?
We must by close by now.
Nice! We finally rolled into St. Moritz around 10 pm with only a vague idea of where we were going. Little did we care though because as soon as we stepped off the train, we noticed the entire town was buried. Damn there was a lot of snow. This quickly erased any memories of the long mission to get there and we both starting thinking about powder turns to come. Turns out the roads in and out to St. Moritz had been closed for two days and we were one of the first groups that made it in. Perfect timing, boo yaa!
Yeeeahh. We made it and found our hotel, Hotel Hauser! Located right in the center of town, Za Hauser is perfectly situated to enjoy everything St. Moritz has to offer. Just steps from the snow train that takes you up to Corviglia’s trams, gondolas and lifts galore and St. Moritz’s dining and nightlife, the Hauser could not have been a more perfect spot for Prosser and I to post up for a few days. When we arrived, we learned that Nate was trapped in another part of the country after 1.5 meters of new snow completely shut down the town where he was staying. Looks like we were on our own…
The picturesque view out of the room’s 2nd story window with Roo Bar below.
Prosser wasted no time getting comfortable.
Lovely accommodations.
Heated towel racks suuuunnnnn!
Oh yeah, we were big pimpin’. St. Moritz makes Vail look like Govy. Strictly Audis, Beamers and Benzos driven by rich folks laced in fur and diamonds. I dig it. There were some strange looks at Prosser and I walking down the street with snowboards the next morning. The Hauser has a sick breakfast buffet too, by the way, with all kind of good treats: cheese and meats, delicious breads, fruits, yogurt, granola, etc. All part of the deal in Europe ski towns.
$100,000 watches anyone?
Swiss timepieces are the best in the world.
It’s a beautiful village, as the modern mixes with the old.
We quickly found the snow train right in town and checked out the trail map to see what was open and to assess the good zones. With no guide, we were on our own and ready to explore.
Note the level 4 avalanche danger, and Prosser the jibber from Mt. Hood Meadows doesn’t even own a piep! I didn’t let him hear the end of it the rest of the trip: “How you gonna come to Switzerland without a piep?!?”
The Snow Train is awesome! So many cool methods of transportation in Europe.
We spent the morning cruising around getting a feel for the place and after a couple hours the sun started to peek out through the clouds. What we found was acres and acres of fresh powder in every direction, with nobody riding it! We couldn’t believe it, and lapped this pow field under a tiny cliff band for hours.
It was kinda flat light but it was cool because no one was finding the pow.
Every single chair is high speed 6 pack with built in bubble dome.
As the sun came out we began to realize the sheer size of this place. They don’t call St. Moritz “Top of the World” for nothing.
You couldn’t not get fresh lines if you tried. It was ridiculous.
By lunch time it had gone completely bluebird and already the volume of powder turns was unprecedented. We wanted to take action shots too, but it was too good to stop riding, even for a second. Plus we only had the one camera between us so… I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: sometimes it’s just too good to stop and take photos!
It was time to celebrate.
The Euro’s don’t play when it comes to Aprés, even at lunchtime.
Back up for more.
Little tunnel at the bottom of the run.
Hey, look at that! The Tram opened up.
Right on time.
Load up.
Let’s take her up to Piz Nair.
Only 250 meters off the ground. No big deal.
We hit the summit, rode some more pow in the back bowl and continued to be amazed for another couple hours. This place is so big, eventually Prosser and I got separated. He went down to Celerina and I headed back to St. Moritz Dorf.
There were cool houses everywhere; I actually had to ride through some peoples’ yards to get down to the village instead of taking the little train.
There was so much snow I could practically ride back to the hotel.
Walking back I cruised around town a little more.
They love winter here. It’s so awesome.
Giant snow-covered peaks everywhere. It’s beautiful.
The next morning we awoke to Bluebird Skies and hooked up with Augustin, a local (from Argentina) that we’d met the day before after we saw him send a huge cliff at Corviglia. He worked at a local spot, Bobby’s Pub and ended up being our tour guide for the rest of the trip. The plan was to get on the bus and head over to Corvatsch, which we heard was even better for freeriding! That was an understatement.
Even from the bottom of the big tram there were crazy good lines, right under the lower tram and chairlift.
We managed to snap off a couple photos before the camera battery died. Luckily I had the iPhone as a back up.
That face is where they do the freeriding contests. It wasn’t open that day, but you can see the possibilities.
Up rode Augustin to show us his lines and what Prosser calls, “The best thing he’s ever ridden.” The snow was bottomless, perfect fluffyness on top of steep pillow lines for days.
I tried to take the only riding shot of the day, you can barely make out Augustin with Prosser far below. But you get the point…just look at the snow.
We absolutely slaughtered this zone for hours. Seriously. This was all us.
Prosser and I were in disbelief. How could it possibly be this good?
We headed over to Furtschellas, a connected resort that’s kind of on the backside of that big front face.
How come nobody ever told me about this?
I love it here.
I never want to leave.
Please can I stay here forever.
Prosser in Powder Paradise.
Finally, when we had ridden so much pow that we needed a break, we hit the Aprés spot. Like I said, they know how to Aprés here. Hell, they invented it! A bratwurst and a beer after a day of shredding pow is about as good as it gets. Now keep in mind, the few local shreds that do call St. Moritz home would never want me telling you all this (in fact, I actually promised someone I wouldn’t and feel kinda bad going back on my word). Basically, I’m divulging pretty confidential information here. So if you do ever do end up making it over, be respectful of the locals and appreciate where you are. This is one of those special places in the world for snowboarding that must never be taken for granted.
We got another run at 3 pm that was as just as good as the one at 9 am and headed back to town. Since it was Monday, there was a big party at Misani in Celerina later that night for us to celebrate. It was wild. Prosser was dancing on top of the bar spraying people with beer at 3 am and not only did they not kick us out, they even gave us more beer. That’s how they do it over here. A day of rest, another quick pow morning and we were out, headed to the next stop: Zermatt. Check out some more images from St. Moritz below and look out for Part 2 in a few days.
