Verbier / Les Quatre Vallées , the Wallis Alps, Switzerland Six villages, four valleys, fresh Alp air, active winter holiday, extraordinary quarantee of snow cover, more than 250 sunny days throughout the year and a nice view of the surrounding Alps (Eiger, Matterhorn or Mont Blanc mountain tops) – this is what one of the best Alp ski regions has to offer.
However, lots of sunny days also mean that snow melts soon. Considering the fact that the valleys lie from south to the north, the western slopes directly face the sun in the afternoon and snow here can be, towards the end of the day, of much worse quality than on the opposite slopes.
Skiing takes place here on lots runs well-connected with each other. Ski or snowboard schools offer, apart from other things, freestyle, telemark skiing, ski mountain hikes or skiing on 40 – 500 steep slopes.
Siviez - les Quatre Vallées For more advanced skiers there is an incredible high number of runs (extreme bumpy black run down from the Mont Fort with a camber about 380 m in 1 km for example).
On the other hand, easier gentle slopes for children or beginners are to be found in outside parts of the region (Croix de Coeur, between Verbier and La Tzoumaz, at Nemraz and Thyon 2000), while more difficult runs are in its centre – from Savoleyres, Le Ruinettes, Attelas to Col des Gentianes).
Aprés ski activities offered here are for example ski gliding, tobogganing and sledging, ski and snowboard schools are taken for granted.
You can also take part (as a passive onlooker or an active participant) in an extreme snowboard race called Red Bull Extreme, in which participants are to overcome trails with slope up to 55%.
Out of four small towns situated in the four valleys, Veysonnaz is the best that has kept its original architecture; but even here you cannot do without a modern lift station or hotels and infrastructure. Thyon 2000, a village founded in the 20th century, is very much different from Veysonnaz and other villages proud on its more than one-thousand-year-old history.
Season:
October/November - late April
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