29.5.2010

Originally uploaded by suskela

I have earlier mentioned how hard it has been to find the Gore-Tex Service Center contact details when you need them; so I was blown away when I saw this posted on the wall of Partioaitta…

We visited Pyhä a week after Easter; i.e., 9-13 April 2010. Which turned out to be very good timing. The slopes were in excellent condition, plenty of sunshine, but not too warm to keep the snow skiable.

This was my first visit to the resort and despite all the praising from friends, I was still positively surprised. Definitely one of the best skiing terrains in Finland. This time there was not enough snow left for off-piste tours, but even the slopes kept us busy for 4 days.

We had accommodation in Hotel Pyhätunturi just next to the slopes. The room, service, and breakfast were ok, but definitely not luxurious

The best after-ski was – predictable – in Calsberg House; especially the band on Saturday proved to have good spirit and got everyone of the audience of 30 people in to the dance floor until 2 am. During day time Tsokka provided excellent waffles, soups, and poronkäristys for lunch with very nice service including personal touch from owners

We also tried various restaurants for dinner and verdicts are following:

• Hotel restaurant: ok food, but a bit overpriced, service not in par with expectations
• Huttu Uula pizza was good, a la carte was not inviting
• Huttuhippu provided positive surprise; despite a bit down scale interior, the service and especially food were both excellent and decently priced. Can be recommended.

On the way back from St. Moritz we stayed one night in Zurich – or to be accurate in Kloten Welcome Inn. The hotel was definitely affordable and the room was clean, but cannot be characterized as spacious.

However, the main feature of Kloten we got to know was “no food after 11 pm.” principle, which was implemented very efficiently to all the restaurants of the city – not nice for hungry travellers. In one place the waitress openly laughed us aloud when asked if kitchen was open (around 11:30 pm).

Even the pizzeria, which advertised on the door to be open until 12:00 pm said that no food anymore when we got there around 11:10 pm…

The advice to remember next time: eat dinner in Zurich center before taking train to Kloten in evening!

Here short summary on costs of skiing in St. Moritz area; my verdict is that the price level is reasonable and price/quality ratio is consistent with other places in Switzerland. However, the offering on the high-end of the scale was more prominent that most of the other resorts…

My costs were somewhat over 1 000 eur (without flights)

• Accommodation in Celerina: 442 eur
• Train: 87 eur (Swiss  Transfer Ticket)
• Airport hotel (with breakfast): 40 eur
• Food, wine, beer (in own kitchen): 82 eur
• Taxis: 42 eur
• Ski tickets: 260 eur
• Eating/drinking out: 200+ eur – who knows

The most frustrating moment was when we pre-ordered a taxi on the last day to make sure that we catch the train to Zurich; however, there was no sight of any taxis when we were supposed to leave. And several calls to the reservation center lead only to vague explanations and empty promises. When to clock was ticking and train soon leaving some nervousness aroused in the group.

Luckily, Erich arrived for another client to the next house and after he understood our situation, he took us on board (and also the original client). So when ever you need a drive anywhere around St. Moritz, call first to Erich (+41 81 833 35 55)

• Hotel Salastrains (close to down station of lift L) provided fabulous lunch and very nice atmosphere. The ravioli was one of the best I have ever eaten and the warm blankets kept the frost away. On downside the prices were a bit on the expensive side (over 30 CHF for a plate of pasta)
• El Paradiso (close to down station of lift I) was another great lunch place. The ribs were tasty, service excellent and interior stylish. I could see myself sitting on the terrace here in spring sun. Not too cheap either (Ribs were around 30 CHF, soup of the day around 20 CHF).
• Lej da la Pesch (down station of lift W) provided good value for money (soup of day around 10 CHF). Our waiter was somewhat confused all the time, but food was tasty.
• Chamanna (close to up station of lift I) was cozy and the food was good. The soup portions were huge (and 10-15 CHF).
• Cresta-Run (map) hotel in Celerina served very tasty pizzas from real wood oven for the dinner on the last evening on the village. The place was really comfortable and had plenty of bob sledging memorabilia on the walls – worth of visiting only to check those. Also the fondue table looked very delicious, must remember that next time

We eat lunches also on other places but those did not leave any specific trace to memory.

History repeated itself, just like last year it snowed heavily on the night before the last skiing day. It felt really good to end the trip with full day of pure powder runs! The visibility was quite limited, but the place was already well enough know to avoid bigger cliffs and on the afternoon there were also some moments of sunshine, which helped to get couple of really good runs!

__
Sami Uskela
from Nokia N97 mini

Finally some real skiing! Today afternoon we found couple of good lines with soft – and some times even light – snow. However, we are really waiting for the snow forecasted for tomorrow. It would be really nice to end the week with couple of real powder days.

__
Sami Uskela
from Nokia N97 mini