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.

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!

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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.

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Sami Uskela
from Nokia N97 mini

waiting for more snow

Originally uploaded by suskela

The snow situation here in St. Moritz could be better, but the sun has been shining and pistes are in perfect shape.

My sunda was spent on watching worldcup super-G and horse polo on ice @ St. Moritz. Both were nice to see, but I still prefer skiing myself. The lunch place in Chantarella was truly excellent – probably the best ravioli I have ever tasted. Menu included also oysters and lobster…

The first real alpine turns of the season got done then on monday. Mostly on piste and not too much to tell. However, terrain looked promising in Corvatch. Just add some light snow

Today we explored the Diavolezza area, which also would have been good with better snow. The last run on the back side turned out to be truly exiting featuring few good turns in soft snow and couple of misses in navigation leading to ca. 45 min climb in deep snow to find suitable path between the rocks. Further adrenaling was generated due to steep but narrow passages included to the route – the whole thing looked much clearer on the map…

Anyhow, some new snow should be on the way. Maybe the end of the week would be more rewarding.
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Sami Uskela
from Nokia N97 mini

For those who happen to care, I got new Garmont ENER-G shoes (last season model), and a bit used K2 Anti Piste skis with Rottefella Cobra R8s. Report on usability will follow after first touch on snow.

So now I would have all kind of Telemark gear that I will not use anymore; if you need shoes, skis, or bindings send me a note…

Rules I have always followed ?!?

Originally uploaded by suskela

At entry to Rote Nose at Zermatt they have this check list for off-piste skiing. Some of those who have skied with me on certain mountains may recall some instances when all the rules were not followed to the letter – and after that it has been sweaty trip back home

• “Do not trust existing tracks” (how about really fresh tracks?)
• “Only ride when visibility is good” (is seeing own hand in front of goggles good enough visibility?)

Once again it took more that enough time to find time and energy to get key things to remember from Zermatt trip on one place, but here we go – and still all the photos and videos are distributed around different memory cards and hard disks

First thing first: skiing in Zermatt can be truly fantastic when there is fresh snow (like our last day) and wind is not preventing lifts from running. Most of the tourists seems to be looking for something else than off-piste powder from the place – so no need to fight for good spots at sunrise; on the contrary, plenty of virgin snow available directly from the lifts even on afternoon. The ski-able area is huge and lift system efficient, but there is plenty of traverse and transits; you can easily spend half day in just moving between ski areas… but the scenery is just breathtaking – if you can see it. Strong presence of Matterhorn gives plenty of unique photo opportunities.

After enjoying the slopes, powder, sun, and scenery there is are plenty of nice small restaurants to eat or drink. The best entertainment was definitely on Hennu Stall, where we found a fabulous band (which we later found out to be part of Scenit Group). Real party atmosphere, nice people, intoxicating drinks – everything you need for fantastic after ski party!

On the cost side, I would say that rumors on extra expensively of Zermatt are not exactly accurate. My share of total cost of 7 days of skiing was roughly 900 euros (without flights):

The train traveling in Switzerland can be expensive if you go for list priced tickets, but the “Swiss  Transfer Ticket” gives good value for the money. Check also other ticket types from http://www.swisstravelsystem.ch to see what fits for you. There should be also “Fly Trail Baggage” system to send luggage directly to right railway station when you arrive to Switzerland by plane, but at least Finnair personnel were completely unaware of just service. So better double check from your carrier if that really works.

Our accommodation at Apartment Pasadena – rented via Hotel Alfa – was perfectly located (see map below) next to Coop, railway station, ski lifts, ski bus end stop, and all other relevant facilities. Even while the better skiing was this time on lifts located on the
opposite end of the village, still living close to railway station seems to be better option (much better access to groceries and other services).
View Larger Map

After the skiing we went to see the closing exhibition gala of European figure skating championchips at Hatwall Arena. I have never seen top class figure skating live and I have to admit that TV does not reveal the full speed and agility of the athletes performing on ice. All the performances were astounishing! My congratulations to Laura and Susanna for fantastic medals!

In case anyone needs Diamirs (currently readily installed on crossplate plates) I have one extra pair…

Btw: does anyone know how the Swiss train cards, especially the Swiss Transfer Ticket, works in practice?

To boost the excitement, here is Zermatt weather forecast feed from snow-forecast:

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