St. Moritz/Diavolezza, CH: 03/13/19

For the sixth and what ended up being my final ski day of this trip, I went to the third of four mountains that are part of the St. Moritz/Engadin region ski pass. I remembered that while on a trip to Quebec a dozen years ago, I saw this poster in a mid-mountain restaurant and assumed that it was in the Italian Alps; however, St. Moritz has a strong paesano influence both in street/place names and lots of native speakers working in the town.



Whereas Corviglia and Corvatsch are directly above St. Moritz, Diavolezza and the connected mountain Lagalb are about 15 minutes out of town in what looks like an uninhabited valley. You can drive there (free parking) or take the train that's included in the local transport system. There are no base villages or lodging at the bottom of either ski area; each has a tram building with modest cafeterias. There is a hotel at the summit at the Diavolezza tram area.


Arriving:



The train was just pulling in as I parked:



The tram is the only way up Diavolezza's 2,900 vertical feet:



It's a steep narrow mountain with all sorts of chutes along the ridge that had one or two tracks in them.



On the way up:



As you leave the tram, the Morteratsch Glacier is on your right side. There's a famous run noted on the sign that wraps around the back of the mountain and takes you past the glacier to a train station about two miles down from the base area and from there it's a quick ride back to Diavolezza, if you time the arrival correctly.





Unfortunately, the morning's poor visibility caused them to put a rope across the entrance -- no glacier route today:



Heading down from the summit.





And down the skier's left to the Schwarzer Hang (the Black Slope).





This piste deserved its rating with a nice steep pitch. Conditions across the entire mountain were really smooth and the offpiste was perfect bootcuff-deep. Similar to Corvatsch, you had to keep an eye out for boulders and rock gardens; however, there was a fair amount of low-hanging fruit right alongside the groomed trails.







Below treeline at the very bottom:



Here's the connecting trail to Lagalb; you can see the tram building in the lower right. Unfortunately, when I made it over there, a big cloud bank moved in and the light went flat for an hour = no pix.



I skied right through 4 pm and left as the sun was going behind the mountain. A nice bit of low-glam variety to the St. Moritz experience:

Beautiful!