Stoos, CH 03/07/16

I headed back to other end of Lake Lucerne to one of the ski areas on the Swiss Knife Valley Pass that covers most of the Schwyz canton: Stoos. On the way to the Autobahn along the lake, I stopped for a photo op. Damn!



Stoos isn't a big area for the Alps (21 miles of marked trails, 2,100 vertical feet) and everything is basically served by two high-speed sixers, but there's a ton of off-piste between (more than a mile as the crow flies) and outside of the lifts.




As a train freak, it was cool to take the funicular/cable railway that takes you from the valley floor up 2,400 vertical feet to the bottom of the ski area. It felt like an insane incline for something that was built in 1933. I'd guess that the current cars are almost 50 years old. I read in the base station that they've just finished drilling the tunnel for a new high-tech funicular, slated to open in 2017 (the dotted line in the map above):





Check it out -- the entire railway is single track EXCEPT a 50-yard section. The trains are attached to the cable so that the one going downhill hits the siding at exactly the same time as the one going uphill:



Here's the view from the top of the funicular:



You have to do a bit of skating, then take a rope tow and a couple t-bars to reach the chairlift:





I did a warm-up powder run (350 verts, heh) right alongside the t-bar and the lift attendant at the bottom yelled at me for cutting straight to the lift:



Most of the offpiste near the trails was chewed up, but because it's been cold lately and the terrain faces directly north, it was in real soft condition:









Without local guidance, I didn't feel comfortable getting real ambitious with the solo reconnaissance missions. Too bad, I could see locals getting beautiful untracked runs in the distance. Still, with a bit of traversing, I found a bunch of areas like this -- better than a kick in the head:



Here's the view from the top:



Heading into a mountain hut for lunch:

Spectacular !!!!

Jamesdeluxe wrote

As a train freak, it was cool to take the funicular/cable railway that takes you from the valley floor up 2,400 vertical feet to the bottom of the ski area. It felt like an insane incline for something that was built in 1933. I'd guess that the current cars are almost 50 years old. I read in the base station that they've just finished drilling the tunnel for a new funicular.

I'm also something of a train nut.  Is the funicular the only access between the valley floor and the ski area base?  Does that generate a big line in the morning and at the end of the day?

Jamesdeluxe wrote

I did a warm-up powder run (350 verts, heh) right alongside the t-bar and the lift attendant at the bottom yelled at me:

You know how the Swiss are with their rules...

Insane. Way to get after it. Don't get arrested by the Swiss Gendarmerie for not following the many rules.

Adk Jeff wrote

Is the funicular the only access between the valley floor and the ski area base?  Does that generate a big line in the morning and at the end of the day?

There's also a gondola, but it connects directly to a hotel on the valley floor and they charge $12 to park there if you're not a guest; thus, most people use the funicular. I was there on a Monday so there weren't many people. I can imagine that on a busy weekend or holiday, there may be a wait.

Adk Jeff wrote

You know how the Swiss are with their rules...

Actually, he was right to yell at me. I straightlined right into the lift corral (had to get those last few vertical feet of untracked) but they don't have signs everywhere like in the U.S. telling you where to go, what to do/not do, etc. and I figured that if there wasn't a sign, it must be ok.