ICE Ventura
Wengen
Wengen is a very traditional and unspoiled resort and is accessed only by train.
You won’t find any cars up here as it is a traffic free resort. Getting up the mountain you are limited to either the cable car or mountain train. Some people may prefer to take the cable car each morning as the train will take about 20 minutes to reach the top station Kleine Scheidegg at the foot of the Eiger. Here (if you fancy a day off from skiing) you can take the Jungfraujoch mountain train up to the highest station in Europe at the top of the Jungfrau where you will find a restaurant and some amazing ice caves and spectacular views. NOTE: your lift pass will not cover this train journey and the fare was about 50 Swiss francs.
Wengen and Grindalwald have sledge runs alongside the pistes. You can hire the sledges from most sport shops in the town.
One thing you will notice is that Swiss trains REALLY do run like clockwork and they will move on the precise second they are due to leave.
The skiing is fantastic here and that is added with spectacular surrounding views and your lift pass will give you access to Grindelwald and Murren. Wengen is also the home of the famous world cup downhill ski course the Lauberhorn where you will find you can ski from the starting hut and all the way down to the finish line. But watch out for that jump as not only is it part of a black run but it is also a lot steeper than it appears on the TV.
You can ski down into Grindelwald from Wengen easily enough however, in order to get over to Murren you will need to take the train back down the mountain from Wengen and up to Murren on the other side of the valley. Although this takes a bit longer it is well worth the journey and you should spend a good day at least over here. You will find here the Schiltehorne which is the highest mountain restaurant in the world and also featured in the James Bond movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
Snowboarders may struggle at times in Wengen as there are some frustrating flat parts where you will run out of momentum and have to keep taking your board off then walk a bit then strap on then off etc. Even the skiers I was with found it a pain just “sticking it” in these parts.
There are a few bars in Wengen (some with karaoke) but it’s not really a party atmosphere.
Date Visited: February 2005.
Rating: 7/10.
Top tip: Spend at least 1 day in Murren and take the cable car to the Shilthorn.
Verbier
The week I stayed in Verbier, our party stayed in a catered chalet. The food we had here was fantastic however my only gripe about the chalet was that the beds were too small (for my 6ft 1 frame) and I felt like I was sleeping in a dolls bed (hopefully this is not the case anywhere else in Verbier). The boot room was not heated either and therefore we had damp feet on the first few mornings so instead I kept my boots in my room next the radiator after that and did not suffer cold feet anymore.
There is a lot of skiing on offer here and challenging too. On one of the runs there is what is known as ‘The Wall’ and when you look over the top and see how steep it is you will get the idea why it has that name. Not only is it steep but it also has moguls everywhere. We attempted the descent only the one time as it took us so long and thereafter for the rest of the week we took the easy option and took the gondola down to the bottom of this slope.
Good for snowboarders but not really recommended for beginner skiers. The piste map reading was not very easy to suss out from what I can remember either.
Date Visited: February 2001.
Rating: 6/10.
Top tip: