Skip to main content

Worlds Best Ski Runs: top 100 via CNN Alpine Edge


As it happens I can only claim 3 on this list.

No 60, Curnius, Laax, Switzerland




 

Laax -- long runs, high quality.
Pro skier Chris McCormick cites No 60 as one of his favorites.
"This is because of how long the run is, but every feature is of really high quality," he says.
Watch out for: Sudden changes in grade.
Rating: Red
LOOONNNNNG runs some of them. On the day we were there we skied down through 3 distinct thermal zones. Up near the top of one run we start just above 2400m and ski down to 1600m.  At the top is very crisp powder and pack powder, toward the middle we got into some crud, corduroy, and corn snow. The very bottom was like skiing on a slurpee. Ride two lifts back up on and right back into the pack powder.
This bowl is nearly 250 degrees skiable. From here down to the lift in the very center of picture with no traversing a few degrees of fall line brings us right there.
 LAAX is an expansive area. The Flims-Laax-Falera ridge line will definitely take some serious time to traverse. We had the misfortune of parking closer to Falera once then finding ourselves on the Flims side of the valley as the lifts started closing. Some tricky traverses and a little bit of off-piste skiing took us only as far as the village of Laax and then a bus back to the car.




 laax.com

43. Rambo, Crested Butte, Colorado

I was there but predating my digital camera and StringGirl by a long shot. Back in 1996 went there with my now wife then girlfriend. She did not brave RAMBO but my fraternity brother and I did. Most memorable part of that run. I did 2/3rd of it with a ski on my shoulder. He had a yardsale after 4 turns and I brought his gear down to where the sliding stopped more than halfway down.
Once you commit to this 300-meter run with a 55-degree pitch, there's no going back.
For steep terrain, it's one of the best runs in the United States.
Watch out for: Other skiers and snowboarders. It gets crowded.
Rating: Double black diamond
skicb.com

18. Rotegg, Titlis, Engelberg, Switzerland

 I have mixed feelings about Titlis. I have been there probably the second most times of any swiss resort. It is reasonably close to Zurich and offers some great terrain at very nice elevations. EVERY single time I have been there the weather in Zurich was the worst. Two of the four times the mountain and glacier were great, and two of the times disastrous.
Dynastar World Cup Ski Racer Dominique Gisin loves the first run he ever skied.
"My favorite slope in the world is called Rotegg and it's part of my home ski area, Titlis in Engelberg," says Gisin. "It's the first black slope I skied as a kid. It's a steep and impressive couloir that connects the glacier to the rest of the ski area.
"There are big bumps all over the place. I think that's why I was never that impressed with all the tough courses in World Cup."
Watch out for: Local speed demons.
It is the fall back if the snow is falling at the lower elevations as the only show in town for skiing without a 4 hour train ride from Zurich.

This day the skiing above 2200m was good, the snow was really falling below, Rottegg is 90 degrees off camera to right 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hints for the Geocache Hidden in Zurich

GeoCaching is a global game for users of GPS devices. A global treasure hunt with millions of hidden locations, and a multinational following. www.geocaching.com  is where you can go to play as well. I have placed my first in Zurich. It is a mystery cache, so the players will have to locate clues along the way to solve a puzzle for the location. View Larger Map  Puls ? How many films play here? View Larger Map Did you take a tram to EscherWyss? Which one? View Larger Map How many containers tall is the Freitag tower? this is just one of their locations,  AKT Get GeoCaching swag: travel bugs GPS units Super magnets Search for Travel Deals What does the cache look like? Maybe one more hint . an obscure view standing near the cache.

Brewery Tour by Canoe: Boardman Lake, Traverse City, MI

 Boardman Lake is smack-dab downtown in Traverse City, MI. Easily accessible from the lake are three, maybe even four breweries. Local kayak liveries have scheduled tours to kayak and bike to several local breweries and taprooms. So on this August Sunday, StringGrrl and I decided that we should make the tour ourselves.  Coffee first! It would be irresponsible to embark on day drinking un-caffeinated Boardman Lake Trail Bridge and entry to the River There is a free public launch in Hull Park, just behind the Traverse Area Public Library. Parking adequate for up to 5 cars and up to 5 trucks with trailers, right near the launch and more parking elsewhere in the park made for an easy launch that morning. We paddled our way into the river first to have a coffee while drifting through town. Ideally, one should be able to portage the canoe past the dam and connect directly into Grand Traverse Bay, but construction near the dam made that portage just inconvenient enough that StringGrr...

Kyushu izakaya with Keysight (ESI) team in Shinjuku

Kyushu Netchuya, Shinjuku in the Nomura Building  The team in Shinjuku Tokyo, in Japanese custom, very hospitably invited StringGrrl out for an Authentic Kyushu izakaya experience. We walked from the office to a nearby shopping area to visit the restaurants in the lower levels (Why can't we have such nice things in the USA?). Izakaya are casual Japanese pubs or taverns that serve drinks and a variety of small plates, similar to experiences with Tapas in Spain, the work teams will leave the office for a drink and meal of several tastes before embarking on sometimes long commutes home. Kyushu Island is home to Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Oita, Saga, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, and Okinawa prefectures. It is the 3rd largest of the Japanese Islands and is the southernmost of the larger Japanese "mainland".  Credited with being the "Birthplace of Ramen", where Tonkotsu Ramen was innovated as a novel new dish using Chinese Noodles in a Creamy Pork Bone broth. Hakata Gyoza,...