I’d not really known this crag was in Vercorin, that seemed odd but it’s not in the local guidebooks and I’ve never heard anyone mention it. When we got there part of the reason became clear, for a start, it’s below the normal winter snow line so I’ve not skied past it and second, the track down to it is around TD which is  deterrent.

Sadly, it turned out the climbing wasn’t very good either, at least the routes we did. As she’s a novice climber I found Julie a 3C, to be honest I had reservations about this from the start. My experience is that on crags with mostly things in the 7 or 8 range you can guarantee that solitary 3/4 will be awful. This was no exception, the grade was anywhere between 3C and about 6A and the sparsity of gear with a vague and contrived line didn’t really make it too much fun. Predictably, some of the harder graded routes were better but the whole thing wasn’t very special so we didn’t stop too long.

Some great views over the Rhone valley though!

http://snowslider.net/anniviers-ski-bus/

It’s also a menu item along the top of this page along with some information about local avalanche conditions and snow pack stability, this is is just information published by SLF but I’ve collected it in one place. The snow pack stability image links back to the SLF site and from there you can click on the individual icons and see the detailed analysis worksheet which is pretty interesting.

Grimentz

• Télécabine
• Tapis roulant
• Téléski Ecole
• Téléski Marenda
• Télésiège des Grands-Plans
• Télésiège de la Tsarva

Saint-Luc / Chandolin

• Télésiège du Tsapé
• Téléski des Etables

Zinal

• Téléphérique
• Télésiège du Chiesso
• Télésiège de la Corne
• Mini
• Tapis roulant
• Téléski de la Remointze

Vercorin (from 15/16 Dec)

• Télécabine Vercorin-Crêt-du-Midi
• Téléski du Crêt
• Téléski des Chardons

This is all subject to conditions of course and as it’s only partial opening lift tickets are reduced by 35-50%. Zinal will open weekdays as well now although it’ll be interesting to see how much demand there is for that so early.

I think there’s a growing number of people who’ve got apartments or chalets in the Val d’Anniviers and I thought it might be interesting to find a way of linking those people up and keeping in contact. This would give us a chance to find other people to ski with, plan trips and maybe arrange days out with local ski guides sharing the costs. For some people it might be a good way to arrange shared transport and for me to ask you all to bring me decaffeinated tea bags !

I’ve created a group in Facebook, I’m a bit new to this Facebook thing but it looks like a good way to do this. Just add me to your network on Facebook and I will add you to the group. If you want to email this to someone else then please do so!

Some local news from the area :

1. Right now most of the roads are being dug up, the most noticeable piece of work is down at the valley, a new exit on on the auto route replaces the the old junction to the Anniviers and some shiny new tarmac is in place. Elsewhere the road seems to be continuing to slide down the hillside and some major work is under way to shore it up.

2. The area has been in the ski press a little , the on-line magazine “Snow” has a couple of mentions for Zinal and Val d’Anniviers.

3. Local press coverage for the proposed new lift between Grimentz and Zinal, this is considered to be a serious proposal locally but it seems to me that 20 million francs is a lot of money and that Zinal might want to spend their money on renewing the cable car!

4. Buy your own snow cannon ! Actually the dead line for this has passed but Grimentz are trying to raise 4 – 6 million francs by public inscription. Some more information here and here.

Grimentz plan to open 22nd December and close 6th April, some weekend opening is planned from 8/9 December. Zinal, taking advantage of the new cannons, are hoping to have some weekend opening from 10th November before opening on December 8th and closing 6th April.

There’s a direct link to that Facebook group here : http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6526671897

click on photograph for larger version

A visit to Vercorin in the Val d’Anniviers, it’s about the smallest station in the valley and sits above Sierre. A lift runs from the valley floor to the village of Vercorin which makes access from the autoroute simple. Otherwise the road really isn’t very good either from the valley or from Grimentz.

click on photograph for larger version

There’s really only a handful of runs and today they were pretty hard and icey, the off-piste is pretty tracked out and has taken on a crust which is awkward to ski on really.

click on photograph for larger version

But, it was a nice sunny day and there was hardly anyone on the slopes at all.

click on photograph for larger version