International (Europe/Japan/Southern Hemisphere) Going to Andermatt-Sedrun-Disentis (Switzerland) in January

[dovski]

Yes. The location is really nice too. You are in between Disentis and Sedrun ski areas. The ski over to Andermatt is actually really easy and pretty darn quick or you can use the train. The train has a bar car for apre if you stay late over in Andermatt.

Michele's food at the lodge is top notch and he's always there to help with just about anything. They are fantastic people.

Unfortunately Michele does not have space for us Where we are at right now is that we either stay slope side at the very nice hostel in Disentis (seriously this place looks amazing for a hostel) or we stay in a hotel next to the train station in Göschenen and take the 10 minute train ride to Andermatt every morning. So realize we are splitting hairs at this point and either way I get a nice 2 days skiing in Switzerland lol

 

[dovski]

So we took everyone’s advice and found a hotel in Goschenen right next to the train station. It is about a 10 minute train ride to Andermatt so much close than Disentis. Apparently there is also a free ski bus but we are still trying to get more details.

My question for the group is can we just put on our ski boots and board the train or should we plan on booting up at the actual lift in Andermatt. Have a feeling that walking through Swiss villages in our ski boots is probably not the most fun and just not clear on how much walking we need to do to get to the actual lift from the train or bus. Would love some advice on this.

@Swiss Toni what are your thoughts?

 

[jmeb]

You can boot up and ride. I did that, but I had on 50/50 boots.

Better is to take a light bootie of some kind that can be packed away in a backpack. If you're skiing off piste with avalanche gear, you'll have a pack. Else squirrling it away somewhere is often feasible. Something like this works great: https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/127...=f&attrValue_0=Dark Russet/Dark Barley&pos=15

Don't know Goschenen, but I did stay a night just up the valley in Goschenalp. Mind blowing terrain.

 

[dovski]

You can boot up and ride. I did that, but I had on 50/50 boots.

Better is to take a light bootie of some kind that can be packed away in a backpack. If you're skiing off piste with avalanche gear, you'll have a pack. Else squirrling it away somewhere is often feasible. Something like this works great: https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/127438?page=mens-mountain-classic-quilted-ankle-boot-mens&bc=474-629&feat=629-GN1&csp=f&attrValue_0=Dark Russet/Dark Barley&pos=15

Don't know Goschenen, but I did stay a night just up the valley in Goschenalp. Mind blowing terrain.

Thanks that is a good call. My buddy does not want to do a serious off piste this trip, so we are likely going to stick to the simpler itineraries we can ski from Gemstock and Andermatt. Apparently there is a Stockli demo center in Andermatt so I may just demo some SR102s instead of hauling my skis with me. Does anyone have any experience with this demo center?

 

[Swiss Toni]

I don’t think there is a ski bus from Göschenen to Andermatt, as well as the train and the twice daily post bus service there is also a ride on demand service https://mybuxi.ch/en/passengers/regions/gotthard-region/ Andermatt has a free village bus service https://www.andermatt.swiss/en/attractions/e-sport-bus-urserntal-693a2712ae

You can wear your ski boots on the train, I often do. Skiing in Switzerland usually involves a fair bit of walking so I always use Cat Tracks. It takes around 10 min to walk from the railway station to the Gemsstock cable car station.

There isn’t a Stöckli test center in Andermatt https://www.stoeckli.ch/usen/contentmanager/index/content/content_id/265?___store_change=usen but you can rent Stöckli skis from Meyer's Sporthaus, one of their shops is is only a short distance from the railway station. I would check that they have some SR102s as they don’t appear to have a large selection. They recently featured in a Reichmann promo video.

 

[Swiss Toni]

Forgot to mention that you can get discounts on ski passes and ski rental if you by a Snow’n’Rail ticket https://freizeit.sbb.ch/en/stories/snownrail-andermatt-sedrun-disentis

 

[dovski]

I don’t think there is a ski bus from Göschenen to Andermatt, as well as the train and the twice daily post bus service there is also a ride on demand service https://mybuxi.ch/en/passengers/regions/gotthard-region/ Andermatt has a free village bus service https://www.andermatt.swiss/en/attractions/e-sport-bus-urserntal-693a2712ae

You can wear your ski boots on the train, I often do. Skiing in Switzerland usually involves a fair bit of walking so I always use Cat Tracks. It takes around 10 min to walk from the railway station to the Gemsstock cable car station.

There isn’t a Stöckli test center in Andermatt https://www.stoeckli.ch/usen/contentmanager/index/content/content_id/265?___store_change=usen but you can rent Stöckli skis from Meyer's Sporthaus, one of their shops is is only a short distance from the railway station. I would check that they have some SR102s as they don’t appear to have a large selection. They recently featured in a Reichmann promo video.

Ok let me start by saying the Meyer's Sporthaus in Andermatt is already one of my favorite ski shops and I have yet to step foot into it. I emailed them about demoing a Stormrider 102 and they said we don't have it in our rental inventory, but we are happy to mount one for you, please give us a call so we can discuss ski length.

This shop is family owned and operated, the wife corresponded with me on email and when I called I spoke with the husband, while the son will prep the skis for me. I was worried that there was an expectation I would buy the skis, so I clarified that I just wanted to demo them and they were absolutely fine with that as they felt this would be a good addition to their rental fleet. So a brand new pair of SR102s are being mounted for me to ski while in Andermatt and while there are no obligations to buy them, they did say that should I change my mind they would be more than happy to accommodate a sale lol.

I can only hope that they use their Reichmann to do a nice new ski prep. I also found out that while this is not an official Stockli demo center it is an approved Stockli demo center ... as Stockli explained over email. Stockli also offered to sell me a ski and have it delivered to my hotel which was also tempting but not practical. Just out of curiosity how much cheaper is it to buy Stockli's in Switzerland than the US?

Also @Swiss Toni I did look into the Snow'n'Rail tickets but they only apply to Andermatt-Sedrun-Disentis. Since we are staying in Goeschenen the discount does not apply Unfortunately we could not find a place to stay in Andermatt that had two separate beds in one room for a reasonable price. Luckily our hotel is a 1 minute walk from the train station in Goeschenen and the train ride to Andermatt is 10 minutes. If something opens up in Andermatt we will absolutely change hotels as the closer to the slopes the better. Right now the plan is to take the train to Andermatt, pick up our skis at Meyer's Sporthaus next to Gemstock and ski

 

[Swiss Toni]

Good to hear that Meyer's Sporthaus is willing to provide you with the ski you want to try, you don’t often get service like that these days. As the skis are new it’s unlikely that they will be put through their Reichmann before they rent them to you.

The final steps in Stöckli’s finishing process are carried out on 2 custom built Montana Saphir ski service machines, one grinds the bases and the other the base and side edges, so in theory they shouldn’t need a tune before you ski on them.

I don’t know how much they cost in the US, but the Swiss RRP for a pair of flat Stöckli Stormrider 102’s is CHF 1099- as Stöckli mainly sell their skis via their own shops and premium in resort shops here there isn’t much discounting.

 

[dovski]

Good to hear that Meyer's Sporthaus is willing to provide you with the ski you want to try, you don’t often get service like that these days. As the skis are new it’s unlikely that they will be put through their Reichmann before they rent them to you.

The final steps in Stöckli’s finishing process are carried out on 2 custom built Montana Saphir ski service machines, one grinds the bases and the other the base and side edges, so in theory they shouldn’t need a tune before you ski on them.

I don’t know how much they cost in the US, but the Swiss RRP for a pair of flat Stöckli Stormrider 102’s is CHF 1099- as Stöckli mainly sell their skis via their own shops and premium in resort shops here there isn’t much discounting.

I was very impressed with the customer service as I am not sure how many shops would mount a premium ski just for a two day rental, but perhaps it fills a gap in their rental fleet.

@Swiss Toni we have the option to switch hotels and stay in Hospental, which is closer and has a free ski bus to Andermatt. Do you think switching from our hotel in Goschenen?

Thanks,
Dov

 

[Swiss Toni]

I guess they are still trying to figure out what type of skis US skiers prefer, since Vail Resorts bought 55% of the lift company there are a lot more US skiers in Andermatt than there used to be. We had very little snow last season so there were probably very few requests for wide skis.

I might be an idea to keep an eye on the snow report https://snow.myswitzerland.com/snow_reports/andermatt-oberalp-sedrun-111/ unless they get some more snow before you arrive the Stormrider 102’s might not be the best choice.

Staying in Hospental will make things easier, its only a 5 min bus ride from the center of Hospental to the Gemsstockbahn (Gemsstock cable car station). Hospental has a railway station so you will be able to get there from Zürich by train.

 

[dovski]

I guess they are still trying to figure out what type of skis US skiers prefer, since Vail Resorts bought 55% of the lift company there are a lot more US skiers in Andermatt than there used to be. We had very little snow last season so there were probably very few requests for wide skis.

I might be an idea to keep an eye on the snow report https://snow.myswitzerland.com/snow_reports/andermatt-oberalp-sedrun-111/ unless they get some more snow before you arrive the Stormrider 102’s might not be the best choice.

Staying in Hospental will make things easier, it’s only a 5 min bus ride from the center of Hospental to the Gemsstockbahn (Gemsstock cable car station). Hospental has a railway station so you will be able to get there from Zürich by train.

It looks like they have some snow I. The forecast along with a decent base. Let’s hope for some big dumps I. The next three weeks. If that does not happen I may switch to a Stockli WRT Pro. This is very much a first world problem lol

 

[dovski]

Ok so Andermatt was great. We stayed in Hospental which was about a 2.5 hour train ride from the Zurich airport, but only a 5 minute free shuttle ride to Gemsstock. This time of year Gemsstock does not get direct sunlight, so it was colder but the snow was fantastic. Gemsstock has a ton of epic Freeride terrain and a double hop tram that takes you right to the summit. We skied there day 1 and enjoyed some great powder. Ironically most of the folks who skied there stuck to the groomed path/run down, so we had the huge untouched powder fields to ourselves, it was amazing.


Day 2 was a bluebird day and we hit the Andermatt side and skied from Andermatt throught the Oberlap Pass to Sedrun. The best way to describe day 2 was sight skiing on skis. The runs were mostly intermediate groomers and the snow was not great, but the views were incredible.


I would definitely go back and ski Gemsstock as there was a ton of great terrain we didn't get to. There is also a lot of off piste skiing that you could explore with a guide. Andermatt is definitely worth doing once for the scenery but not something I would likely do again.

I do want to give a shout out to Meyer Sporthaus where we rented our Stocklis. Their prices were reasonable and the skis were beautifully tuned and waxed. They even offered to wax them and sharpen the edges if needed each night. This is a pretty epic family owned ski shop and they know their skis. They also have pretty much the full 2024 Stockli line in their rental fleet including the WRT Pro and everything rents for around 45 CHF a day. Not bad for super premium skis.