14490284:first_rodeo said:
Wife surprised me with a trip to Zermatt in March. Any recommendations if im staying in town for a week? what is the deal with passes and equipment etc???
Zermatt is pretty pricey but in March you might find some good hotel deals if you're lucky. Public transport is great so you could pretty easily ski based in one of the towns down the valley. That said you might already have that sorted. March is pretty good odds snow-wise, so you should be in for decent conditions, it's awful now but it has to snow at some point.
Random tips:
- Don't worry about the drinking water.
- Rental equipment in most places in Europe is not great and pretty expensive. I don't recall seeing any great shops for gear in Zermatt (there are decent boot fitters but that's about it). You probably could find something ok at Julen Sport. But I would 100% bring boots and I'd recommend bringing a pair of ~102mm all-mountain skis. It's generally not an icy resort so you don't need to have narrow skis, and it's pretty expensive to rent. Alternatively, buy something in a sale down in the valley when you get here.
- Restaurants are very expensive but at least most of them are decent in Zermatt, I can hit you with some recs if you want. Do not expect US customer service, don't tip, just round up the bill if it's decent.
- Don't fall into a crevasse. It's not quite as bad as Saas Fee, but there are plenty of places you could disappear forever within 5-10 meters of the piste.
- If you want to go freeriding, there's a lot around, just make sure you read the avy forecast and be aware where the glacier is. People duck ropes everywhere, there is virtually no warning signage and people die fairly regularly just by doing something dumb. Guides are generally decent but expensive, if it's a few days after a storm, might be worth it. Locals may be willing to impart knowledge but the freeride/park community is small. It's mostly very rich tourists.
- Passes are about $90-100 a day (I'm estimating here) with some reductions for adding more days. They won't refund you if you don't get to ski because the lifts are closed, in fact, they might laugh at you for asking.
- If you ski park, the park lift is slow but the park itself is actually really fun. Decent jumps, lots of rail features and usually some sort of flow features pretty well set up.
