Laax, Switzerland
Laax and its smaller brother Flims are Swiss national treasures and pure snowboard heaven. This place is highly regarded by those snowboarders who know about it and what you have here is a full on snowboarder’s resort that links up with the more sedate Flims. Together they form an area regarded as one of the most snowboard friendly places in Switzerland. The Burton European Open has been held here for the past few 4 seasons, and the BRITS series finals are also hosted here in mid March. When events are held here, it’s not just the top riders that come to perform, some big name pop stars and DJ’s also put in an appearance.
Superpipe at the Crap Sogn Gion
Photo: Steve, WSG
The Vorab Glacier opens in October with a basic terrain park, however it can take up to an hour to get up from the base. When the season opens fully in December the park relocates to its main place under the Crap Sogn Gion, and the Vorab area becomes a gateway to some of the best freeriding the resort has to offer.
Laax beginner terrain park
Photo: Steve, WSG
Not many tour operators plague these slopes and if ever there was a mountain meant for snowboarders free of two plankers, this is it. Laax also has one of the best lift systems in Europe with lots of fast Gondolas whisking you up to the peaks, and you are seldom queuing for long despite its popularity. Beginners will also enjoy the fact that there are only a few drag lifts and they can be easily avoided without restricting yourself in anyway.
On the downside of things, the resort management can be slow to open some areas after a fresh dump and sieze any opportunity to close lifts, especially the Cassons area. Laax is no unknown backwater, and for freeriders wanting first tracks you'll need to be on the first lift, as everything gets tracked out incredibly quickly.
Accomodation and services are very spread out between Laax and Flims, but there is a free shuttle bus linking all the areas together. The base at Laax has significantly improved since the building of the new Rocks Resort; there are now a few more bars, restaurants and shops, but it has a slightly engineered feel.
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Resort Statistics
Resort Type:
Alpine
Winter: Nov to April
Summer: May to Sept
Lifts
Total Lifts: 29
Cable cars: 7
Gondolas: 4
Chair lifts: 7
Drag lifts: 8
Other lifts: 3 kids lifts
Max people per hour: 42,000
Board Leashes required: No
Mountain
Total pistes/trails: 60
Total ride area: 220km
Longest run: 14km
Top lift: 3018m
Vertical drop: 1998m
First lift: 1020m
Piste suitability
Green runs: 35%
Red runs: 38%
Black runs: 27%
Lift Passes
| Low Season | High Season | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHF | GBP | CHF | GBP | |
| Day Pass | 54.00 | 33.61 | 67.00 | 41.70 |
| 6-Day Pass | 260.00 | 161.83 | 315.00 | 196.07 |
| 6-Day Linked area Pass | - | - | - | - |
| CHF | GBP | |
|---|---|---|
| Season Pass: | - | - |
Lift Passes:
Half day 50CHF
1 Day 63Chf
6 Days 354Chf
Lift times:8.30am to 4.30pm
Snowfall
Average annual snowfall: 7.2metres
Artificial snowmaking coverage: 20%
Facilities
| CHF | GBP | |
|---|---|---|
| Days Rental of Board & Boots: | 45.00 | 28.01 |
| 4hr Group Lesson (full day): | - | - |
| 4hr Private Lesson (full day): | 210.00 | 130.71 |
Snowboard Schools:
Snowboard Fahrschule offer freestyle and freestyle lessons email fahrschule@weissearena.ch
Snowboard Hire:
Plenty of hire shops, some allowing a try before you buy.
Night Riding: :
No
Other activities
Heliboarding: :
About 30mins by car, www.airgrischa.ch 2-drops will set you back around 400CHF and take most of the day.
Snowmobiles:
Not available
Further information
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Summary
Excellent snowsure resort with a good long season. The slopes are great for freestylers and freeriders alike, as well as suiting beginners. The resort can be slack at opening lifts and the off-piste gets tracked out within hours of a dump.
ON THE SLOPES: Fantastic
OFF THE SLOPES: Okay but not rocking
MONEY WISE: Fairly expensive place, but cheaper than many swiss resorts
Terrain & parks
HALFPIPE:
Yes - 1
TERRAIN PARK:
Yes - 2
BACKCOUNTRY/OFF-PISTE:Yes
TREE RUNS:Yes
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Resort News
Nicholls & Berry take Gold at Brits Slopestyle 10 27Mar10
>> more news on Laax ...Next Events
Burton European Open 2011
8-15 January 11
The biggest event in European snowboarding, the 6*TTR Burton European Open is being held as always in Laax, Switerland
Weather & conditions
| Weather | ||
partly cloudy
|
||
10°C
|
||
| Snow cover | ||
| Total | Last 24hrs | |
| Upper | 60cm | 10cm |
| Lower | 0cm | 0cm |
| Resort | 0cm | 0cm |
| Last Snowfall: 151- Mon 05 Apr 2010 | ||
| Runs | ||
| Runs Open: | 0KM | |
| Lifts Open: | 2 | |
| Piste Conditions: | no info | |
| Runs to resorts: | closed | |
| Off Piste Conditions: | no info | |
| Comments: | ||
| Herzlich Willkommen in Flims Laax Falera! Aktuelle Informationen zu unserem Sommer finden Sie unter www.flims.com. Wir wünschen Ihnen einen schönen Sommer und freuen uns schon jetzt, Sie ab dem 13.11.2010 im Winter 2010/2011 bei uns begrüssen zu dürfen. Ihr LAAX Team. | ||
| Source | ||
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Forecast 2010-09-04 Vorab
Temperature between 1 and 7 °C Duration of sunshine: 7 hours of ... -
Forecast 2010-09-04 Crap Sogn Gion
Temperature between 4 and 10 °C Zero degree level 3600 m above zero levelPrecipitation: 30 % probable precipitation Duration of sunshine: 7 hours of ... -
Forecast 2010-09-04 Laax
Temperature between 8 and 19 °C Zero degree level 3600 m above zero levelPrecipitation: 30 % probable precipitation Duration of sunshine: 7 hours of ...
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Piste Map
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