The Swiss Wall

(If your name matches this expression ([A-Z][a-z])+[ ](Davies|Jones) then just skip the next few paragraphs...)

A vertical drop of 400m spread out over a 1km fall with inclination as high as 55° in places and moguls the size of 4x4s the Swiss Wall has the infamous reputation as one of the most dangerous pistes in the Alps.

Natalie negotiates the Wall. 

According to a local source, the Swiss Wall, or le Mur Suisse as it is known by the French, or even "la Chavanette" by the actual Swiss, whose Wall it is, has the highest number of fatalities on it of any piste in Europe. i can't find any statistics to support this (nor do i want to) so i suspect that this may just be an urban (Alpine?) legend. True or not, it certainly has a notorious reputation that makes people want to ski it just so they can say they have. You can see this by the groups of people celebrating at the bottom that they made it.

Natalie slides to a perfect finish after conquering The Wall.

And today, we were amongst them. Is it really that bad? At the top, just past the sign that says Danger: Piste Noir, you actually can't see the face of it. It just looks like you're about to ski into nothingness. In fact, only once you're actually on the slope can you see where it is. So your first turn takes a certain leap of faith that you aren't about to drop off a cliff. But actually, it's bark is far worse than it's bite. The first 5-10m is extremely steep and the moguls, carved by skiers making heavy breaking turns, are huge, 2-3m each. But after this, it's just like any other steep bumpy black run. My advice, if you're planning to do it, is to ski right to the edge of it, and then, once you can see it, you'll see it really isn't that bad.

Skiing The Wall tends to cause acute grinning.

There's also an escape route. If you head off to the left, you can side-slip past all those nasty moguls and then traverse a good 500m onto a much shallower slope. We didn't. We took on the moguls and they were awesome! Phil will be happy to know that i beat my record of only 2 turns on the Wall (which proves how much you can traverse it) the first time i did it, to, err, a lot more the next time around. Praise also goes to the MoJos which were excellent on the bumps and fabulous in the powder

Further advice is, like us, to only bother with it in good snow. And today we had amazing snow. The Wall was great fun, powdery and only slightly bumpy. And, of course, we felt like heroes once we got down.

Update 2011-11-29: Even further advice, in the time since i wrote this article, i've skied the Swiss Wall many more times in many different conditions and learned a lot more about it. I have discovered more about it's reputation for being dangerous, and, it is indeed, very dangerous.

I now do know of skier(s) who have killed themselves trying to ski it. In ice, the moguls are hard - like rocks. If you get one of them wrong, you'll be in for a long and bad fall. The wind over the top of the Col can be extremely strong and the visibility in cloud-cover or mist is really poor. The first 30m of the slope are very steep, usually crowded, and with huge moguls. So the further advice is this. Do not ski this slope unless you are a competent skier, happily skiing steep black runs in ice conditions, and you need to love moguls. I had about 5 weeks skiing before i attempted this route, and it wasn't a good idea at the time. Just down from the restaurant where the Swiss Walls starts, is the Cubore chairlift. That takes you to the top of the Cubore run into the Abricotine valley. That route is also steep and bumpy, and a good slope to practice on before you attempt the Wall.

I've written a couple of other articles on the Swiss Wall, if you're interested: The Swiss Wall Revisited and The Swiss Wall: Summer Edition.

Natalie in Switzerland on Grand Paradis.

After that we skied le Grand Paradis, a gorgeous red run (which should really be blue) down a secluded valley to Champery. We headed home via les Crosets, over Pointe de Mossette, down the Snowcross Frontalier (excellent powder), then up Chaux Fleurie, down the Col du Bassachaux (more excellent powder), and finally home via the Ardent run.

You know what, a picture of this highly recommend route is probably useful. Green highlighting indicates us using chairs and other lifts to go up and red indicates us using skis to go down.



This is Natalie on the Snowcross on Pointe de Mossette.



There's a possibility i may have fallen over in the powder off Mossette. Very crusty powder, and i had some dust in my eye, and a passing boarder distracted me. No really.



In case you hadn't guessed, we had a great morning! i leave you with this Where's Ian? photo. Where am i? Can you see me? Reading this entry is free if you can find me.