Arosa, a Swiss original
As part of my research for my guidebook, Charlie Leocha’s Ski Snowboard Europe (World Leisure, $21.95) and the website, www.skisnowboardeurope.com I plan trips to many ski and snowboard resorts in North America and Europe throughout the winter. This week, I am visiting three resorts in Switzerland. The first is Arosa in the southwestern corner of the country.
Arosa is a tucked-away resort circled by mountains, literally at the end of the road and the end of the rail line. No one ever accidentally drove past Arosa and decided that they might return some other day.
The train ride from Chur to the resort is worth the price of admission. It is spectacular and drops visitors off at one end of town next to the Obersee with chalets rising on the hill on one side and a modern section of town lining the main road on the other.
The Rhatische Bahn crawls along a sinewy track that hugs first a river channel through Chur and then rises clinging to the steep mountainside. In the valley the waters churn with a grey milky color through the lush green March grasses and evergreens. In the distance snow-covered peaks promise excellent ski and snowboard conditions. It crosses a score of stone bridges and bores through more than dozen tunnels on its run up to the resort.
Any tourist taking this train to Arosa should strive to sit on the right-hand side of the train car and as far to the rear of the train as possible. This vantage point allows one to see upcoming tunnels carved into vertical cliffs and also view the train as it curls around tight mountain outcroppings or glides across elegant rock bridges composed of dozens of arches.
The resort stretches between the lifts and hotels clustered at Pratschli to the gondola station on the western end of town that rises to Hornli. Between these two lift centers a chairlift and cablecar rise from behind the train station and one more chairlift leaves from just outside the old center of the village, Innerarosa, not too far from the Hornli gondola.
The resort is long established and was part of the original group of resorts as skiing was developed into a popular winter sport by the British. Today, the resort is surrounded by relatively easy, wide-open, above-tree-line slopes. That being said, the town is at the center of some excellent off-piste adventures that link the resort with Davos in one direction and the resort of Lenzerheide in the other.
The village has a small town look to it. Once filled with wooden Alpine chalets, most of the new construction has been built in the Swiss square efficient mountain home style. Modern hotels have a modern architectural style but little mountain atmosphere. However the old village quaintness resides nicely next to the modern facilities. These two photos show the starkness of the different views even from the same spot. One picture of the modern hotels is taken to the right and the second showing chalets and mountain peaks is taken from the same spot shooting to the left.
Arosa is also one of the winter hiking capitals of Europe. There are more than 60 km. of walking trails. This is also a great family vacation spot with sledding a good part of the fun. There are six different sledding runs that range up to a 2.8 km. sledding trail (that’s almost 2 miles!).
The British basically founded the sport of skiing here back in the 1800s but there are few Brits here today and Arosa never caught on with the glitterati of American skiing. Most of the visitors are Swiss or Germans with a healthy group of Italians who make the drive to Chur through the spectacular Via Mala. However, everyone seems to speak English, so getting around and find directions is not a problem.
I strongly recommend taking the train. Train travelers coming from the Zurich airport only have to change in Zurich for the train to Chur and them walk about 50 meters to catch the train to Arosa.
If planning to ski for a week, there is no need to purchase a rail pass. The first class ticket from the Zurich Airport to Arosa costs Sfr170 and the perfectly adequate 2nd class rail ticket is only Sfr102 — both ticket prices are round trip. (Note: the Swiss franc and the US dollar are basically at a 1-to-1 exchange rate.)
Off to Klosters, the resort of choice for Prince Charles and Lady Di back in the day, for the afternoon and to spend the night.
Photos by Charles Leocha.
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