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WEATHER

Get your skis on! Swiss resorts open after early snow

Resorts including Verbier, Laax and Engelberg are partially opening this weekend after winter descended on Switzerland this week.

Get your skis on! Swiss resorts open after early snow
Photo: Stefan Hunziker/Swiss Image

The early start to the ski season is thanks to the Husch weather system over the North Sea, which brought snow and cold air to many parts of Switzerland over the past week.

Heavy snow is forecast in many resorts on Friday, setting up the pistes nicely for an extra-early opening this weekend.

So where to go? In addition to the high altitude resorts of Zermatt and Saas-Fee, which almost always have limited slopes open, the following are partially open this weekend.

Verbier


Photo: The Local

Verbier opens today, Friday 11th, in the Lac des Vaux sector only. More pistes should open in the coming weeks, depending on snow conditions. The resort will open every weekend throughout November.

Laax


Photo: Pierre Ekmann

The season starts on Saturday, when the slope from Crap Sogn Gion to Plaun will be open, along with some snowpark obstacles in the beginner area.

Lenk


Photo: Andreas Mueller/Swiss Image

The Walleg, Hasler and Leiterli ski lifts will all be open this weekend to access early season skiing on three pistes.

Arosa


Photo: Stephen Schacher/Swiss Image

Four pistes will be open in this Graubünden resort this weekend served by the Hörnli-Express cable car.

Crans-Montana


Photo: The Local

Some pistes in Les Violettes area will be  open this weekend for the reduced price of 25 francs.

Engelberg


Photo: Swiss Image

The Stand to Trübsee slope will be open this weekend.

Glacier 3000


Photo: Glacier 3,000

This 3,000m resort started its winter season on October 29th.

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SKIING

Two skiers killed in Swiss avalanche

Two cross-country skiers have been killed in an avalanche near the plush resort of Klosters in southeast Switzerland, police said Saturday.

Two skiers killed in Swiss avalanche

The accident happened on Friday, the Graubunden regional police said.

“In the Schintersiten area they took a slope with a steep gradient,” a police statement said.

“Several avalanches broke out and dragged the two men about 200 metres down the rocky terrain.

“As a result, both the 54-year-old and his 57-year-old companion, both of whom lived in the canton of Bern, were fatally injured.”

The Graubunden public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation alongside the cantonal police.

Before Friday’s accident, 12 people had lost their lives in avalanches in Switzerland since October 1 last year, according to statistics from the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research.

A total of 142 avalanche-related accidents have occurred, with 188 people swept away.

Earlier this month, six cross-country skiers went missing in a storm near the southern luxury resort of Zermatt. The group, aged 21 to 58, included five members of the same family.

Five bodies were recovered and the search for the sixth person was ultimately called off.

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