Engadin St. Moritz: From Ski Area To Stimulating Sports

By Author: Boštjan Hozjan
Total Articles: 3764
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St. Moritz, again, lies in the Engadin Valley accessible through the Maloja Pass and is thus overshadowed by the Bernina massif rising to 4000 meters. Engadin St. Moritz itself lies near the western edge of the St. Moritz Lake with two distinct districts-the Bad and the Dorf-the former more spread out through the Engadin Valley and the latter built terrace-style on a hillside with more tourist related venues. St. Moritz hosted the '28 and '48 Winter Olympics and later (and in 1934) played host to the '74 and '03 Alpine Skiing World Championships.

The Engadin Valley has two parts as well, the upper and lower, respectively. The whole valley continues from Martina near Austria to the Maloja Pass. The Valley, moreover, follows the Inn River to Austria. The area is entirely surrounded by rising mountains, dually protecting it from incoming weather streams and making for a long and snowy ski season. Engadin St. Moritz houses around 6,000 residents and employs roughly half this during the high skiing season.

The Engadin St. Moritz ski area located in the upper section has a lot of ski facts to recount, as the area is ...
... so well maintained and offers substantial skiing pistes. The ski resort is around 1700 meters and skiing is made possible up to over 3,000-plus meters. With a longer season than lower ski resorts, Engadin St. Moritz Swiss ski resort gives a means of approach to over 350 km of downhill slopes, 24 ski lifts and around 90 individual paths. There's an additional 32 snow cannons (260 total) keeping 65,000 hourly skiers riding up 55 lifts and zooming downhill constantly.

There's skiing for all members of the family as nearly 230 runs break down as such: There are a near 60 beginner runs, 36 advanced runs and over 135 intermediate runs. It's easy to see that Engadin St. Moritz Swiss ski resort beckons intermediate skiers while the beginners and advanced skiers on each side of the spectrum have plenty to keep them busy.

For the advanced skiers, you'll have enough black runs to paint the day dark at Diavolezza and Lagalb and Piz Noir. If you're more of a middle level skier, then you'll keep the adrenaline rushing in the Hahensee run from Corvatsch to St. Moritz Bad. Beginners can test their steps at Celerina where nursery slopes and bunny hills and moguls for all. Likewise, the snowboarders will have access to one snowboard park; however, the snowboard park area receives rave reviews so one may well be more than enough.
Engadin St. Moritz Swiss ski area has more to offer your ski holiday than riding down the powdery mountains. In fact, there are activities here not found in other ski resorts. Take, for instance, snow golfing. Snow golfing is a part of the winter sports event and started in 1979 with nutso golf fanatics. Presently, however, there are over 2000 participants competing in the annual golf tourney. Not so nutty anymore.

Another lone activity proffered at Engadin St. Moritz is kitesailing (aka snowkiting). Since '91, kitesailing has been held on the first weekend of March bringing together a myriad of beginners and experts flying high and jumping buttes over the frozen Lake Bianco. Engadin St. Moritz offers winter hiking, snowshoe treks, sledding, curling, bobsledding, cresta, cross-country skiing, sky diving, hang gliding, cricket, Nordic walking, horseback riding, ice skating and other precarious sports.

Within St. Moritz proper, you'll find plenty of hotels to fit your class and style. Each hotel offers some modern services with assorted luxuries and spa accessibility. Rooms can vary from CHF300 and lower. The Kempinski Grand Hotel Des Bains, Hotel Monopol, La Margna Swiss Quality Hotel, Hauser Swiss Quality Hotel, Hotel Waldhaus Am See, Soldanella and Hotel Stille Sporthotel offer various amenities at more or less affordable prices. Plus, you'll be close or in town with ski accessibility at the foot of your door.