Nendaz is a ski resort in the 4 Valleys network of Switzerland little-known to Brits. Why? Because it lives in the shadow of its neighbour the glitzy and ritzy Verbier, always in the news for perhaps the wrong reasons…a lifestyle magnet for likes of Sir Richard Branson, the Grand Old Duke of York, his bro Harry, and Posh and Becks. Meanwhile, across the hill, Nendaz gets on with life without the fragile veneer of celebrity; ordinary lives, ordinary tourists, but sharing common mountains and ski slopes with its brash neighbours.
Absolutely Topping
The village of Nendaz sits at 1,400 metres on the sunny side of the Rhône valley. The centre – typically Swiss ‘60s design – has the usual allocation of shops, restaurants, a bus stop, and a lift station with more traditional chalets and apartments radiating from there. A gondola takes you to 2,200 metres, and thence, via four other quick lifts to the Col des Gentianes at 2,894 metres, in about forty minutes. However, the cherry on the top, the jewel-in-the crown, the king (or queen) of the castle, is a bit higher: Mont Fort, 3,300 metres above.
There are several reasons to venture up here. The view – stunning, with Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn in sight; freeride, if crazy is your thing –the World Champs are held here; steep and very deep – the 40º black run is a proper black; and the zip line, billed as the ‘world’s highest’. Should you accept this daft challenge you are clipped into a seat harness and launched into the void reaching, conditions permitting, 100 kph. Be warned, it is cold up there and if there’s any wind, which there usually is, it’s sub-Arctic.
The Long and Winding Red
There’s a long winding red from the Col des Gentianes which strays into those posh next-door-neighbours’ sector, via La Chaux or Fontanet, thence rather circuitously it must be said, back to Nendaz-land at Tortin. Alternatively, ride the cable car down to the same place. After all that highfalutin stuff it is time for lunch at the Restaurant Le Hameau de Tortin set in the sheltered head of a valley with a choice of fine dining or self-service. Guess which I chose? Yes, the former; a light lunch of oysters, a spaghetti main, with a glass – just one – of Fendant, the local Valaisan white.
Joy Division
The run down, a wide gentle blue, is a perfect postprandial joy, hugging the soft shoulders of a valley, nowhere better for notching up confidence for nervous intermediates, excited children, or contented codgers happy with life. In fact, it was such fun I did it twice. The endpoint at Siviez is less of a joy, and more a practical conglomeration of apartment blocks, car parks, sports shops, a bakery, and a bar where I had a small beer killing time waiting for the bus back to Nendaz.
Royalty Spotting
The next day I explored the large area I had missed the day before in my eagerness to head high – and discovered in passing a wonder unremarked by most skiers as they sit on the Prarion chair lift but, known to locals. You ascend above Balavaux, a wooded summer pasture dotted with ancient larch trees; one amongst them is a thousand years old; and, yes, I spot it there below, encircled by a tumbledown fence, the ‘King of Balavaux’, his venerable girth 14.6 metres. When this tree was a sapling the Normans defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings but this King survived.
Sundowners at Le Bob
Tracouet-Prarion, with red and blue pistes fanning out from the top of the Nendaz gondola, has safe slopes for early learners, and three restaurants for hot chocs when energy levels drop. Families and the less adventurous would find a day playing around here fun and beneficial. For all abilities, there’s an exciting and whooshy blue that trickles down through the trees, with red loops for the more confident, ending above the village. It’s the perfect place for a sundowner, with a knockout view of the Rhône separating the Pennine from the Bernese Alps.
Le Bob is the place for this; a ramshackle-friendly ‘Ski Bar Bistro’, complete with an old-school skinny-skis fence and rusty corrugated-tin walls. Warm your cockles by the roaring stove before the last section down to village level. Timid skiers can negotiate this steepish end-of-run with a good old-fashioned snow-plough (or pizza as it’s now called). Compared to the neighbours, where champagne is northwards of 1,250 CHF a bottle in some posh joints, après ski in Nendaz village is limited, from the makeshift Edelweiss to the bar of the new budget Mad Mount Hotel, right by the lift.
Is anyone for Rando’Miam?
Nendaz shares the same 4-valleys network as Verbs without the inflated attitudes and prices. Not a Porche, Maserati, or Ferrari in sight but a free ski bus circling Nendaz and Siviez. For those wanting a leg stretch or an afternoon off skiing, Rando’ Miam (translates as ‘an unexpected yum’) is a marked itinerary combining walking and discovering local culinary specialities along an easy 7.7 kilometres trail highlighted by three gourmet stops.
Aperitif and starter at the Restaurant La Tétine where I chose pumpkin soup (yummy=Miammy?); main course at the Restaurant Le Hameau de Tortin; finished with dessert and coffee at the Bar le Tipi. Jolly nice.
4 Vallées is the largest ski area in Switzerland with 410 km of slopes: a six-day lift pass, 609 CHF. The Rando’Miam is priced at 45 CHF, for more information see here. Nendaz Tourist Office, see online.
Getting there. Geneva to Sion by train, then bus to resort: 2hrs 37 minutes.
