This winter sports destination is a superb option for those wanting to hit the slopes between November and April of each year, as our Winter Editor Adam Attew can attest.
FACTS
AREA: Saastal includes Saas Fee, Saas-Almagell, Saas-Grund & Saas-Balen
SEASON START & END: Early November – Late April
SKI ALTITUDE IN METRES: Saas-Fee 1800-3600m / Vertical Drop 1800m // Saas-Grund 1559-3200 / Vertical Drop 1641m // Saas-Almagell 1672-2400m / Vertical Drop 728m
PISTES: Saastal total 150km
Saas-Fee 105km ( 20km Blue / 60km Red / 20km Black / Additional Ski routes 5km) / 20% Beginner / 60% Intermediate / 20% Expert
Saas-Grund (Saas-Balen) 34.5km ( 12km Blue / 21.3km Red / 1.2km Black ) / 35% Beginner / 62% Intermediate / 3% Expert
Saas-Almagell 12km ( 4km Blue / 8km Red / 0km Black ) / 33% Beginner / 67% Intermediate / 0% Expert
LIFTS: Total 37 // Saas-Fee 23: (Cable cars 1 / Gondola 7 (+1 Hannig Hiking/sledging Area) / Chair lift 2 / Drag Lifts 12) // Saas-Grund 7 :(Cable cars 0 / Gondola 2 / Chair lift 0 / Drag Lifts 5) // Saas-Almagell 7: Cable cars 0 / Gondola 0 / Chair lift 2 / Drag Lifts 5)
SNOW: Saas-Fee: 95 snow cannons
LIFT TICKET 2021/22 Ski Pass: Saas-Fee + Saas-Almagell Adult Local Resort: 75 CHF – 1 day / 369 CHF – 6 days // Saas-Grund Adult Local Resort: 59 CHF – 1 day / 271 CHF- 6 days // Destination Pass Adult Local Resort: 148 CHF – 2 days / 383 CHF- 6 days
Magic Pass – Magic Pass gives you free and unlimited access to cable cars in 40 ski resorts in winter and 21 destinations in summer. Saas-Fee and Saas-Almagell are included in the Magic Pass for the summer season (except summer skiing and Metro Alpin) and winter season.
CROSS COUNTRY SKIING: 26km of trails
LANGUAGE: Swiss German, German, French
AIRPORT: Bern 120km / Zurich 246 / Geneva 226km / Basel 228km / Milan 186km
TRAIN: The nearest station is Visp 27 km / From the international airports of Zurich, Geneva, Basel Euro Airport, and Milan (all 3 hours away) / Amsterdam & Frankfurt have train connections to Visp. From Visp, you can take the PostBus (Bus 511 – direction Saas-Fee) every half hour directly to Saas-Fee/Saas Valley
FACTS: The area is surrounded by 18 four-thousand-metre peaks! Saas-Fee is located at the base of the Dom, the tallest mountain in Switzerland / Cars are not allowed in the village / The Saas-Fee glacier is home to one of Europe’s rare summer ski areas.
THE TOWN
Saas Fee is quite unusual considering it has never allowed cars in the village, which means the streets are often narrow due to the village being originally built for pedestrians and horses with carts; this makes for idyllic streets with its old Valaisian buildings and winding cobbled lanes.
The village is always framed by the giant Mischabel mountains which appear to loom over the village; there are 13 peaks above 4,000 metres with Dom, the highest complete peak (not shared with another country) inside Switzerland at 4545 metres and the third highest in the Alps.
The name ‘the Pearl of the Alps’ has been given to Saas Fee because of these 18 surrounding peaks, like an Oyster shell. This means that the views from any hotel or chalet are spectacular. Among these peaks are many glaciers, which seem to hang off the surrounding mountains making the scene even more spectacular.
The history goes back to at least the Romans, with Saas possibly coming from the word High and Fee relating to Vee meaning cattle; for hundreds of years, the area was used as summer grounds for the cattle. The Celts, Romans and Franks feature in the area’s history, however, an interesting footnote is that the Saracens invaded the Valais in 939, and the local king brought them on board to protect the mountain passes, they settled in what is now Almagell just below Saas Fee and local names such as Monte Moro, Almagell, Allalin and Mischabel may come from the Arabic!
As well as place names they say the Saracens left the shape of their noses in the DNA of the local people… As in Warth in Austria, a priest by the name of Johann Josef Imseng was the first person to ski in Switzerland in 1849, he is honoured to this day by a statue in Saas-Fee.
SUPERB SKIING
Saas Fee is a high resort at 1800 metres and as a result, it is very snowy. The pistes up at the top at 3600 metres are mostly on glaciers, and we all love skiing on glaciers with their perfect snow, big wide pistes and ideal slope angles; this is where you want to come to perfect your turns and many do throughout the year, especially in Summer.
In Summer the Freestyle park Allalingletscher opens up for training and winter continues as summer is in full swing below in October the best Freestyle athletes of the world can be found training here at what they call the Stomping Grounds. The higher pistes are really best for intermediate and upward skiers, and they will certainly enjoy the area, skiing amongst the glaciers.
We found the Plattjen lift and the pistes here were pretty quiet if you want to get away from the crowds. Just 5 minutes away by car Saas Grund offers a completely different experience with its mostly southwest-facing pistes, it receives a lot of sun which makes for some idyllic conditions but the snow can get a little soft lower down at the end of the day. One gets some great views across the valley of the surrounding mountains and Saas Fee.
Saas-Almagell next door to the superb Saas Grund is a smaller skiing area with tree skiing and various blue and red pistes. Sadly the local glaciers are retreating noticeably due to climate change, so however you get here make it as carbon-neutral as possible.
BEGINNERS –
Saas Fee has the perfect beginner Pistes down in the village on the three blue pistes called Stafelwald, wide open and with a great pitch as if designed for the purpose of learning to ski. From here the next step is tricky as most of the blues up the mountain start or finish with red pistes.
INTERMEDIATE –
The whole resort is your oyster, with the village as the pearl! Reds galore, with wide open pistes for carving to steeper pistes to practice your short turns. As I mentioned before, the high glacial pistes are made for perfecting your skiing. Also, make sure you head over to Saas Grund to explore the sunny side of Saas Fee with its long high red pistes and fun tree run back to the village.
ADVANCED –
There are not too many Black pistes, but what there are are quality, like the Oberer Spielboden and Galen. There are a few ski routes or itinerary routes if they are open. There is plenty of off-piste, but due to the glaciers make sure you take a guide or you might end up at the bottom of a crevasse.
RESTAURANTS
Up on the glacier is the highest altitude revolving restaurant in the world- the Mittelallalin, go for the coffee and the view, maybe not the food though. If you want to eat amazing food up the mountain head over to the Gletschergrotte for its delicious food and spectacular location, there can be queues but it is worth it. Another restaurant of note, which many people miss is the mountain restaurant Felskinn at 3000 metres.
ECOLOGY & SUSTAINABILITY FACTS:
Sustainability is very important in the Saas Valley.
-As early as 1951, the glacier village decided to remain traffic-free. There had previously been no road to Saas-Fee so the village has always been car-free.
-The Mattmark dam and its power station, have been supplying hydroelectric power to the whole area.
-Saas-Fee is also a founding member of the “Alliance in the Alps”, a network of over 200 Alpine communities. They are committed to ensuring that the objectives of the Alpine Convention for sustainable development in the Alpine region are implemented in concrete terms.
-In 2002 the municipality was awarded the label ‘Energiestadt’, a record of achievement that exemplifies a sustainable municipal energy policy. Then in 2021, Saas-Fee was awarded the ‘Energistadt GOLD’ label. It is the highest European award for energy and climate and requires a score of at least 75%, Saas-Fee scores 78.6 %.
-The Wellnesshostel4000 and the Aqua Allalin mean that the village is the first high-alpine municipality in Switzerland to have a solar thermal local heating network.
For more information, visit Saas-Fee.
