I have just returned from a ski trip to Zermatt. The conditions on the glacier slopes were superb, and the weather was kind to me. This was my first visit to Zermatt, and I was amazed at how busy the whole resort was with tourists. Everywhere I looked there was a party of Japanese or Americans, all raising their cameras in unison to take exactly the same photo of the Matterhorn. The tourist shopping was of course, geared to meet their needs.
I had signed up for a package to test skis, through the Tourist Office. This included my hotel, lift ticket and a range of skis to test. I managed to test 3 different pairs of skis during my stay, and this provided quite a varied experience.
These were:
Movement Chicka http://movementskis.com/
Scott Aztec Maya http://www.scottusa.com/gb_en/product/155/23/aztec_maya
Dynastar Exclusive Legend Powder http://dynastar.com/product.php?id_seg=&id_product=583&id_dyn_category=2&id_dyn_segment=92&acturub=1
My first outing was on the Movement Chicka, and I really thought I had forgotten how to ski. Perhaps they were too short, or poorly prepared, but once I swapped them for the Scott Aztec Maya I was much happier. The best ski of the bunch were the Dynastar's, and I was most surprised that they were 172cm. All my own skis are under 165cm.
The glacier slopes were very busy with race teams undertaking training in fenced off areas. That worked fine as long as they stayed there, but it was quite off putting to have skiers regularly go past me extremely fast in a race tuck, apparently using me as a "gate". After a near miss, I took to stopping behind the lift pylons for safety. I'm quite risk averse, having had a speeding skier break my collarbone 2 winters ago.
There was some lovely fluffy powder to play in. This was of no interest to the racers as it was not groomed. Perfect for me though!
On my last day, I saw these folks out on their antique kit. This equipment looked really difficult to ski on.
I shared a lift with a teenage member of the German Moguls Team. This is what he was training on. Young knees can take the impact. The speed of descent defied belief, to stand and watch it looked like a speeded up film clip.
