Back to back Saturdays in late January, I went touring in the Riemenstalden Valley. Leading up to the first weekend, I gave my friend Leslie a call in the hopes she and her partner Felipe would tour with me during a two week dryspell. Freddy could not be convinced and instead went skating. Leslie suggested Riemenstalden for two reasons: it’s proximity to both of us (she lives in Andermatt) and it had the deepest snowdepth in Switzerland. After taking our AIARE 2 together, we’re all for deeply burying weak layers until they are not reactive!

To get to the Riemenstalden Valley from Zurich, you take the train to Zug, then transfer to a slow train that shuttles towns between Zug and Altdorf. I got off at Sisikon, and Leslie and Felipe drove us up a one lane farmer road. The second time Freddy and I went (carless) and took the Post Auto Van operated by a man named J Gisler (I know that from the name plate that “wünscht Ihnen eine gute Fahrt” - see folks I can read basic German sentences!). This was a bit tricky as there is one scheduled trip in the morning and evening. It takes 2 hours from our doorstep.

When you get to the town of Riemenstalden, there is a cable car that takes you from the valley floor at 1200 meters up to 1700 meters at the cost of 5 CHF. You can also purchase alpine cheese made from the cows that graze in this valley.  It’s rather mild and unassuming - a good pairing for a really sharp or stinky but certainly not the main attraction..I digress..The cable car is a no frills metal box that sits four in plastic chairs. You apparently call the farmer who owns it and he’ll operate it for you in about 20 minutes. Unfortunately both times I was there (arriving at 8:30 am on a Saturday morning) it was mobbed with people! Like a line of 30 people waiting for their shuttle bump. Both times, we opted to skin up rather than wait an hour.

This brings up another point I should convey - it was crowded! Even though there is a ton of skiable terrain up high, stuff got tracked out pretty fast. This is due to the two reasons that drew me to the area in the first place (stacked snowpack and accessibility), but it also has a ton of ~30 degree terrain (hence why we were there on a level 3 day). 

Left: Lots of traffic in the Riemenstalden Valley! Right: A modest Cross on top of Siwfass, looking South

The first weekend with Leslie and Felipe, it had snowed a bit and the winds were much lighter than predicted. We ate lunch at a summer barn that had a bench, basking in the south facing sun. The upper section had lumpy/pitchy terrain, which made the skinning through it feel a bit convoluted. We skied north from the top of Siwfass, which felt extra sweet because we were alone while a quarter mile down the ridge on Hagelstock, there was a band of 20 people transitioning. I think the reason for the discrepancy is due to Hagelstock being on skitourenguru.ch and Siwfass is not.  We dropped down a NE face where you could still get trackless pow. The snow felt like fundip: sugary and structureless. It was rather enjoyable, so we did it again. The exit was brutal - an ice luge that you had to follow because both sides were closed off wilderness areas. 

Above: the North and East sides of Diepen - the crown looked over a meter deep.

Remember the Fundip I skied the first weekend? In the week in between, it had dumped a meter of snow then rained up to 1500 meters. We were not surprised that the danger rating had increased to level 3 or 4 in much of the Swiss Alps. Fred and I decided to go back to the Riemenstalden and stay out of avalanche terrain. During this storm cycle, 9 people died in Austria and 5 in Switzerland due to avalanches. About halfway up, we saw a huge avalanche on a peak named Diepen that had a crown wrapping from SE to North. We skied NE on Hagelstock, west on Spilauer Stock, and the NW gut of Ross Stock (this is the main attraction from the cable car and SAC hut). This was my first time skiing over 2000 meters this year, and I was freaking worked! Turning around would have been futile as J Gisler in his Post Auto van was going to show up at 4:15, so we had no choice but to ski until then!

Left: Toeside Eddy pushing Lisa uphill, looking Southwest Right: Exhaustion takes over at the Aldorf Train Station

To conclude, I am giving the Riemenstalden Valley a 4 star yelp review.

The Pros:

• Cable car bump to where the snow is good
• Lots of non-avalanche terrain that’s still fun to ski
• Alp views from East to South to West
• Train/bussable
• Tends to get more snow
• Cute vibes of a small mountain village - I mean look at this website built in 2002!!

The Cons:

• Crowded!
• An unpleasant exit - rocks will kiss your bases (ask Freddy who did it on a snowboard!)
• Short shots - nothing more than ~400 meters
• Not super fallline-y