Mountain Layout — Skiing

Here are larger more detailed trail maps of the main areas:

Corviglia-Marguns
Diavolezza-Lagalb
Zuoz-Albanas
Corvatsch-Furtschellas

Until you have experienced St. Moritz, your education in Swiss skiing is incomplete. Exclusive and exciting, this two-time winter Olympic site—1928 and 1948—is home to some of the finest in-termediate skiing anywhere. St. Moritz was one of the first to embrace "ego snow" for the rich and famous.

The setting is stunning: 6,000 feet high in the southeastern corner of Switzerland, near the border with Italy in the twin shadows of the 9,270-foot Piz Nair and the 10,833-foot Piz Corvatsch.

The main runs are clustered around the summits of the three main mountains. The Corviglia runs finish near St. Moritz-Dorf. The Corvatsch Hahnensee run drops into St. Moritz-Bad and Diavolezza drops into a nearby valley.

The finest run is the Hahnensee, a black-rated trail that is intermediate for most of the five-mile length. It boasts a vertical drop of more than 4,900 feet. It’s a five-minute walk from the end of the Hahnensee run to the Signalbahn cable car, which takes you up to Corviglia.

Another great run down from the top of the Corvatsch glacier is to break off at the Mandras T-bar and climb to the Murtèl cable midsta-tion. Here the run down the Surlej is peppered with moguls and dips, while the panorama includes the frozen lakes of Champfèr and Silvaplana. Adventurous folk work their way along the slopes via the T-bars at Alp Margun to the 9,186-foot-high Culöz de las Furtschellas. From here, there is an interesting run to Sils-Maria on the Silvaplana Lake shore.

The longest and favorite run of many is from Piz Nair. You can either down the front side to St. Moritz or over the ridge at the 8,154-foot level by the cable car station in Corviglia and down to Marguns. For the greatest length along an in-termediate trail, climb to the top of the Fuorcla Grischa chair lift, behind Piz Nair, for the run to the valley floor.

The single most challenging run in the valley is “Il Muro,” a chilling drop from the top at Lagalb on the Bern-ina Pass. On the other side of the pass is Diavolezza. The skiing there is good, but the Diavolezza to Morteratsch run is wonderful. A stunning glacier ski trek awaits after a 25-minute walk on skis to the mountain bar run by Islas Pers. On full-moon nights glacier skiing is a unique Alpine experience.

Mountain rating
Beginners will start to feel at home after several runs on one of the longer trails. But this is not the best spot to learn to ski. Beginner skiers will feel limited with not too many slopes to take them from absolute beginner to lower intermediate.

Eighty percent of the slopes in the St. Moritz area are for intermediates. Corvatsch has plenty of ego-boosting trails that catch lots of sun. The Diavolezza-Langalb has some of the best intermediate trails with the thinnest crowds. When in doubt, tag behind the advanced beginners of a St. Moritz ski class for the best slope that day.

Experts will head for the toughest parts of the back side of the Piz Nair, as well as Corvatsch summit and the super challenge of the black run at Lagalb. If you are in the Diavolezza sector head to the Schwarzer Hang for some steep skiing. To ski off-piste from Corviglia or Corvatsch a guide is required for many of the itineraries.