Memories are made of Swiss
As we bid farewell to ski season, it’s family time on the slopes...
AS a parent, there are first moments that immediately become treasured memories. The first time your children walk, the garbled attempts to say mama or dada, and the priceless joy of realising they are capable of getting up and dressed all on their own-io. Time to hit that snooze button.
And as I stood on the side of the Alps, pushing a buggy down a snowy path and directing my family towards the world famous restaurant Alpenblick, I had another snapshot to cherish. The heavens opened and snow crisply fell on my kids for the first time.
I will never forget the look in my five-year-old son Rían’s eyes as he held his cold paw out in the hope of grabbing a snowflake.
His breath cloudy and his eyes alive with joy, he stuck out his little tongue, trying to catch some flakes.
There is something so magical about seeing snow for the first time and apart from Santa’s first visit, this was the best winter moment in his young life.
If you’re hoping to teach your kids to ski, Arosa in Switzerland is up there with the best. Before arriving at the Alpine winter wonderland I called a buddy who lives in Basel to get his view on the area. His response was: ‘I’ve never been and the Swiss don’t tell you about it because they want to keep it for themselves.’ After four nights in the postcard-perfect resort I can understand why.
One of the biggest ski areas in the Grisons region is Arosa Lenzerheide. This sunny paradise offers countless kilometres of guaranteed snow and diverse slopes. I’m not kidding about the sun either — when I was getting fitted for my skis, the owner of the shop handed me a complimentary tube of sun cream and insisted it would be the most important bit of kit I would need.
The numerous state-of-the-art lifts allow switching from one side of the valley to the other in no time, so you can enjoy the great variety of ski runs or relax in the cosy mountain restaurants. Between white forests and frozen lakes, the landscape invites you to spend time here while enjoying skiing, winter hiking, cross-country skiing, tobogganing or just taking a break from everyday life.
You can even make a visit to the bear sanctuary, which is situated under one of the ski-lifts. However, during my trip the poor bear was hibernating — so we chose to leave him sleeping.
The resort is about three hours by train from Zurich airport. The final hour is the most marvellous journey up the mountain. A vintage red train rumbles, chugs and tugs its way across snowy bridges and past deer-filled forests before climbing to the Alpine village.
The main skiing comes from runs off the Aroser Hörnil and Weisshorn mountain, but the real selling point of the mountain is the accessibility of the pistes. For beginners, there is nothing worse than being forced to spend your week on the slopes confined to smaller blue tracks halfway down the mountain.
In Arosa the wide-ranging nature of the slopes ensures that every level of skier is catered for.
You have blue runs tapering down the mountain, ensuring that novices can drink in the stunning vista of snowy peaks hugged by wispy clouds, as well as safely traverse the slopes.
There’s a great mix of reds and blues (plus a few challenging blacks) from the top of several of the 13 lifts, so that it works well for parties of mixed abilities. If you don’t want to ski, there are 30 miles of winter rambling routes for walkers.
Our trip was organised by Powder Byrne, a company that offers tailor-made luxury family skiing holidays to hand-picked destinations across the Alps and Dolomites.
Their motto — ‘everything is possible’ — gives you a flavour of their services, which includes booking your train tickets and hotels and ferrying you around the resort from the moment you arrive.
For those of you who have been consumed by the fashionable trend of occupying the megaresorts across the Alps, this might seem somewhat old-fashioned. But when you are in a boutique resort like Arosa, this service is worth its weight in gold.
Because you don’t have the premium price for ski passes, you can spend your brass on this concierge system, which will mind your kids, book your restaurants and even guide you around the mountain.
And because it isn’t an ubercommercial resort, you won’t have to queue longer than five minutes for a ski lift or gondola.
Most pistes face south or southeast so, when the sunny weather is forecast, it’s important to make an early start.
The conditions for my three days on the slopes were nothing short of magnificent so we headed for the slopes 15 minutes before the first lifts opened at 9am.
There was a 5cm snow dump the day before we arrived and as the sun bathed the mountain in brilliant light, the crisp powder made for scintillating runs.
What is great about skiing in Switzerland is that you can have a guide rather than pay for a ski school. Over the three days, Harry, Kat and Kieran took me up, down and around the mountain, making the most of the perfect conditions and drinking in the panoramic views of the Alps while even whizzing through a tunnel that runs through the mountain (called the James Bond run).
What Powder Byrne really brings you is peace of mind. With three small children, you are constantly on your toes but a simple call to any of your three representatives and any issue is immediately resolved.
For parents who love to ski themselves, Powder Byrne also runs a comprehensive kids programme, under which your little darlings get picked up from your hotel in the morning, are divided into groups depending on age and skiing ability, and are well-looked after by Kieran, the impressive kids club manager, for the day, while you get to swish around in the snow.
Our first hotel on the trip was the Tschuggen Grand Hotel — and it certainly lived up to its title. Owned by the KippBechtolsheimer family, it opened its doors back in 1980 and is now one of five luxury Swiss hotels overseen by the clan.
It also boasts celebrity connections.
In 2013, Princes Harry and William and Kate Middleton all arrived into Arosa to help family member Laura Bechtolsheimer celebrate her wedding to their polo friend Mark Tomlinson. And apparently they stayed in our very suite at the Tschuggen, so expectations were high.
Situated up an incline a little away from the main strip of Arosa, the views from the hotel are simply spectacular. They got even better when we were brought to our spacious suite on the fourth floor.
Comprised of two double rooms with floor-to-ceiling glass and two separate balconies, the vistas of the majestic Swiss Alps are simply jaw-dropping.
The first thing we did was pop open the bubbly, take a pew on the balcony and soak it all up. It was also wonderful that the boys had their own separate bedroom while the baby had the best seat in the house, given that his cot was pushed right up against the window for an Alpine view.
Hungry after all our travelling, we made an early reservation for dinner in the laid-back Basement restaurant which was perfectly fitted out to accommodate our noisy trio of boys.
They were given crayons and colouring books to play with while we waited for the food, which came promptly and was catered to suit all palates.
One quirky feature in the venue the boys loved was the bowling alley. There was also a complimentary sweet trolley which came in very handy for bribes to finish up all their dinner. It’s also situated right beside the kids’ club so they could go in there afterwards for a quick play before bedtime.
The following morning we headed down to the main dining room for a healthy (and tasty) breakfast for the boys with the chef even whipping up a bowl of porridge for the baby.
The hotel has its own private ski gondola which brings you up the mountain so you can get ahead of the posse if you want to ski early.
Our two eldest were then checked into the supervised kids’ club for two hours to work off some energy, before it was on to the main business of the day, the skiing. It does get cold so having the right gear is important. Sunglasses are a must as are snow suits and boots. I picked the lot up for both boys for under €100 at mountainwarehouse.com.
LOOKING the part, the boys enjoyed a two-hour lesson in the dedicated nursery slopes at the base of the mountain. There they made use of the private ski lift while their tutor Peter tried to impart the skiing basics.
After two days Rían and Liam both started to find their snow legs. Unfortunately, it was also the same day they discovered toboggans and it quickly became clear that this was their sport of choice for the rest of the holiday.
Arosa is essentially on a giant sledding track and the main traffic heading down the town generally comes in the form of a convoy of parents with their kids on the most adorable of wooden toboggans making their way back to their hotels. Just a quick word of warning — as cute and heartwarming as they look, they can quickly pick up some serious speed so the utmost care and attention is needed.
But one of the happiest evenings we had on the holiday was helping the two boys race down a separate kiddies’ area in the town. Even Mummy and Daddy had a race, although the result was clouded in controversy when Daddy’s sled was sabotaged by an errant snowball!
After a few hours on the slopes, we headed down to the hotel’s award-winning Wellness area, the Tschuggen Bergoase, which has its own designated hour for families so we didn’t feel like we were disturbing anyone.
Spread out over 5,000msq and
designed by leading architect Mario Botta, the clever design meant that all the treatments were carried out on the lower floor while the upper pool area was purely for fun.
The outside area is also made for boastful Instagram selfies, given that you can swim right out to the snowy incline and watch the hotel’s private railway whizzing past up the mountain.
The Tschuggen Grand has several food choices, including the Bunderstube for rösti, fondues and raclettes (mains about €20); the main dining room offers a classic menu at €50 for four courses; or candlelit La Vetta for Michelin Star ‘Alpine Gourmet’. Most packages at the Tschuggen are on a half-board basis and you dine once at the Michelin-star restaurant as part of that package.
That evening, it was back to the Basement restaurant as we had enjoyed it so much the previous day. But this time around, it was more of a treat for me given that it was fondue night. Now, I have a weakness for two things in life, cheese and truffle. So when the waiter offered a bubbling cauldron filled with champagne, molten cheese and truffle, I was in food heaven. I probably should have taken out gout insurance as well as the skiing extras before ordering this, but I managed to polish off the lot.
The next morning it was time to check out and head to the other hotel on our itinerary, owned by the same group, the Valsana, which opened in December 2017. It’s made up of 40 rooms and nine apartments and is one of the most unusual places we’ve ever stayed.
I was given the tour by hotel manager Michael and he explained how the entire hotel is powered using an ‘ice battery’ and also has an impressive zero carbon footprint as it does its part to combat climate change. Our apartment was spacious with a rustic feel and again, the boys had their own bedroom and bathroom, which was perfect.
The day we arrived was movie night which came complete with complimentary popcorn. Its main restaurant Twist was perfect for super-healthy guests. Much like the hotel, the kitchen operates on a policy of sustainability. They use local produce whenever possible, pickling and curing food as well as offering healthy portion sizes.
The next morning we explored the hotel’s spa area, which came with a compact pool which we had entirely to ourselves.
When it was time to leave, Powder Byrne picked us up at the reception and ferried us down to the train station where we took that wonderful, rickety old train back down the mountain, to catch a high-speed train to Zurich.
‘Daddy, this was the best snowy holiday ever,’ Rían declared as he tried to process the last four days. ‘Maybe we will come back again next year.’
And with treasured memories like this in the bag, there is a good chance we will.