Skiing in St Luc and the Val d’Anniviers

The village of St Luc has retained much of its charm. St Luc tourism

St Luc is a side of Switzerland few foreign visitors ever see. It's a tiny village of only 350 inhabitants with modest tourist infrastructure, and no major mountains of international renown.

Yet it has an excellent network of 46 ski lifts and 200 kilometres of pistes shared with its neighbours in the Val d’Anniviers.

But most of all St Luc is unstressed, sunny, relatively undeveloped and – that rarity in modern winter tourism – both inexpensive and genuinely welcoming.

British climbers came in the early 19th century, among them the famous Edward Whymper who moved on to Zermatt and his conquest of the Matterhorn.

But St Luc never attracted the hordes that flocked into the nearby resorts of Saas Fee, Crans Montana and Zermatt.

Only in recent years have modern chalets been built on the sunny hillside at 1,650 metres above sea level.

Ancient watermills and tiny wooden barns built on stone stilts can still be found in St Luc, the latter even in the town centre.

Most homes are built from stone, unlike the typical wooden chalets found everywhere else in canton Valais.

And the area is home to a unique breed of Swiss fighting cows, 700 kilogramme beasts who lock horns high in the Alps to fight for the right to the greenest grass.

French-speaking St Luc is only miles away from the imaginary linguistic border where German, Switzerland’s predominant language, begins.

Skiing

The skiing at St Luc is shared with its nearest neighbour Chandolin, a ten-minute free bus-ride away.

Together, the two areas comprise a sunny region above the trees, with skiing on 75 kilometres of slopes and 16 lifts, one of which is an unusual funicular.

Skiing rises to an impressive 3,025 metres above sea level, although most runs are of intermediate difficulty and the open terrain makes for easy family skiing.

St Luc makes up part of the wider Val d’Anniviers ski pass region, which includes Grimentz, Vercorin and Zinal.

This wider area opens up skiing on the high glaciers, with ski touring possibilities from the cable car in Zinal, as well as some stunning wooded runs down perfectly groomed pistes in the Grimentz sector.

Compared with other resorts in the Alps, skiing in Anniviers is a step back in time. The pistes are less crowded and fellow skiers more cordial.

Overall, the skiing in St Luc is suited to holidaymakers who are looking for sunshine and serenity rather than challenge.

But the expanded ski lift network of the Val d’Anniviers has brought off-piste skiers from all over Switzerland into the area, to sample the deep powder snow for which the valley is renowned.

A great treat is to be invited by a local resident to ski deep into the forest to an isolated family hut, usually only used in summer, for an evening fondue and then a moonlight ski back down to the village.

Snowshoeing and star gazing

Snow-shoeing is a new and increasingly popular pastime. But a visit to St Luc’s state-of-the-art Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Observatory is a must. It was opened on the ski slopes at the top of the funicular only six years ago.

There is a small sledge run and 35 kilometres of prepared winter walking trails in St Luc.

Immensely popular from Zinal is the five-hour hike by snowshoe or skis to a cavern 50 metres under the glacier.

Zinal is also an international centre for hang-gliding and paragliding enthusiasts.

Families welcome

Few areas in Switzerland come more highly recommended for families.

Indeed, the Anniviers resorts have been awarded the “Label Kids” and “Families Welcome” symbols by the Swiss Tourism Federation.

These labels signify a family friendly atmosphere, which includes special facilities and events.

Mountain restaurants, for example, set aside lunch rooms with vending machines for families who bring their own food.

This is in stark contrast with most Alpine resorts, which strictly forbid consumption of food not purchased in the restaurant.

Playgrounds with swings are set high on the mountains outside some Anniviers lift stations – another attraction conspicuous by its absence elsewhere in the Alps.

In St Luc there are baby lifts for children, and hotels feature large family rooms as well as playrooms with toys and children’s videos.

The tourist office even organises storytelling sessions.

Après ski

St Luc attracts a family clientele, often consisting of three generations, who are early to bed and early to rise.

And sound sleeping under laser-bright stars undimmed by city pollution is virtually guaranteed.

There is only one bar, an English-style pub, although Grimentz has two late-night discos.

Dining out in authentic low-ceiling Valaisan cheese cellar-type restaurants is both popular and less pricey than in most ski resorts.

Aside from fondue and raclette, the local “assiette Valaisan” plate of cold meats is worth trying, as are the dessert pastries made from wild berries.

Getting there

St Luc is easy to get to: less than two hours from Geneva by motorway, except for the final 20 minutes of winding mountain roadway up from the Rhône valley town of Sierre, the nearest railway station.

Inexperienced mountain drivers may find the climb slightly unnerving, but it’s well maintained and swiftly cleared of snow.

St Luc may fill up with up to 4,000 people during high season, but the old village centre is very small and easy to walk around.

Buses connect the other towns and ski areas in the Val d’Anniviers on an almost hourly basis.