Area: | Pizol |
Base: | 530m |
Summit: | 2250m |
Skiable vertical: | 1700m |
Lifts: | 8 (3 draglifts) |
Total lift vert: | 3250m |
Slope orientation: | Northeast-facing |
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The small but popular resort of Pizol lies near the town of Bad Ragaz, not far from the border with Liechtenstein. There are two sides to the resort, and two ways to get there - either from Bad Ragaz from the East, or from Wangs (via Sargans) from the West. The two sides are connected by drag lifts across the top, so you can go to or from either side.
From Zurich, the two ways take roughly the same time, either with a train to Sargans and a bus to Wangs, or the train to Bad Ragaz and the bus to the lifts from there. Either way, the "Snow and Rail" ticket (not available from the machines) costs CHF 58. A day ticket on its own is CHF45.
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Not so much a network of lifts, as two lines of lifts. Elderly gondolas (with middle stations) serve the lower slopes, efficient 4-seater chairlifts do the tops, and very flat draglifts connect the two sides at the top, between Pizolhütte and Laufböden. Inevitably the chairlifts attract the bulk of the queues, but (at the time of writing) the runs to the middle gondola stations and even the base stations are well open. This gives an enormous vertical drop of over 1700m.
The runs themselves are wide, well-maintained, and fast, with nothing too steep or difficult. Although there isn't a great number of runs to choose between, there's plenty here for a day's worth. The scenery is also good, stretching round from the Churfirstens to the Rhine Valley, and round to Austria. As a bonus for the more adventurous, there's a special park between Laufböden and Pardiel, with a couple of big jumps to fly off, as well as rails and bars.
Overall, this is a limited resort, but well worth a day trip and very good value for money. The access is good, the vertical drop is excellent, and the jumps will put a smile on your face!
Getting from one side to the other requires both a drag lift and a flat traverse, but this is the only way across. If you don't like drag lifts, you could find this quite a limited resort, although these drag lifts are quite friendly.
The main website is at pizol.com, with a lift map under "Panorama-Karten". The funny orange and white squares on this map mark the equipment rental and ski school respectively. Snow conditions are at wispo.stnet.ch under "Ostschweiz".