Area: | Pizol |
Base: | 530m |
Summit: | 2250m |
Skiable vertical: | 1700m |
Lifts: | 8 (3 draglifts) |
Total lift vert: | 3250m |
Slope orientation: | Northeast-facing |
 |
For a zoomable, scrollable map of the areas, see this online map using Openstreetmap or Opencyclemap.
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. The price of the Snow'n'Rail ticket may vary a little depending on the chosen route. A day ticket on its own has gone up from CHF45 to CHF53 (see pizol.com under "Pizol aktuell" -> "Preise & Tarife". Plus you'll need CHF5 deposit for the card (refundable at the counter at the end of the day) and if you're coming by car, another CHF5 for a day's parking.
 |
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, especially if the off-piste is in good condition. 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 little park just above Furt called "Riderpark Pizol", with a couple of jumps to fly off, as well as a couple of rails and bars.
Overall, this is a limited resort if you just stick to the runs, but there is a boatload of off-piste to explore if the snow is right. Anyway it's 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!
At the end of the day, make sure you're on the right side of the resort. It's possible to ride all the way down to Wangs, if you need to go there, but there are no home runs down to Bad Ragaz, so you'll have to take the gondola back down from Pardiel.
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 generally quite friendly. Just the T-bar from Schwamm is uncomfortable and in places awkward.
The main website is at pizol.com, with a nice pdf lift map currently under "Resort Info" and then scroll down. Snow'n'Rail details are at sbb.ch (but these links break often, sadly). Snow conditions have now moved to snow.myswitzerland.com under "Ostschweiz".