Skier & Snowboarder-Submitted Reviews for Crans Montana
Planning a ski trip to Crans Montana? Browse our collection of visitor-generated reviews that rank the mountain and ski town on a scale of one to five stars in the following categories: Overall Rating, All-Mountain Terrain, Nightlife, Terrain Park and Family Friendly. See how Crans Montana stacks up to others in terms of skiing and après, and read up on pros, cons and comments from fellow skiers and snowboarders. Don't forget to submit your own Crans Montana review! Scroll to the bottom of this page to let other travelers know about your ski area experience.
Skier & Snowboarder-Submitted Reviews for Crans Montana
Total (3.8)
A ski resort's overall star rating displayed here is not calculated based on a simple average but takes several factors, including the age of a review, into account.
Enjoyable week skiing however would avoid if you are a complete beginner as they only have one beginner slope with the majority being red and black a long with a couple of blues.
Rodney
The sun makes all the snow melt, then it freezes so the morning is horrible until the snow melts again. The 2 days we went were cloudy so it didn't soften up. Tough pistes - say they are blue/red, but for snowboarding this is more red/black in many places... expensive too.
Beautiful views make up for a lot though!
hanvanloon1955
See the pros and cons. Closure of Aminona gondola a setback for people based there.
I am an intermediate snowboarder who visited Crans Montana for a week around New Year 2010/2011. I would definitely NOT recommend it to snowboarders as:
- pistes are icy due to strong sunshine during the day
- pistes are crowded, with long queues for lifts
- snow park was not finished when we went
- runs are designed for skiers, with many long , narrow flat stretches on which we boarders had to unclip and push
- resort itself is very expensive, you will pay at least £10 for just sausage and chips, evening meals start at £20
- transport within the resort (free shuttle bus) is very infrequent (only one an hour), if you miss one you have to take the (very expensive) resort taxis.
- 80+ % of resort is composed of red or black runs, there are only 2 blue runs on the mountain and NO green runs
In summary: beginner skiers and all snowboarders are recommended to avoid this resort like the plague!
Originally two villages, the natural advantages and resulting popularity of Crans and Montana led to the two villages joining under one name in the 1960s. Those advantages begin with the resort's wonderful location, on a sunny terrace of lakes and woodland with views across the Rhone Valley and out towards the mountain peaks of the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc.
A large, cosmopolitan resort boasting over 80 international restaurants, an excellent range of shops, lively nightlife and culture, a comprehensive program of activities and a wide-ranging choice of sporting activities beyond skiing.
Crans Montana's main skiing is divided in to three areas although they are all well lift-linked to one another and by five different gondola lifts from various parts of the resort itself. The biggest is Cry d'Err , the second Violettes - location of many of the resort's tougher runs, and the third Aminona above the purpose built centre of the same name.
There is a huge amount of terrain on south-facing slopes and the ski range is from 1,476 metres - a better height than most major resorts in the Alps for resort-level snow cover. The runs reach up to 3,000 metres, crowned by the Plaine-Morte glacier. The resort was the location for the 1987 World Alpine Skiing Championships and the World Alpine Ski Cup Finals of 1992 and 1998. Every year a number of FIS World Cup events are also staged here including men's and women's downhill, super-G, giant slalom and slalom.
Snowfalls last week (Dec.9-10), ski season should be good again in sunny Crans-Montana, Valais, Switzerland
Best resort for sunshine, slopes facing south, view, fantastic panorama (Mont Blanc 4810m, Matterhorn 4478m, Dom), drinking till late sunset on terrace. And glacier at 3000m for good conditions late in the ski season (opened till April 23)
Rate this Resort
Share your experience at resort Crans Montana to help other skiers.
