Hi Seb,
And Hi everybody,
I am new to the forum and have been reading along for some time, Thank you all for sharing a lot of helpful information!
In August this year I completed my PPL training in Switzerland. For obvious reasons this involved lots of mountain-specific work. Throughout that time my instructor took me to a number of airstrips all around Switzerland, and most of the higher altitude fields are close to some skiing area or other. The top destination would certainly be
Samedan. It is at 5600ft and a very popular destination to touch down with your private jet in winter time. The trip there is one stunning view after another, you can find some approach videos on the net, check out the Maloja or Julier routes. You have to take a short test after studying a presentation about the significance of density altitude, doing W&B, and thelike. However this can all be done through the internet. If pressure is low or temperature high, you quickly end up at a DA of 8000 ft or more, which makes takeoff and climbing to exit the valley a real challenge. Guess that was why my instructor took me there in the summer
Now besides being wonderfully located, why would you go there? St. Moritz is right around the corner, so is Pontresina, or you take a short scenic train ride to Bernina. Superb skiing there, and most times above fog and clouds.
Or you could fly to
Sion LSGS right down the Rhone valley, from there you can access a whole range of skiing areas, among which I would recommend Crans-Montana. Actually when you approach LSGS through the Montana VOR, you fly right across the slopes.
Then there are many more airfields close to ski runs, like fly into
Buochs LSZC and then go for Engelberg/Titlis.
In case you are planning for a trip to Switzerland, check out the
Swiss ICAO map showing you all airfields. It is online and free. You can combine it with
bergfex and pick your own airport-plus-skiing combination
Oh and one thing, our flying club close to Zurich operates Super Cubs with skies attached in the winter. Plus we have some experienced glacier instructors available. Just in case you want to give this a spin.
Best Regards
Christian