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Switzerland 

BERNESE OBERLAND

(German speaking region) These are two picturesque villages that jointly promote their ski region. Six miles apart as the crow flies, but connected by snowfields that billow over the mountains.

Photo by Bruno Kernen

Elevation: Adelboden village: 1,350 m (4,428 ft); Top: 2,350 m (7,708 ft)

Vertical: 950 m (3,116 ft)

Longest Run: 6,9 km (4 mi) (slope Tschuggen, No 6)

Terrain: 185 km (115 mi) of prepared slopes; 41% beginner, 47% intermediate, 11% advanced, 1% freeride

Skiing Circus: Several separate areas near Adelboden; many slopes across the mountains connect Adelboden and Lenk

Lifts: 72 in region, which also includes another ski area, Frutigen

Types: 3 cable cars, 7 gondolas, 11 chairlifts, 21 drag lifts, 14 baby lifts

Lift Capacity: 52,400 p/h in Lenk/Adelboden

Ski Season: mid Dec to end Apr/ beginning May

Cross Country: 86 km (53 mi) in region; also 189 km (117 mi) of walking paths in the region, 112 km (69 mi) of them in Adelboden

Ski School: Well-staffed schools in both villages

Mountain Restaurants: 31 restaurants, 16 snowbars

Other Winter Activities: Hanggliding; paragliding; curling; ice skating/artificial; snowboard park; freeride area; sledding; sleigh riding; snowshoes; ice climbing, guided skitours, overnight stays in igloos; sauna

Après-Ski: Bars, discos, concerts, cinema

Credit Cards: AE, DC, MC, VISA

Child Care: Contact tourist office

Lodging: Adelboden: 15,200 guest beds in hotels, chalets, apartments. Lenk: 7,000

Transportation: Airport: Zürich, Basel, Geneva, even Bern is providing air services to and from the UK in winter

Closest Provincial City: Thun (24 mi)

By Auto: Bern-Thun-Spiez-Frutigen-Adelboden

By Train: Change in Bern, again in Frutigen to bus

Best Deal: Five all-day lessons and Adelboden-Lenk ski pass for approximately 298 euros

Other Information: Adelboden is frequently on the World Cup tour. Skiers may want to get brochures of both villages to compare surroundings and facilities

Rates: See Rates section

Adelboden-Lenk Mountain Map (click map to enlarge)

                                     Spotlight On Adelboden

                                                                   (Originally written for OnTheSnow.com)
                                                                                        by Ted Heck

Adelboden/Lenk: Together, sort of

People have usually linked Adelboden and Lenk together as if they were adjoining communities, but these two pretty villages in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland are six miles apart as the crow flies.

But as skiers soar, the villages are united by a circus of interconnected lifts and slopes in a large ski complex that contains 115 miles of prepared slopes. When the nearby resorts of Frutigen and Kandersteg are added, the skiing possibilities grow to 170 miles and 58 lifts.

The Adelboden-Lenk ski area appeals mostly to intermediates, who like the three-to-four mile runs and are not intimidated by 3,000-feet vertical drops. Yet expert skiers and snowboarders have plenty of off-piste possibilities on vast snowfields. If that isn’t enough, they can try their hand at hang gliding or parasailing.

The two villages combined offer cross country skiers more than 48 miles of tracks with varying degrees of difficulty. Walkers have 25 miles of snowy paths. Rodelers also have courses on which to ride on their sleds that have no steering mechanism, other than their feet.

(Adelboden is on the World Cup circuit and is well-known to racing fans, but if you have trouble locating Adelboden and Lenk on a map, look southwest from Zurich toward Interlaken. Find the city of Spiez on Lake Thun, then look south to Frutigen. Adelboden is at the end of the road. Notice that better known resorts of the Jungfrau region are to the east of Adelboden and Gstaad is to the west of Lenk.)

Adelboden is the larger of the two resorts, with 3,650 inhabitants and 15,200 guest beds. You can stay in a three-star hotel for about $100 a day, with breakfast and dinner. One of them, Sporthotel Adler in the center of the village, looks like a giant chalet. In addition to its 80 bedrooms, it has a pool, gym, sauna, steam room, and solarium, not an unusual combination in better hotels in the Alps. The hotel this winter was fully booked from Christmas to the end of March.

(Lothar, general manager of the Adler, is a former member of the Swiss Guard at the Vatican in Rome, and an interesting fellow to talk with about the 500-year history of the Guard.)

Because they are year-round resorts, Adelboden and Lenk are geared to looking after skiers when they are not on the slopes. They have museums, concerts, bars and discos. In the wide choice of restaurants, diners toying with their endless supply of raclette are likely to hear Strauss waltzes and gypsy melodies. After dark, “pretty” moves indoors.

A Great Place for a Reunion

My cousin Peter, a Swiss citizen who lives in Karlsruhe, Germany, came down to Adelboden to celebrate my March, 2006, birthday with me. At dinner in the Adler Hotel he presented me with an unusual gift package. Three different kinds of smoked sausages---he knows I’m a Wurst freak.

We skied two days on the extensive terrain displayed in the interactive map above. Click on it to see the huge possibilities of the region. One of our days was foggy and I had trouble following in Peter’s tracks. But the other day was sunlit and Peter and I enjoyed skiing on wide snowfields overlooking the village of Lenk. Four inches of new snow on previously groomed slopes and nobody on the hill with us---ecstasy. For more information on this fine resort, click on the URL at the top of the page and be whisked to Adelboden’s website.

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