Andermatt’s pistes are to be merged with those of nearby Sedrun. Photograph: Hans Georg Eiben/Getty Images
Before and after the second world war, the White Hare Ski Club organised for hundreds of Britons to travel by train to a small village in the Ursern Valley, two hours south of Zurich, to learn to ski. Among them, in 1958, was my then 19-year-old mum.
Andermatt was great value. The club magazine for that year, which mum still has, carries an advert for the Hotel Badus (still going strong today) which offered full board from 16 Swiss francs a day, then just over £1.
The mountains around Andermatt were said by locals to be riddled with tunnels used to store the nation’s gold, although the only thing Mum brought home from Switzerland was Dad.
British visitors kept going until the 1980s, when ski resorts elsewhere added new lifts and small, cheap holiday apartments. Andermatt didn’t follow suit, and the Brits were replaced by adventurous Dutch and Scandinavian skiers, who still come for the knee-deep powder, free-riding and the legendary off-piste couloirs on the 2,961-metre Gemsstock mountain.
Until recently there had been little development of the village or local infrastructure, but a CHF1.8bn (£1.2bn) investment in the resort by Egyptian billionaire Samih Sawiris is under way. The SkiArena Andermatt-Sedrun project will see six new lifts linking Andermatt with the high plateau at Oberalp and the Sedrun ski area by the 2017/18 season, creating the largest ski area in central Switzerland.
The five-star Chedi Hotel, Andermatt
Last winter, the resort’s first luxury hotel opened in the oak and granite form of the Chedi. And as part of the lift project, six hotels, a pool, 490 apartments and 25 chalets will be built.
I prefer the old Andermatt. The Aurora hotel, across the road from the Gemsstock cable car, is warm and cosy. Its sauna and homely restaurant – full, on my trip, of rugged Swedes planning off-piste adventures – makes it a winner.
For me, a large part of Andermatt’s appeal is that to access some of the best runs you hop on a little red train. Some find this a pain but I think it gives the resort a unique identity, chugging steeply through three tunnels towards ski lifts at Nätschen (10 minutes) and on for a further five minutes, spraying snow, to Oberalp. In the opposite direction, you could alight along the valley at Realp, where the Swiss team trained for the Sochi Olympics, if cross-country skiing is your thing.
Skiers near the summit of the 2.961-metre Gemsstock mountain, which overlooks Andermatt. Photograph: Martin Ruetschi/Keystone/Corbis
Here the language changes from Swiss German to Romansh and ski tourers can hire a guide, put on their skins and head in glorious solitude towards the hamlet of Tschamut, while the rest, me included, can zig zag down red runs via Calmut, Val-Val, Cuolm Val, Milez and Mulinatsch to Sedrun, before taking the train back, which is included in the local lift pass.
To prepare my ski legs I took the open, red Sonnenpiste run to the mid station at Gurschen, politely turning down the Swedes’ invitation to join them on the challenging Guspis off-piste route towards the neighbouring village of Hospental, for lunch in the Gasthaus St Gotthard. In all, Andermatt is better for intermediates and off-pisters than beginners, but the new lifts will really open things up.
A cable car takes visitors up Gemsstock. Much of the area’s ski infrastructure is set to be upgraded as part of the SkiArena Andermatt-Sedrun project. Photograph: Alamy
There’s little in the way of après ski, but I joined the Swedes for a drink in the fun Spycher bar, and you can enjoy traditional Swiss dishes such as Älpermagronen
(a belt-busting mix of pasta, potatoes, cheese, cream, butter and onions) at the Drei Könige, Toutoune or Sonne – a local told me its menu hadn’t changed in 20 years.
For the time being, Andermatt remains somewhat hushed and staid. It’s more functional than chocolate-box pretty – although a good dump of snow does wonders on that front, and along Gotthardstrasse there are some handsome buildings including the traditional Sonne Hotel and the old coaching inn, the Drei Könige und Post. Those in the know accept Andermatt for what it is – a base for awesome skiing. But those hardy off-pisters will soon find themselves sharing it.
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