Zinal

At the head of the valley

Zinal is a village at 1,675 m in the municipality of Anniviers, in the canton of Valais. It sits in the Val de Zinal, a valley that runs from the Zinal Glacier, north of the Dent Blanche, down to the village of Ayer, and is itself a branch of the Val d’Anniviers. The setting is the point. Around the valley stand five 4,000 m peaks: the Dent Blanche, the Bishorn, the Weisshorn, the Zinalrothorn and the Ober Gabelhorn. That skyline is why Zinal’s flag for scenic views in our data is, if anything, an understatement.

The skiing

Zinal belongs to the Val d’Anniviers ski area, and the figures in our data, 115 km of piste on 19 lifts, are for the valley as a whole. The base is the village’s own 1,675 m and the top station reaches 2,895 m, a vertical of 1,220 m. The top is high enough that altitude genuinely helps snow reliability, and the base is high too, so there is no low valley section to lose when the weather turns mild; the whole area sits above the height at which many Alpine resorts have their top lift.

Nineteen lifts for 115 km is roughly one lift for every 6 km of piste, a low density that points to long lifts and a spread-out area rather than a compact, tightly packed one. Our data flags Zinal for off-piste skiing and traditional character, and the two go together here: a high village at the head of a glacial valley, below 4,000 m peaks, with terrain that extends beyond the marked runs. There is no difficulty breakdown in our records. Zinal has not been flagged for modern lifts or après-ski, which fits a village whose appeal is what is above it rather than what is in it.

The valley

The Val de Zinal is the upper reach of the Val d’Anniviers, and Zinal is the last village before the glacier. Ayer, lower down, marks the other end of the Val de Zinal, and the name Anniviers covers both the wider valley and the municipality that Zinal now belongs to. For a skier the geography translates into a dead-end valley with a village at 1,675 m at its head, lifts climbing to nearly 2,900 m, and glaciated 4,000 m peaks closing the view in every direction but back down the valley.

Practicalities

Milan Malpensa is the nearest airport in our records, roughly 102 km away as the crow flies. The season runs December to April, and given the altitude, the April end of that range is well within reach. The resort’s official website is the place for current conditions.