You must be having a laugh! Seriously, pull the other one. Welcome to my rant about prices in Swiss ski resorts in general and in Davos in particular.
And so, I find myself sitting outdoors in the cold, clutching a lukewarm drink and feeling angry. Absolutely fuming, to be precise. 25 francs for a bit of hot water, coffee powder, a drop of schnapps and whipped cream from a can. Plus a Coke Zero in self-service. Seriously?
Let me just tally that up:
Day pass 78.–
Liquour coffee & Cola Zero 25.–
Barley soup 15.–
Mixed salad 13.50
Non-alcoholic Weizen beer 8.–
Skiing a sport for the masses? Don’t make me laugh
From radio journalist to product tester and storyteller, jogger to gravel bike novice and fitness enthusiast with barbells and dumbbells. I'm excited to see where the journey'll take me next.
«That’ll be 25 francs,» says the young man behind the counter with a smile. I want to smile back at him but swallow hard instead. I pay the amount without tipping. Next, I carefully carry one PET bottle of Cola Zero and one cream-topped liquor coffee, which is at least served in a real glass, to the table. It’s a self-service restaurant. With these kinds of prices, I try hard not to spill a single drop. This requires quite some acrobatic skill when you’re wearing ski boots and walking over an iced-up, slippery wooden floor. I make it to my seat in one piece. Only a small bit of coffee was lost along the way.
It’s a gloomy Friday afternoon at the Weissfluhjoch in Davos’ Parsenn ski resort. Before my last ski run of the day, I treat myself to a hot alcoholic beverage at one of those open-air wood cabin bars. Don’t worry, I’ve been zipping up and down the slopes since half past nine in the morning without having a drop. Besides, my alcohol-laced coffee consists of mainly hot water, a sprinkling of instant coffee, half a thimble of plum spirit and a dew drop of canned whipped cream. The Coke Zero was for my mate Claudio.
Laughing all the way to the bank: prices in Switzerland’s ski resorts are scandalous.
It’s not just the price for alcoholic coffee that’s scandalous. At the mountain restaurant, a small bowl of barley soup costs a whopping 15 francs. The mixed salad served in a soup bowl the size I’d categorise as «extra small» is 13.50. And, priced at 8 francs, a half litre of non-alcoholic Weizen beer eats the next hole in my wallet. At least, unlike at the wooden cabin bar, this order is brought to our table by a member of the waiting staff. But still, are you having a laugh? Yeah, sure, it all needs to be lugged up the mountain first. I do too, by the way. The combined day pass sets me back 78 francs.
That’ll be 139.50, please. One hundred and thirty-nine fifty! That’s for one person for a single day of skiing. Travel not included. Wasn’t there that Swiss-German folk song that goes something like «Everyone’s on skis, skiing is what the whole nation does.» I don’t think so. At least not in Davos. And taking a look at prices in Engadin, Valais or the Bernese Oberland, we’ll only see a handful of filthy rich individuals zigzagging down the slopes covered in artificial snow.
