I was a little surprised just how many early bird skiers there were at Madrisa during my visit. Normally at 8.15am I am all alone, but not here. Family groups and ski-touring parties in great number were in front of me. That rarely happens. However I still found myself alone on the outermost ski trails of this small, but large ski resort. Small but large you ask? Some of the statistics are small. The total piste length is only about 23km, plus a marked ski route. The numbers of ski lifts is just a gondola, a six-seater chair, a double chair and a few surface tows & novice conveyors, only one of which has any real relevance. Other statistics and potential are large. The off-piste & backcountry options are vast. The skiable vertical of 1,470m is huge. The longest ski run combination is a thigh liquifying 8km long. So, yeh. Small but large.
This mountain is good for all abilities & groups. The frontside is perfect for kids, novices & families and is littered with them! (In fact there is huge portion of the hill around the top of the gondola dedicated to them; hence the early crowd.) The long groomers are wonderful for intermediates, and the off-piste and some of the groomers will keep advanced skiers happy, at least for a while anyway. The pistes ski & feel longer than the totals would suggest.
Madrisa must have been a painful ski hill before 2016 when the 6-seater Schaffürggli chair finally replaced a couple of old T-bars. It does the lion’s share of the heavy lifting at the resort serving both the 500m vertical of the frontside groomers and the vast backside.
The Schafcalanda-Madrisa T-bar gets one to the highest lifted point in the ski area - 2,611m. From the top the options are a fast groomer that leads into the long trails toward the valley, inbounds off-piste on the opposite side of the lift to the groomer, the backside ski route (#12 - 4km long), or access to the vast backcountry, including routes into the next valley along and St Antonien or into Austria & Gargellen on the fabled Madrisa smugglers route. That’s definitely worth 5 paws
When powder is no longer an option (as it wasn’t when we visited) the combination of runs 8, 7 or 9, and 10 gives you a full 1,500m of vertical descent over a distance of 8km+. The last half of the run (the 4km #10 Schlappintobel) is rated black, but in reality, would be fine for most riders as long as it was not bulletproof ice. Once you get to know it the descent is a super-fast.
If you are not ready to descend all the way it is easy to avoid the valley trail and cut across to the Zügenhüttli double chair. It effectively drops you back into the main frontside bowl so you can start it all again. Looks it would have some good off-piste terrain on a powder day, but its vertical is less than 300m. The hut (Zügenhüttli) near the top of the chair serves a good coffee and has a fabulous deck on a warm clear day.
Berghaus Erika is delightfully situated amongst traditional buildings next to the valley trail (#10) and offers wide range of food for a fine mountain lunch. Try the signature Erika Rösti. A bit of skate will get you to the long downhill toward Klosters Dorf where you can indulge in a bevvie at the Kanonan Bar overlooking Klosters or wander down to the gondola station (150m from the end of the valley trail) and do it all again.
In a warm winter, the sunny south facing slopes below 1,700m were largely bereft of snow, but had they been covered, I may have been tempted to head back toward my hotel in Küblis via the long sledding trail that descends 1,000m vertical metres to the village of Saas. Another time perhaps.
Getting to the resort, I used the train to Klosters Dorf railway station which is closest to the Madrisa base. A short walk up the hill to the gondola and you are good to go. So good using public transport to go skiing.
As I was a last-minute booking and it was still Swiss school holidays, I stayed at the Hotel Terminus in the village of Küblis whilst skiing the region. Located literally on the train platform, I slept surprisingly well in roadside room. Meals & beverage were superb and one cannot argue that just stepping out onto the train platform to go skiing is anything but convenient. Most visitors to Madrisa will stay in Klosters where there a huge number of hotel, apartment & guesthouse options. There are a handful close to the Madrisa base in Klosters Dorf, like the Hotel Silvapina, but way mor diversity & high-end lodges are in the centre of Klosters clustered near the Klosters Platz railway station & Gotschna cable car.
Madrisa is full of surprises. It skis way bigger than it would first appear and is generally uncrowded. The off-piste & ski-touring opportunities here are phenomenal, and it is just a pleasant place to go skiing. Beyond the skiing, this region has it all when it comes to winter activities. Winter walking trails, massive sledding trails, unlimited backcountry terrain, incredibly long valley ski trails and all linked by a wonderful train and bus network.
See our thoughts on the resort’s pros & cons via the Madrisa overview page.