Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Skiing in Switzerland and Italy

Well Brig is quite close to Zermatt and Saas Fee of course, and is a good base for other areas to the west and north . Zermatt and Saas Fee are both excellent for skiing. From Brig, both would very easy to do as day trips by public transport, which would save on lodging costs. Zermatt is 1.5 hours by train, Saas Fee is about an hour by bus. Go to rail.ch for schedules. There are ski areas at Saas Grund as well which is at the bottom of the valley, also about an hour from Brig. I don't think there is a great deal of price difference among lift tickets in any of these areas. Try taking a look at http://www.saas-fee.ch/en and http://bergbahnen.zermatt.ch/e/ for general info and info on lift tickets. Google Saas Grund and you should find info on that as well, there may be a link on the Saas Fee site.

You could get to Crans Montana in about an hour, another excellent place, and there are other smaller places in that area that are supposed to be good as well. Verbier, which is fantastic for intermediates, would be just a bit further, should also be doable as a day trip. Gstaad would be 2.5 hours, a bit far for a day trip, and a bit expensive for accommodation. I am sure there are more local places that you will get to know as well. I am sure you will get reccos from other students once you get there

Buy a half fare card as soon as you arrive in Switzerland. This will give you half price off all public transport in Switzerland (trains, buses, trams, ferries) and discounts on some mountain railways and cable cars (which you will use for skiing); this is invaluable for using public transportation in Switzerland.

Another thing you can do once you get to know people is to rent a car as a group, which would save a bit on time with trains and means you could go further on day trips and not be so tied to a train schedule or have to change trains with equipment, a little bit of a pain I will admit. You can join a car club called Mobility Car Sharing (esp if there are Swiss in your group who may already be members) and rent a van, this would really save on costs. There is a joining fee, so this only makes sense if you are going to do it a few times and of course is great if you can find a Swiss friend who already belongs. Take a look at http://www.mobility.ch/index.cfm?dom=6 (a lot of this is only in German, but will give you an idea.)

If you really get a like an area like Zermatt, you can store skis there at the train station and just go up for the day with day packs. The Swiss are extremely efficient people.

Yes, you could also ski in France and Italy, which may be a bit cheaper, hard to say with the strong Euro at this point as I assume you are Dollar-based and if you have to pay for accommodation to go outside Switzerland you may find it cheaper to do day trips to places in Switzerland from Brig. There is so much good skiing in Switzerland and frankly you are in the heart of a large chunk of it. That being said, many Swiss go to Austria to ski which they find cheaper than Switzerland. I have only skied St Anton, which I enjoyed a lot.
Some websites to try:

St Anton, Vienna area http://www.ski-arlberg.com/english

Cortina, Italy http://www.cortina.dolomiti.com/home.html

Mt Blanc/Chaminoix http://www.ski-mont-blanc.com

Definitiely bring your own gear. Renting is not really expensive in Switzlernad, but everyig elkse is, so why pay for soemthing you don't need. Buying ski gear is expensive.

If you don't already have it, but a coyp of Living and Working in Switzerland by David Hampshire and Jim Watson. A lot won't apply to you as you are there for a short time, but you may find it useful. If someone is looking for a going away gift for you, this makes a good one...

If you haven't guessed already, I used to live in Swizterland. A great expereince, I justed moved from there in July after 4 years.