Hardy St. Moritz

Close to St. Moritz there are several delightful villages. All are less expensive. The village of Pontresina, four miles from St. Moritz, is a particularly good choice for serious skiers who do not care about a jumping night life since it is close to the Diavolezza glacier runs and the new Lagalb lift. The U.S. Olympic squad trained here last winter. All the other villages—Champf�r, Celerina, Samedan, Sils, Cresta, Silvaplana—are within six miles of St. Moritz proper, and they all have plenty of accommodations of the pension type. The Engadine villages are filled with medieval farmhouses, painted pastel colors, with charming architectural designs etched around doors and windows.

The specialties of the region—B�ndnerfleisch (dried beef), chapunets (spinach-bacon-and-cheese croquettes), maluns (fried potatoes)—are simple and savory. It is the kind of food that appeals to both hearty appetites and sophisticated palates. The place to try it in St. Moritz is the Chesa Veglia, a big, cheerful restaurant with deep window-sills full of geraniums blooming in the sun and a bowling alley and pizza bar, all built into a 16th century farmhouse. A three-course dinner with wine costs around $8. At the Tzigane restaurant, next to the tourist office, kids with tight budgets eat the Tzigane dollar special—it consists of beef covered with mustard, spices and oil and roasted over an open fire—and drink the local wine, Veltliner, at $1 the half bottle.

SKIING THERE
The good skiers quickly find their way to the new Piz Corvatsch and the Diavolezza and Lagalb trails. Corvatsch is a permanently snow-clad peak 11,263 feet high. There are as of last year two cable cars carrying 80 skiers in eight minutes to the midway stop at 8,865 feet, and then up to Corvatsch in five minutes more. Corvatsch provides an eight-mile run from the top down to St. Moritz-Bad on the lake, or five miles to the west, ending at Sils.

Diavolezza's glacier skiing is almost perfect—the pistes undulate down the beautiful mountain in pitches that range from intermediate to expert, and you always know where you are—you cannot get lost and there are no crevasses to worry about. The slopes face north and northeast.

Just down the road from Diavolezza is the precipitous Lagalb Mountain, opened last season with a 60-passenger cable car. It faces west, and the two mountains make a good team—when one ices up the other is likely to be still in the sun. The runs on Lagalb are steep enough for the most schuss-happy skier, yet wide enough for the intermediate to feel at home. An eight-day ski-lift ticket for the entire upper Engadine costs $30, a 15-day ticket, $45. Ski school is $14 per week. A very good investment, as anywhere in Europe, is a private guide. It will cost $12 per day in St. Moritz, and in such an enormous area it is more than worthwhile. Not only will your skiing improve, but he will take you where the skiing is best under any weather condition.