From the top of the Vorab Glacier, 3018m up in Switzerland’s Flims/Laxx ski resort, life presents you with two choices. You can turn right and drop into the steep glacier, covering 2km in what seems like two minutes, thereby redefining the term “glacial pace”. Or you can turn left and plunge down a cavernous black diamond valley, riding 1000 vertical metres of endless crests and dips, before boarding a Porsche chairlift with heated seats that whisks you back up the mountain at 6m a second to do it again. So which way will you choose? For us “Buzzers”, the choice is easy: we do both.
Ski Buzz is an annual European ski safari led by Y Travel’s Yvonne Verstandig and her brother Danny Burger, Melbourne-based ski bums who grew up riding the slopes at Mt Buller, before careers and families curtailed the good life somewhat. Verstandig says it was conceived partly to rekindle those carefree skiing days of their youth. “It’s our passion project,” she says, “but it’s also to share our love of skiing with others.”
Next year marks the first Ski Buzz since the pandemic, and heads to Italy’s Dolomites and Austria’s Ski Arlberg. Luxury lodgings are non-negotiable, with hotels as forensically selected as the resorts. “Skiing is the main game,” says Verstandig. “But these trips are as much about the fun and the banter, sharing stories over a beer, wine or gluhwein.”
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