South of Bern and south of Sion, the Arolla Ski Area has 10 pistes served by 5 lifts with a maximum vertical descent of 1,000m. There are challenging glacier and powder field routes.
The Arolla ski area is part of the greater Espace Dent Blanche ski region which also includes Evolene and La Forclaz. There are a total of 100km of pistes. These ski areas are interconnected by bus only.
To reach the snowboarding at Arolla, take the train from Geneva, Bern or Zurich to Sion. From Sion, there is a public post bus up to Arolla.
Note: If you plan to head to Arolla for snowboarding by train, here are two great options offered by the Swiss train system SBB. First, there is the discounted Swiss Transfer Ticket which provides a round-trip train ticket from an airport directly to the town near the ski area, plus 50% off any additional train or bus tickets. Second, there is the Snow-N-Rail ticket which provides a round-trip ticket from anywhere in Switzerland combines with a ski lift pass for as long as you need at a total 20% discount (see: http://www.sbb.ch/snownrail ).
Overall, Arolla is the 60th most popular snowboard & freeride destination of all 68 snowboarding resorts in Switzerland.
