Laax off-piste skiing & snowboarding

Graubünden, Switzerland · 1000m to 3018m · 3 documented zones

Finding powder at Laax

Laax has been a snowboarding stronghold for decades and its off-piste reflects that: around 25km of marked ski routes to find soft snow with some margin for error, plus serious glacier terrain above. The resort runs its own Freeride Center for guiding and avalanche courses, which is the sensible way into the bigger lines.

Lift-accessed zones — no walking

Ride up, drop in. These 3 zones need no hiking, which also means they are the first to get tracked out after a storm.

Vorab glacier

Vorab sector

Backcountry - no patrolExpertGuide recommended

Wide open powder fields and couloirs from the 3,020m summit when conditions allow. The most serious terrain in the area and what draws committed freeriders here.

Outside the ski area boundary. No avalanche control, no patrol and no rescue service. Full avalanche equipment, training and a partner are the minimum, and a guide is strongly advised.

Lift access
Vorab glacier lifts
Walk in
No hiking — Lift-accessed to the glacier summit.
Getting back
Descends back into the Laax lift network.
Known hazards
  • Glaciated terrain
  • Couloirs requiring committed technique

La Siala bowl

La Siala sector

Backcountry - no patrolAdvanced

The bowl below the 2,810m summit is the established starting point here: an obvious freeride line most confident intermediates can take on, with the whole descent visible from the chair on the way up.

Outside the ski area boundary. No avalanche control, no patrol and no rescue service. Full avalanche equipment, training and a partner are the minimum, and a guide is strongly advised.

Lift access
La Siala chairlift
Walk in
No hiking — Lift-accessed from the La Siala chair.
Getting back
Feeds back into the Laax piste network.
Known hazards
  • Open avalanche terrain
  • Sustained pitch lower down

Cassons to Segnes

Cassons sector

Backcountry - no patrolExpertGuide recommended

Two freeride descents of 2.8km and 2.2km running from Cassons down to Segnes, weaving through open alpine bowls and natural features above the Segnesboden plateau.

Outside the ski area boundary. No avalanche control, no patrol and no rescue service. Full avalanche equipment, training and a partner are the minimum, and a guide is strongly advised.

Lift access
Cassons lift
Walk in
No hiking — Lift-accessed from Cassons.
Getting back
Runs out onto the Segnesboden plateau.
Known hazards
  • Steep committing alpine terrain
  • No grooming or control on the descents

The avalanche danger scale

Every European bulletin uses this five-level scale. The column that matters most is the last one: around half of all avalanche deaths happen at level 3, not at the extremes, because that is when the snow still looks worth riding.

1. Low

about 5% of fatalities

Generally stable snowpack. Triggering is only possible with high additional loads, and only in extreme terrain. Natural avalanches are small at most.

The most favourable conditions of the season. Terrain choice still matters in isolated extreme spots.

Forecast on about 20% of the season

2. Moderate

about 30% of fatalities

The snowpack is only moderately well bonded on some steep slopes. Triggering is mainly possible with high additional loads. Very large natural avalanches are unlikely.

Conditions look benign and catch people out. Roughly a third of fatalities happen at this level.

Forecast on about 50% of the season

3. Considerable

about 50% of fatalities

The snowpack is moderately to poorly bonded on many steep slopes. Triggering is possible even from a single skier or snowboarder. Large avalanches are possible.

The most dangerous level in practice. It carries about half of all avalanche deaths, because the riding still looks good and the snowpack no longer needs much provocation.

Forecast on about 30% of the season

4. High

about 10% of fatalities

The snowpack is poorly bonded on most steep slopes. Triggering is likely even from a single skier or snowboarder, and numerous large natural avalanches are expected.

Off-piste travel should be limited to low-angle terrain well away from anything steep above you.

Forecast on only a few days a year

5. Very High

rare enough that no share is published

An extraordinarily unstable snowpack. Numerous very large and often extremely large natural avalanches are expected, even on moderately steep terrain.

Do not go off-piste. Roads and parts of the resort itself may be closed.

Forecast on very rarely forecast

Scale and statistics from European Avalanche Warning Services - Avalanche Danger Scale.

What you need to carry

Transceiver

Worn on your body, not in your pack, and switched to transmit before you leave the lift. Every member of the group needs one; a single person without makes the whole group less safe.

Probe

Pinpoints the burial once the transceiver has brought you close, so you dig in the right place first time rather than in a hole beside them.

Shovel

A real collapsible avalanche shovel. Digging is the slowest part of a rescue, and it is what actually gets your partner out.

Airbag pack (optional)

Helps keep you nearer the surface in a moving slide. It supplements the three items above and never replaces them.

How to ride it

Read the bulletin before you go, every day

The danger level, the problem type and the aspects and altitudes it applies to matter more than anything on this page. Conditions change overnight.

Practise with your kit until the search is instinctive

Owning a transceiver is not the same as being able to use one under pressure. Run search drills at the start of every season.

Never ride off-piste alone

Companion rescue is the only rescue fast enough to matter. Burial survival drops sharply after about fifteen minutes.

Ride steep slopes one at a time

Exposing one person at a time keeps the rest of the group free to dig, and reduces the load on the slope.

Hire a guide for terrain you do not know

Local guides know which aspects have loaded, which lines cliff out and where this season's weak layer sits. Every resort guide on this page says the same thing.

Plan the exit before you drop in

Several classic routes finish in a different valley or a long way from a lift. Know how you are getting home, and what time the last lift and last bus run.

Keep planning

Laax snow report & forecastSnow history & depthMore resorts in Switzerland