Extreme Sledding in the Swiss Alps

To reach the top of the Waldspritz sledding run above the village of Grindelwald in the Swiss Alps, I hiked 90 minutes into the backcountry, dragging a small runnered sled by a rope to roughly 7,400 feet.

Above the tree line, the snow — a brilliant fondant whiting out granite ledges and filling meadows — lay deep on either side of a four-foot-wide sledding path groomed in perfect corduroy. When I reached frozen Lake Bachalp, I turned around, straddled the sled and dug my heels into the unyielding snowpack to keep myself from ripping down the mountain. I took a last look at the panorama of milky blue glaciers clinging to skyscraping peaks, then braced myself for the more than six-mile descent. Releasing my heels, I immediately rocketed toward a blind turn and rolled my ride into the depths off-piste to keep from sailing off the mountain.

Sledding — a recreation I had previously experienced as walking briefly uphill, sitting on a plastic saucer and letting gravity provide a laugh — never struck me as a skill. But sledding in Switzerland, where it is called sledging in English, is different. Here, locals heading to ski mountains tote lightweight, ash-framed mini-sleighs on trains alongside those with skis, snowboards and trekking poles. For visitors, ski shops rent sturdy touring versions to access ski areas that maintain networks of sledding-specific runs often classified for their difficulty, like downhill ski slopes.

While sledding is an old tradition here — exhibits in the Grindelwald history museum trace its development in the 19th century as both transportation and entertainment — the pandemic gave the activity new life.

“During the pandemic, everyone wanted to come to the mountains, but not everyone knows how to ski,” said Bruno Hauswirth, the director of Grindelwald Tourism. “So they tried sledging.”

Today, the activity attracts families, aging skiers and winter enthusiasts like me seeking variety during their ski holiday.

A sledding hub

I first encountered the joy of Swiss sledding many years ago on a ski trip to Les Diablerets in the western Vaud region on a tipsy descent from a mountainside chalet after a dinner of fondue and Swiss wine. Wearing a head lamp, I wiped out repeatedly, finding myself on my back surveying the stars on a run to the village.

Last February, I returned to Switzerland’s central Jungfrau region to visit Grindelwald, which claims the longest sledding run in the world, the more than nine-mile Big Pintenfritz,…