I did a season there last winter and had an amazing time. There is some truly fantastic skiing. However it is one of the more expensive resorts in the alps.
Firstly Zermatt is in Switzerland on the Italian border, not France. Though the apres-ski scene is just as lively!
Skiing wise:
- There are three main lifts out of town to 3 different areas (you can ski between them very easily). As the vertical descent is so large the lifts up can take a while (think 30 mins +) to get to the top.
- Be prepared that there are a lot of cable cars and gondolas so you will be taking your skis off fairly often. You'll get used to it but it is slightly annoying at first.
- The off piste is fantastic. As long as you aren't off piste on the glacier or dropping into their zoned off nature reserves then you will be fine. All the lift accessible stuff for the most part is pretty safe. If you really want to go do the serious (glacial) off piste then get a guide and harnesses etc, though having said that you won't easily end up there by accident.
- The swiss have yellow 'itinerary' runs which are un-groomed blacks. These are just a single line of yellow poles showing a safe line down the mountain. If there is powder then they are stunning snow fields otherwise they get skiied out to monster moguls. Zermatt is renowned for its moguls, especially on the stockhorn and triftji runs. The tree line is pretty low in the alps generally but dropping into the trees can be great fun, though watch out you don't ski under the nature reserve boundary ropes (insta pass pull if caught)
-The park while I was there was alright, nothing special. A handful of big kickers and a few small boxes and rails. The main issue was that there was no button lift if you wanted to lap the park, instead you had to loop a long chair.
Bar wise:
-The two good clubs were Broken and Schneewitchen. Both of which had good bars above them, Brown Cow and Papperla Pub respectively. They are reasonably priced for Zermatt. Don't expect to find a beer for less than 6 francs...
-The restaurants are amazing both on the mountain and in resort, though they are not cheap. I don't know if you will be eating on the mountain much but there is a Michelin starred restaurant called Chez Vrony. Worth doing once (if within budget). Though on the other end of the scale there is a MacDonald's with an open fire!
Any more specific questions I am more than happy to help.
Dave
