The ski season in the Berner Oberland runs from mid December through the end of March, and it's sometimes extended into April, at reduced rates, if the snow is good. The combined total of the three major ski areas comes to over two hundred kilometers worth of runs. The valleys of Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen lie in a great fork to the south of Interlaken, and around the two tines of this fork are three major ski areas. If you could stand in Interlaken and look south at them, you'd see Grindelwald-First on the left, Kleine Scheidegg-Männlichen in the middle and Mürren-Schilthorn on the right. (The multi-syllabic hyphenated names are specifically designed to confuse everybody who didn't grow up here.) Each area contains a little something for all ability brackets, but you can also justify reading them from left to right as beginner, intermediate and advanced.

If you're going to ski for only a day or two, Kleine Scheidegg is the best choice. For a few francs more per day, it's one and a half times the size of either of the other areas and has a versatile selection of runs on both the sunny and the shady side of the mountain. There's something for everybody at Kleine Scheidegg, but if the people you're with are all beginners or all expert skiers, one of the other two options may be more viable.

One or two day pass prices you'll find cheaper than in some other parts of the world:

1 Day 2 Day

First SFr 50.00 SFr 90.00

K.S.-M. SFr 52.00 SFr 95.00

Schilthorn SFr 50.00 SFr 90.00

The incentive is there to ski more than two days, however, because passes get progressively cheaper the longer you ski, and, for three days or longer, you can get a pass for all three areas, i.e. the whole Jungfrau region. If you're staying in Interlaken, a three-area pass will also allow you free train rides to the mountains, whereas a single area ticket will only give you half off. The passes can be bought at any Berner Oberland train station or cable car valley station.

Jungfrau Region ski pass prices are as follows:

3 Days SFr 136.00

7 Days SFr 254.00

14 Days SFr 400.00

30 Days SFr 484.00

Season SFr 750.00

If you have a pass that covers the whole region, it makes sense to stay in Interlaken. If you're staying at Balmer's, all sportshops in Grindelwald (and the Ski Service Grindelwald in Grund) offer between a 10% and 15% discount on rentals. For skis, boots and poles, this comes to approximately SFr 35.00 for one day, SFr 60.00 for two. Of course it becomes more and more economical, the longer you want to rent for. Once you get your skis in Grindelwald, you have easy acces to Grindelwald-First or Kleine Scheidegg-Männlichen from there.

Those hell-bent on the Schilthorn have two choices for renting in Mürren. Those would be Abegglen Sport on the Lower Road and Stäger Sport on the Upper Road. Stäger Sport matches the discount given to Balmer's guests by the Grindelwald sport shops. The catch is, what if you're not staying at Balmer's ? Stäger Sport offers rates standard for the whole area: SFr 43.00 for one day, SFr 75.00 for two. Abegglen's rates are simply cheaper to start with at SFr 39.00 for one day, SFr 67.00 for two.