Zermatt: piste guide - Telegraph Once a month there are moonlight descents from Rothorn with the ski patrol, including a fondue at the restaurant at the top, for SF70.50. We have been impressed by service improvements over the years: polite and helpful lift staff; big boards at the bottom of each sector indicating which lifts and pistes are open in all sectors (though a 2012 visitor found that after a snowfall some runs were closed half-way down with no prior warning that he had seen); useful announcements in English on the train and some cable cars; and free tissues at most lift stations. Extent of the slopes Beautiful and varied Zermatt's slopes divide naturally into four main sectors. The resort likes to identify more sectors on its maps. But at least it has now given up branding most of them as various forms of "paradise," leaving only the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise. The Rothorn sector is reached by an underground funicular to Sunnegga starting by the river, not far from the centre of the village. The main nursery area is just below Sunnegga, reached by a miniature funicular. A hybrid chondola goes from Sunnegga to Blauherd, where a cable car goes up to Rothorn. The second main area, Gornergrat, is reached from Zermatt by cog railway trains that take 30 or 40 minutes to the top - arrive at the station early to get a seat (best on the right-hand side to enjoy the fabulous views). We love getting the 8am train with the lifties and restaurant staff. It arrives at the top just as they drop the rope to open the pistes, and you have the slopes to yourself for an hour or two. The Rothorn and Gornergrat sectors, separated by the Findel valley, are linked by pistes and itineraries descending to two lift stations. The Matterhorn Express gondola from the south end of the village goes first to Furi (where you can change to another gondola to go to Riffelberg, for Gornergrat) and on to the small but worthwhile Schwarzsee area. The same gondola goes on up to Trockener Steg, focal point of the third major sector, the super-high Matterhorn Glacier Paradise. This can also be reached by a jumbo cable car from Furi - quicker if you time it right, and less liable to closure by wind. Above Trockener Steg another cable car makes a spectacular ascent to Klein Matterhorn. When you arrive, you walk through a long tunnel, to emerge on top of the world for the highest piste in Europe; there's a self-service restaurant and you can stay up here too. This area links to Cervinia - you peal off left from the glacier at one of two points. There are pistes back to the village from all sectors - though some can be closed or tricky due to poor snow conditions. They can be hazardous at the end of the day, due to crowds and speeding skiers - note our remarks under "For intermediates." Fast lifts Now top notch All Zermatt's four sectors are well-connected by fast chairs, gondolas, big cable cars or mountain railways. There are of course slow lifts in places, but most can be avoided. A few reporters complain about the Gornergrat train being slow. Queues Main problems being solved Zermatt has improved its lift system hugely in recent years, eliminating major bottlenecks. Again, all this year's reporters are generally positive, but a couple of problems remain. The Klein Matterhorn cable car has queues much of the time (up to an hour mid-morning; quieter in the afternoon) - one regular reporter recommends jumping this queue occasionally by splashing out 200 francs a head for a 20-minute heli-lift to Plateau Rosa incorporating a close-up tour of the Matterhorn - "fantastic; one of the highlights of my life." The gondola to Trockener Steg is prone to closure in high winds, putting pressure on the alternative cable-car in these conditions. A real bottleneck is Gant in the Findel valley - notably the old, slow gondola to Blauherd. Half-hour waits are common here in high season. There are plans to construct a piste from Gant down the valley to the Findeln chairlift so that the gondola can be retired, but that is not due until 2014. The top section of piste from Hohtälli can get dangerously busy ("awful crowds on a narrow red that was bumped by mid-morning"). Terrain parks Things are getting better The reporter who last year described Gravity Park, next to the Furggsattel six-seat chair, as "pants" was delighted to find a huge improvement in 2012: "just brilliant, 100 times better than before, with lots of big jumps, little jumps, rails, half-pipe, big rollers - now just get some music and it will really rock." In the summer, the park moves up to Plateau Rosa where a six-man crew shape the 600m park daily. A nicely integrated 120m-long super-pipe sits next to an array of kickers, rails, a quarter-pipe, wall ride, mail box and tree jib. For experts Head off-piste There is some great off-piste when conditions are right but Zermatt doesn't get huge snowfall, so you can't always count on it, particularly early in the season. There are few challenging pistes. That's one of the consequences of designating their toughest regularly skied runs as itineraries (see under "The mountains"). The handful of black runs marked on the piste map are not worthy of their classification; the one with the steepest pitches (Blauherd-Patrullarve) is also very wide. For intermediates Mile after mile of beautiful runs Zermatt is ideal for adventurous intermediates. Many of the blue runs tend to be at the difficult end of their classification. Reds vary unhelpfully: some are quite tough; some ought to be blue. Few are really what you might call "cruising" runs. Among our favourites in the Gornergrat sector are the very beautiful reds down lift-free valleys from both Gornergrat (Kelle) and Hohtälli (White Hare) to Breitboden - we love these first thing in the morning, before anyone else is on them. The steepest part of Kelle is classified black, but an easier red variant bypasses it. From Breitboden you can go on down to Gant, or to the mid-station of the Findeln chairlift, or to Riffelalp on a run that includes a narrow wooded path with a sheer cliff and magnificent views to the right. On the Rothorn sector, the 5km Kumme/Tufternkumme run - from Rothorn itself to the bottom of the Patrullarve chair - also gets away from the lift system and has an interesting mix of straight-running and mogul pitches (but it gets a lot of sun and lacks snowmaking). In the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise sector the reds served by the fast quad chair from Furgg are gloriously set at the foot of the Matterhorn. The Furggsattel chair from Trockener Steg serves more pistes with stunning views, notably the Matterhorn piste - blue in gradient for most of its great length, but classified red because of a short, steep pitch near the end which causes problems for many skiers. For timid intermediates, the best runs are the blues from Blauherd on Rothorn, and above Riffelberg on Gornergrat, and in good weather the super-high runs between Klein Matterhorn and Trockener Steg. Of these, the Riffelberg area often has the best combination of good snow and easy cruising, and is understandably popular with the ski schools. In the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise sector most of the runs, though marked red on the piste map, are very flat and include the easiest slopes Zermatt has to offer, as well as the best snow. Even an early intermediate can make the trip to Cervinia, via Theodulpass rather than the more challenging run from Plateau Rosa. Beware the black run from Furgg to Furi at the end of the day. It is not steep, but gets chopped up, mogulled in places and very crowded. A much more relaxed alternative is the scenic Weisse Perle run from Schwarzsee (the Stafelalp variant is even more scenic but has a short uphill section). For beginners Still far from ideal These days the resort makes an effort to cater for beginners - there are beginner areas dotted around on all four sectors, and a main one has been developed (with three moving carpets and two rope tows) at Leisee and reached by a short funicular from Sunnegga. There is now a half-price pass to get you to and from that area, which is a step forward. But we have had reports from readers who judge this small area inadequate. And progression to longer runs is awkward - the Zermatt slopes as a whole are very challenging for near-beginners, which includes fast learners who are ready to quit the nursery slopes after a couple of days. Of course you can learn to ski here, but given a choice we would go elsewhere. Snowboarding Some good angles The slopes are best for experienced freeriders and there's a terrain park above Trockener Steg. There are adequate beginner areas, complete with moving carpet lifts, which we've seen many beginner snowboarders having lessons on. The main lifts are boarder-friendly: train, funicular, gondolas, cable cars and fast chairs, and there aren't too many flat bits. Stoked is a specialist school. For cross country Fairly limited There are 17km trails from Täsch to Randa (don't count on good snow).