Ski Week Recap
Last Saturday, we traveled with Alli's dad and his significant other by train to Zermatt, Switzerland. Alli's sister and her German boyfriend were also in attendance, although they arrived later as they were traveling by rail from Germany. Zermatt is home to the world famous Matterhorn peak, which stands alone at 4,478 meters (14,692 feet) above sea level. Even though it isn't the highest peak in Switzerland, it is certainly one of the most recognizable and heavily photographed (I think Alli's dad took no less than 75 pictures of the peak). Zermatt is a unique ski town that is only serviced by a train to outside visitors, which means you don't have to worry about cars and street noise (except for the electric carts that furry people back and forth from hotels and taxi stops to train stations and restaurants). We pretty much stuck to walking through the city as it is rather compact and the weather was pleasant.
We skied every day from Sunday through Friday, usually starting with breakfast at 7:30am sharp (because that's when it opened and we couldn't possibly wait any longer), followed by getting our ski gear on and out to the train by 8:45am. 
(The train was the easiest way to reach the slopes, not necessarily the quickest...one could take a tram that climbed through the mountains to reach the ski area in about 10 minutes, but that required a 15 minute walk, or you could take a taxi to one of the other gondolas or cable cars, but that would require spending more money...so we stuck to the train). Susie's boyfriend Felix was the leader of the group which enabled us to not worry about whether or not we were about to ski off a cliff or into terrain only suited for the chamois (really just a mountain goat, but nevertheless we managed to see a few dozen of these guys). By the end of the week, Felix decided he had enough of constantly stopping to wait for the group so he went off on his own to finish his week on a strong note.
I tried to keep up, but I failed to have my skis tuned before we came to Switzerland so I wasn't as fast as I could have been (although to be honest I probably would have ran into something if I went much faster as I was already feeling out of control at times). Alli and her sister were usually right behind Felix and myself, with their dad and Judi coming shortly thereafter. We tried to ski from the moment we arrived on the mountain (usually 9:30ish) until 1 pm or 2pm to take advantage of the better skiing conditions in the morning, as well as to avoid the lunch rush. 
If there is a negative of Zermatt it has to be the cost of things...where else can two people spend 43 CHF on lunch and only have 2 brats, some hash browns, and a large Coke (ok, besides Disneyworld)? After sitting for lunch (which lasted anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours depending on soreness and day of the week), we would all ski until 4pm before trying to find our way back to the hotel for a jacuzzi, nap, and then dinner. So really a full day filled with a lot of exercise and good food.
For those that ski, the slopes were very nice...Zermatt is mostly intermediate (red slopes in Europe, blue in the U.S.) although I would say they are a little more difficult than most of the blues I have been on in the States. The few black runs (most difficult) were challenging, but not so much so that you pictured yourself being airlifted to the nearest hospital with a broken leg. The majority of the resort is serviced by high speed chairlifts, gondolas, and cable cars, although there are a few pull ropes, t-bars, and plate lifts (the kind that goes between your legs). In full disclosure I managed to fall off the plate lift after riding it for about 10 minutes (and maybe 2 minutes from the top), which due to the grade of the mountain required me to ski back down to the bottom (after overcoming the constant jeers from my skiing party) and reattempt the endeavor. Zermatt also is interesting as you can ski from Switzerland into Italy and vice versa (which we did twice). 
The Italian side (called Cervinia) seemed less alpine (less trees, yodelers, and no Ricola) but provided some of our more memorable runs. One just needs to be wary of the time and weather as not to get stuck there should the lifts back to Switzerland close down before you have made it back (apparently this happened to quite a few people on New Years, requiring a 6 hour bus ride all the way around the mountains to get back to their respective Swiss resorts as there is no direct route).There was ample snow for great late winter skiing, although by most afternoons many of the lower altitudes were starting to resemble a Slurpee (which only increases the chances of crashing when your skis go under the "snow" and don't reappear). I will admit that is was nice to be warm enough to only require a single layer of thermal undergarments in addition to our snow gear (only the last day required face protection due to a cold front coming through the day before we left). I highly recommend skiing in Zermatt if you are thinking about going, it is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime trip (although you may want to start saving for it now as it is probably in the top 5 for most expensive places to ski in the world).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Post a Comment