A Well Kept Man

Alli and I spent another ski weekend in Breckenridge. On Saturday, we skied with a coworker of Alli's whose wife was out of town, so he and I skied all of the tough runs and Alli tried to keep up (rather successfully I might add). Prior to this previous Saturday, I never ventured on a double-black diamond run...

After some careful thought and consideration, it appears that I need to get back on the blogging wagon. I suppose now that things are quite settled in Colorado, I really have no excuse. I imagine the blogging experiences won't come nearly as frequently as they did in Switzerland, but I shall try my best to bring you some of the more enjoyable ones.

We have managed to ski a few times so far this winter, a week (almost) in Breckenridge, a day at Keystone, and a long weekend in Vail. As it has been snowing more and more lately, hopefully the days will rack up a little quicker...although with a minimum of two hours to the mountains (instead of one to the Alps) it makes it a bit more complicated when you have a dog at home waiting impatiently for your return. The ski resorts in Colorado are very different from Switzerland, both topographically and vegetatively (I think I made up those words)....

In Switzerland, most of the skiing is above the tree line (where the trees can't grow), whereas here in Colorado, there are lots of Aspens and pines. Also, the Swiss runs were much wider and more meticulously groomed, whereas the Colorado runs can become a bit precarious in the afternoon after the skiers have pushed the snow around making unfriendly bumps. Either way I'm spoiled as I get to play on the weekends in the great outdoors. I also seem to wipeout more often here in the States, but that might be due to an increased risk tolerance...as in if I get hurt I don't need to worry that the medics won't speak English and I'll be subject odd-ball European medical procedures involving leeches and moldy cheese.

The highlight of our week of ski hands down was the Snow-Balancer adventure on the second-to-last night we were in Zermatt. Our group spent the better part of many months our time leading up to this trip trying to determine what exactly the Snow-Balancer would be...most of us figured it would be some sort of toboggan or 3-legged device, but everyone pretty much concluded that it would resemble a sled more than anything. So when the big day arrived we were greeted at the hotel by the hotel's owner who would be taking us on our adventure (along with her husband) and our Snow-Balancers. We were all a bit surprised to find out that the Snow-Balancer is basically a seat attached to a ski with a shock absorber mounted between the ski and the seat (and by seat I mean a piece of durable plastic with two holes strategically placed to hold your bum still while you rocketed down the mountain).

We also didn't realize that we would be taking the actual ski runs down to the base of the mountain (we all figured it was just going to be a few runs on a bunny hill or something). Wrong!! Our adventure began at 2939 m (9642 ft...almost 2 miles) and finished at 1620 m (5314...just over one mile), meaning we rode this thing vertically for eight-tenths of a mile (the actual length of the course is still being calculated by my independent auditing firm). The basic principle is to sit on the balancer, balance on the ski, and hold on tight as you attempt to turn your torso enough to carve gentle S-curves while hurling down the mountain. The more you leaned back the easier it was to control, but this lifted your feet further off the ground which may present a problem if you needed to quickly stop as your feet were the only brakes.

For a somewhat poor comparison, imagine being on inline skates going down a big hill and you suddenly find yourself in grass...if this has ever occurred to you than you know that if you fail to start running (in spite of the wheels on your feet) you will fall flat on your face as the grass prevents your wheels from doing their job. This principle is very similar with the balancer as the second your feet hit the ground you either need to stand up and start running, or be prepared for white-out conditions in your face as you have just turned into a snow plow without windshield wipers. I think I managed a few times to either impersonate Superman or a snowball sliding not-so-gracefully down a steep hill. Alli had no problems but somehow she wound up with lots of bruising on her legs (definitely not from falling on top of the snow-balancer).

In spite of the apparent danger of this activity (we even signed a waiver in German, I am sure that regardless of what happened we still had some legal recourse...Ich spreche kein Deutsch) we had a great time. I for one couldn't stop giggling every time I launched off a mogul and managed to stick the landing like Mary Lou Retton (although the German judges didn't give me a good score). In spite of my being unable to sit normally for the next few days, I would do it again if I had the chance. The only negative was as the event progressed I noticed a damp chill on my posterior that I soon discovered was caused by me leaving my back pockets on my snow pants open, allowing all of the snow encountered on my various slides down the mountain to enter my pants where it immediately melted. Hence, we have this picture from our dinner (which we consumed at the midpoint of our journey...cheese fondue and air-dried meats, delicious!!) of me trying to dry out my assets. As far as I could tell, everyone had a great time and found it much easier to balance on the contraption after their tummies were filled with cheese and wine (not to mention the fact that it was pitch black and we had lights attached to our heads so we could see our way down in the dark).

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).

We are spending the week in Zermatt skiing around the Matterhorn with Alli's family so there won't be any new posts until next week.  If you need to get in contact with us, we will be staying at the Hotel Simi.  Hopefully the snow will be epic, the fondue melty, and the jacuzzi bubbly...

Last Saturday was the changeover of the Geneva canton schoolkids winter ski break to the Vaud canton schoolkids winter break (for those that are wondering: A. Cantons are like States in America, think of Geneva as Wisconsin and Vaud as Colorado if it helps, B. Instead of a Spring Break like the kids get in America where parents reluctantly drag their children to sunny beaches, the Swiss spend a week skiing in the Alps, C. Not really instead of Spring Break, but more like in addition to Spring Break as they still get a week off around Easter, D. FYI - School lets out the last week of June/first week of July).  As a result, the slopes this time of year are absolutely packed with an entire state's worth of people...so if you wish to go skiing in February, your only shot is to go on a changeover day (which is always Saturday).

For the last few weekends, we skied on Saturday and frolicked around Switzerland on Sunday. This proved to be quite successful and fun as we visited many new and exciting places. This weekend we opted for something completely different and utterly chaotic...we frolicked around Switzerland on Saturday and skied on Sunday! I know, we could barely sleep with all the excitement this change of schedule caused. The real reason for this switch was the ludicrous amount of snow pelting the Alps this past weekend. Between Thursday and Saturday night the Alps received anywhere from 20 cm of snow (2.54 cm in every inch...plus, act now and we'll also convert your old miles into kilometers for no extra cost to you! That's a $39.99 value, free!) up to 50 cm of snow in areas traversed only by mountain goats and the Swiss militia.

The weather station warned of severe, unbridled, uncontainable avalanche danger in many areas so we felt it was best to stay away from flowing fields of snow on Saturday, and wait until the danger passed for skiing on Sunday. We were treated to lovely vistas and a bright sunshine on Sunday in the ski area of Villars (this is now our second trip to this resort). Apparently all of Switzerland decided to follow our lead and skied this day as well as the slopes were packed with skiers, snowboarders, and tobogganists. We found some new trails that we did not ski the first time, which induced happiness and joy in our minds...until the trail ended in the middle of town, requiring us to take off our skis and walk the 1/2 mile back to the ski resort while avoiding the townsfolk's icy glares.

We only skied for about 3.5 hours, but that is because we spent another half hour walking through town, as well as to and from our car as we couldn't even park anywhere near the resort due to the massive amounts of skiers. It was a warm day with highs in the upper 30's on the mountain (highs in town were in the mid 40's), not bad for late January (meanwhile I am grinning with the realization that I don't live in Minnesota and thus, I am not freezing cold all the time)! We didn't bring our camera, so the only pictures I have are from my cell phone; thus, I apologize for the quality. Who knows what next weekend will bring as Alli is off to the U.S. for work on Sunday, or Monday (I should probably write these things down). Hopefully, this snow will stick around for a while and we can check out some skiing in France (provided I am still allowed to cross the border).

Another weekend, another opportunity to hit the slopes. This past Saturday we drove up to Gstaad (it's pronounced like Tony the Tiger says Great, instead of ending with "rate" end it with "staaaaaaaaad" like you do when the doctor asks you to open you mouth so he can have a look at your uvula), which is a ski-town about one and a half hours from our place. Gstaad is one of the bigger ski resorts we have been to so far, which enabled us to ski for quite a long time. We managed to ski for five hours (we did take a short break for lunch) and saw some beautiful alpine scenery. The nicest feature of Gstaad (at least in our minds) was the way it was designed. Most resorts you have to take multiple lifts to get to the peaks, and then you can only ski partway down. In Gstaad, you get to ride all the way up, and then all the way back down. This meant some killer thigh burning, but it was definitely worth it.

I would also rate most of their easy slopes as medium difficulty (at least compared to U.S. standards). We tried to go down a medium (or red) slope, which proved to be the downfall of Alli (literally). Neither of us are particularly fond of moguls, and yet this red run happened to be littered with them. I went down first and managed to make it past the worst of it unscathed (unless you count my new found ability to do the splits...), Alli on the other hand managed to wipe out pretty seriously. She knocked her ski goggles off, as well as one of her contact lenses when her ski pole crashed into her face as she fell to the ground. Thankfully she was ok as I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to climb all the way back up to where she was due to the incline. A helpful German asked Alli if she needed assistance (in German, of course), and she managed to shoo him away with her years of German training (she actually doesn't really know any German other than yes, no, please and thank you. So I think she basically told him "Nein, danke" or "no thank you"). Bruised but not broken (she also managed to find her contact and put it back in...), we continued on through what became "out of bounds" skiing to get back to the easier sections. You can tell when you are not where you should be when the cows start looking at you funny and you are actually skiing in someones back yard.

Karma would choose to manifest itself when I bit it not once, but twice in areas of the mountain where not even a three year old learning to ski should fall (although in my defense the second time I never stopped rolling and after skidding for fifty feet, I got back up and pretended nothing happened, except Alli witnessed it). We had a wonderful day, and can't wait until our next ski adventure. Hopefully the Alps will get some new snow this week as most of the resorts are starting to get a bit icy and crunchy, which makes for less than enjoyable conditions.

Alli and I made our second ski trip last weekend to Villars-Gryon, an area about an hour from our apartment. The weather below 1000 meters was dull and gray, but as soon as we crossed through the clouds (which I never seem to tire of) we were treated to clear skies and an inviting sun. After parking at the base we trekked up to the gondola (about 400 m or so) in our ski gear, boots and all, to buy our day passes. The nice thing about skiing in Switzerland is the prices tend to be fairly reasonable (relatively speaking) because you have so many options of competing mountains. A day of skiing for the two of us is under $100 USD, which you would be hard-pressed to match at a comparable resort in the United States (I'm thinking in the Rockies, Lake Tahoe area, and Utah). Also, our pass allowed us access to the adjoining resort of Les Diablerets, which took about 20 minutes of skiing and chairlifts to reach.

We had a wonderful day of skiing with our highest peak topping at 2120m (6955 ft, or 1.3 miles high). Some of the runs were extremely long, which induced some lovely burning sensations in the thigh and calf areas. No mishaps were reported aside from the one time I looked back to see if Alli had wiped out, causing me to wipe out (very briefly, nobody saw it happen, so it really didn't happen...). We definitely needed the off day that followed as our legs weren't in any shape to walk, let alone ski. We hope to make a few more runs in the mountains before our big ski week in Zermatt towards the middle of March, which if nothing else will give me more opportunity to wipeout and build up some padding in the form of contusions.

One thing that amuses me about skiing here is the contradictory technology usage. On the one hand, our lift tickets are snazzy RFID cards that you just put in a pocket and wave near a sensor to let you on a lift. On the other hand, a majority of the lifts are the old fashioned kind where you hang on to an overhead cable as it pulls you up the mountain (Picture a pick-ax attached to a rope that on the rope end connects to an overhead cable system that pulls you up the mountain, and the pick-ax end goes between and behind your legs to reduce the amount of holding on you have to do...There's also a variant of the pick-ax where it is replaced by the equivalent of salad plate. Would it hurt them to at least make it dinner plate size?). I find this odd as the Swiss have some of the best ski chair technology in the world (as evidenced by ski adventures in Utah, Montana, Colorado, etc.) but they don't seem to use it much in their own backyard. It kind of makes you wonder...

Today was the day to shake the rust off, or in my case, knock it off with a hard fall....repeatedly.

We decided to go skiing this afternoon down in Verbier, one of the better ski resorts in Switzerland. After making the drive down (about an hour and a quarter), we got in line to buy our lift tickets. In Europe, you don't get the sticker passes that you hook to the outside of your ski coat, instead you get an RFID card about the size of a credit card. You load your lift ticket onto the card and at each lift/gondola/funicular you just swipe your pass and you're good to go.

The views were spectacular, even when all I could see was a spray of snow (that I was enveloped in). The temperature was a steamy 0 C (32 F), but it felt like it was about 10 C (50 F) in the sun. Apparently every one else in Switzerland had the same idea as it was super busy, but it was still fun. The resort itself starts out at around 1500 meters (just shy of a mile above sea level), and climbs to a bit over 3300 meters (just over two miles). As you can tell from my sweet camera phone pictures, there was ample snow where we skied (although most of it was man made...but hey, it's mid November and I'm skiing, so I won't complain).

We skied for about three and a half hours (with Alli's coworker Jen, who lives in Verbier) stopped for lunch somewhere in the middle, and then had a quick cup of tea at Jen's chalet before heading back home to rest our sore muscles (I am told the pain will subside soon...ibuprofen is my friend!)! Anyway, we hope that you all come play with us on the slopes if you get a chance; we are spoiled and would love to share this scenery with the rest of you.

My only disclaimer is that despite the appearance of an orderly Europe (one where all rules are aboded by, and never a cross glance or word is directed at a passerby), all bets are off once in the lift lines. You'd think there was a contest to see how fast you could get back on the chair-lift or something...I had fifty year old women pushing me out of the way, kids and adults alike stomping on my skis just to get ahead in line. Europeans amuse me in that they are very attentive to all rules of acceptable social behavior, but when it comes to ski lift lines and escalators they have no concept of personal space. If nothing else it is endearing, and shows that we are all human. (Oh yeah, and there aren't any trees this high up...Alli has the sunburn to prove it!)