Vacation news-skiing!

My purpose for this vacation was a skiing get-away. I was really excited to get the chance to ski the Alps, and not sure that I quite understood how unique a chance this was until I got on the mountains. The scenery and conditions were unbelievable, and any pictures that I show do not do Grindelwald justice. I'll mention a few of the highlights.

I took my time Tuesday to scout the area, learn how the transportation system works, and get acclimated to the cold weather by staying outside for most of the day. By Wednesday I was ready to go. I heard on the news the weather was going to be pretty bad Wednesday, so I didn't rush to get up the mountain. I was finally on the slopes around 10 I think, and found my way up to a top at 11. There I found that I couldn't see at all! I had no idea where I was going. I couldn't even see the quad lift that I had just gotten off of, which was probably 30 feet above my head. Unlike mountains in NC which have some visible vegetation on the edge of the ski slope, these mountains were covered with the same layer of snow-so you couldn't tell the difference between the path and what wasn't the path. But I braved myself and began. As I started down the slope, I said, ok, I just have to stay between the markers. Then I realized my dilemma: I can't see the markers! The only thing left for me to do was to ski toward the right until I saw the right marker, then steer left looking for the one on the left, and do that as I traversed down the mountain. I got off the trail once not realizing the path turned. And then I caught up with a group of beginners, and we helped each other down the mountain. I braved the trip a second time before going home feeling somewhat defeated by the thick snowcloud from the day. It certainly isn't fun skiing in a cloud when you can't see 50 feet in front of you.

The next day was a bit better day. It was still snowing, but visibility was maybe 300 feet. I could see 3-4 markers ahead of me, but I still had to stop oftentimes to judge what I had to do next, where turns were in the path, and how steep the hill was. I battled this problem by staying on the same 2 paths all day, basically memorizing the turns and traverses until I was comfortable skiing them.

Friday was a perfect day for skiing. You could see the horizon, so seeing was not a problem. And I tore it up this day! I had such a good time. I had my ski legs, I knew some trails and had an idea where some were higher up the mountain. And I used that to tie trails together. After doing that, I started making my own trails down the mountain, connecting trails, skiing in fresh snow and just skiing the entire mountain. It was a great day for skiing. The only complaint I had from the day was the grooming. For some strange reason they wanted to groom fresh powder. The grooming leaves a light layer of water on the top of the snow, which turns to ice. Ice is never fun to ski on, and the more it is skied on the thicker it gets. At the base of the mountain and at a sharp turn in 2 trails it was especially rough. It was a good time for skiing, though, and I got my fill. I was exhausted Friday evening. But I was so glad that I got to ski.