Today marks day 10 of my visit to Switzerland, with two
weeks remaining. I’m here for just under a month to visit friends and see
Dondi. As many of you I’m sure know, I was supposed to be here this winter
working as a ski instructor but was denied a work visa at the last minute.
So far Dondi and I have been great about maximizing our
weekends…I think that’s what happens when one joins the 9-5 work world. (I
brought some of my work with me, but can’t really call it 9-5 work because I am
spoiled to have my own schedule. So I’m referring to Dondi here).
Two weekends ago, we spent Friday night in Bern, then headed
to Lauenen, Dondi’s hometown just outside of Gstaad, on Saturday. It was only
my second day in Switzerland since traveling, so I was still a little out of it
(especially because the snowy drive from Hanover to Logan Airport was some of
the worst I’ve experienced, and put me in an exhausting “fight or flight”
mindset for hours). Needless to say, I was pretty stoked to arrive in Lauenen
and strap on a pair of xc skis. Over the summer, Dondi and his family had told
me about the groomed tracks in town, but with the mountains a lush green
backdrop at the time, their transformation to Nordic trails was only in my
imagination.
But here I was! I was about to experience Switzerland in
winter! It still didn’t really seem real—returning to this place that was so
magical for me 6 months ago.
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| First ski in Lauenen |
The next day I took part in more—guess what—cross-country
skiing. This time we drove to Schönried, a village a few towns over, on the
other side of Gstaad. Dondi went snowboarding while I went for a long classic
ski on the network of trails across the street.
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| In Schönried: second ski |
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| Schönried |
That afternoon I did more—guess what—cross-country skiing.
Dondi asked for a skate ski lesson, so of course I obliged. It ended up not
being much of a lesson though because he was kind of a natural…I guess that’s
what happens when you grow up on skis surrounded by big mountains.
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| Ski lesson in Lauenen |
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| Happy skiers :) |
This past weekend entailed a bit less of…cross-country
skiing and a bit more of…alpine skiing. I know, shocker.
Things started out on a rough note as I finally fully
experienced the drive from Bern to Lauenen in full swing by getting really car
sick and, ya know…I think there must be something like 200 curves along the
1h20min drive…too many.
So that tainted things for a bit, but before I knew it, I
was back on the xc track in Lauenen, loving the motion of skate skiing as much
as ever. This ski really pointed out to me how much I do love this sport (or
how much my body loves it sometimes)…going from car sick to skating round and
round and round, whizzing by in an energetic V2.
Here I must interject that part of this love comes from the
fact that it has been SO FREAKING EXCITING watching the Olympics! I don’t know
much about TV hacking or ways to watch entire races in the U.S., so I must say
it has been a complete luxury to be in Switzerland for the second half of the
Games. First off, there are five Swiss channels that broadcast the Olympics at
all times (okay when there are events taking place)—some German-Swiss channels,
some French-Swiss, and one Italian-Swiss. You can choose which sport you would
like to watch, and then you just go to the channel that is showing that sport.
And there are hardly any commercials. Seriously, it seems too good to be true.
Also, they have been really good about showing a variety of
athletes from different countries. Sure Dario Calogna gets a lot of air time,
but that didn’t stop me from seeing Erik Bjornsen crush the men’s relay, Noah
Hoffman in the front of the lead pack for a huge portion of the men’s 50k race,
and Sophie Caldwell show something to I *think* Alpine champ Nolan Kasper (both
affiliated with Dartmouth) at the closing ceremonies. Sooo coool!
Okay so back to the weekend, where I was not an Olympic
champ but continued to feel a high from living vicariously through my 10 or so
Olympian friends and acquaintances.
Sunday: Dondi and I went Alpine skiing at the Eggli mountain
in Saanen, a village of Gstaad. So I can now say I’ve been skiing where Madonna
has. Woah.
We were hoping to do some alpine touring (skin/hike up a
mountain, ski down) off-piste, but I couldn’t find enough equipment to borrow.
Dondi is normally an off-piste snowboarder, but decided to use his telemark
skis so he could at least be on skis and give me some pointers. This ended up
being an extremely good call because I needed them.
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| Skiing Dondi |
I’ve discovered that I enjoy going downhill skiing a few
times each year because it’s a break from the normal Nordic rhythm and actually
helps me with xc skiing. Anyone who has ever seen me ski in any way, shape, or
form knows that I kinda suck at downhills. Which is funny, because I was actually
hired to teach downhill skiing in Gstaad this winter (to like 5-year-olds, but
still).
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| Alpine Rosalie (?) |
Sunday presented itself with a change for the better in
terms of the weather. We really lucked out throughout the entire weekend, yet
again. We made sure to get to the mountain around when they opened, in order to
have nearly fresh tracks on the snow that had fallen the night before. This was
also a good call because by noon, every line had been taken and the conditions
were starting to turn to sugary spring skiing with ice underneath.
I’ve decided that what I don’t
like about alpine skiing is that it is mentally exhausting (for me at
least). There is absolutely nothing passive about it (except for sitting on the
chairlift perhaps). I love that with cross-country skiing you can get into a
rhythm and completely daze out. You can get to the end of a trail and think to
yourself, “wow I just skied 15km. How did that happen?”
Not so much with downhill skiing. Each turn takes thought,
you must actively choose your line, think about weight shift, dodge other
people,…But maybe this is because I am a beginner, and after years and years,
and runs and runs, these mental challenges too fall into a natural rhythm. Or
perhaps this “active mindset” is part of the appeal of the sport, because it
never gets boring.
While I’m at it, other things I don’t like about downhill
skiing:
·
When it’s crowded I get stressed out an just
want everyone to go in front of me so I can have the trail to myself.
·
It’s expensive. Nordic skiing is sometimes FREE!
·
It’s degrading to the environment. All the water
carried against the forces of gravity to produce artificial snow, the energy
used to run the lifts. Yesterday I was particularly torn about this because the
view from the chairlifts and from the top was absolutely stunning. The snow
acted as a soft blanket covering all the pillowy slopes, and you could see
ridged snow-covered peaks forever and ever and ever. But the reason you could
see all this was because so many trees have been cut down.
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| Very, very crowded mountain-top restaurant |
All
in all though, what an incredible day, and incredible weekend, yet again. I
feel really lucky to be back here.
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| I think I could have chosen worse ;-) |
Well
I should get back to work now, but more updates to come later. I’d love to hear
from you and hope everyone is well!
