So I've started January with a new goal while trying to manage working busy season hours; I'm going to ski at least once each weekend during the ski season provided no conflicting trips planned. So far I've been doing well on this goal...
Jan 9
I went skiing with the ski club in Flaine, France (Grand Massif) and was soaking wet. I could wring out my gloves at the end of the day and they were pouring water.
Jan 16
Skied in Interlaken, Grindelwald, and Wengen area. A small group of us rented a chalet for a friend that was in town from the US to ski. Saturday was great and we covered much of the resort other than a run in Wengen as the skiing World Cup was being skied this weekend at that site.
Sunday was the randomest day ever....
Going into the day there were several questions regarding the following day's activities; to ski or to sled, as conditions looked to be bad the day began in flux. After some confusion, we called the front desk at 9:47 and learned that breakfast needed at 10 so the group instantly dropped what they were doing to run to breakfast at the main lodge from our chalet.
Following breakfast, the group packed and went to check out with a continual debate to ski or to sled. The weather looked terrible so we planned to sled at first although the ski race was on TV and it was sunny so I made the executive decision we should try to ski. We then realized we missed the normal city bus to town so the hotel drove us and we brought our gear to the train station to save time. Once arriving at the train station at 9:40 we began to slowly put our bags into the lockers and quickly realized that that was a train to Klein Scheidegg (top of the ski hill) would be leaving in 5 minutes so this became a scramble....we did make it although we did not realize that the train ticket was $15 and saved almost no time ($30 for those with non half-fare) when compared to taking the city bus to the gondola.
The day did end there, upon reaching the top of the mountain the weather was once again terrible so we were debating even buying lift tickets so we decided to ski down planning to ski all the way to the bottom and then call it a day thus not requiring a lift ticket. The one run all the way to the bottom was a blast! Upon reaching to the bottom, we realized that our train tickets were never scanned....so we did this again, and then did it again while stopping for lunch on the mountain, and then took the train to the top again...so yes, we outsmarted the Swiss train/lift ticket system.
So we skied the rest of the day via the train rather than chair lift and then finished the day. Our last scramble of the day involved us getting to the bottom of the ski hill and taking a train to the main station to arrive at 4:14 and needing to board another train leaving at 4:17. Keep in mind that our entire group is still in our ski gear, with skis, and still still needing to get our bags from the lockers. We miraculously made this and were lucky enough to get thrown in a cargo car with no seats for the first train (45 min), which sounds terrible, but was great as it allowed us pack all of our bags and get situated before heading on the 2 hour train ride home to Geneva.
So...first half of January I'm 2 for 2 on skiing!
The day did end there, upon reaching the top of the mountain the weather was once again terrible so we were debating even buying lift tickets so we decided to ski down planning to ski all the way to the bottom and then call it a day thus not requiring a lift ticket. The one run all the way to the bottom was a blast! Upon reaching to the bottom, we realized that our train tickets were never scanned....so we did this again, and then did it again while stopping for lunch on the mountain, and then took the train to the top again...so yes, we outsmarted the Swiss train/lift ticket system.
So we skied the rest of the day via the train rather than chair lift and then finished the day. Our last scramble of the day involved us getting to the bottom of the ski hill and taking a train to the main station to arrive at 4:14 and needing to board another train leaving at 4:17. Keep in mind that our entire group is still in our ski gear, with skis, and still still needing to get our bags from the lockers. We miraculously made this and were lucky enough to get thrown in a cargo car with no seats for the first train (45 min), which sounds terrible, but was great as it allowed us pack all of our bags and get situated before heading on the 2 hour train ride home to Geneva.
So...first half of January I'm 2 for 2 on skiing!
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