January / February Skiing

After returning from Christmas break, most of my time was spent trying to maximize ski trips with a goal of 30 days on the slopes for the year, I’ve added a few of the highlights/funny stories below...

St.Anton - Jan. 2 - 7
I flew back from the US on Jan. 1 following Christmas in the US on a red-eye flight (landed Jan. 2).  I went to my apartment for about 2 hours to shower and pick up luggage, which I had previously packed before going to the US for Christmas, and then went back to Gare Cornavin to take the 6 hours of trains to get to St. Anton.  I was quite lifeless by the time I reached St Anton after leaving the US at 12:40 PM EST (6:40PM CET) and then arriving in Austria without substantial sleep at 7:00 PM CET (2:00 PM EST) the following day.  I arrived in St. Anton in a storm with 2 sunny days of skiing and 2 days where most of the resort was closed due to snow/rain mix depending on the elevation.  The skiing was fun, but with the conditions there was very little to do other than ski on piste.  On one day, I had a blast renting a pair of GS skis to then cover almost the entire Arlberg network (to Lech).  Great trip and nice way to ease into busy season; the only negative was a broken phone on the 2nd day of the trip when getting caught in a rain downpour at lower elevations.

Downtown St. Anton - One of the few photos I had before breaking a phone.

Chamonix - Wkd. of Jan. 13
We spent the weekend in Chamonix for Lianne’s birthday with 14 of us renting a chalet in Les Praz (Flegere).  Great weekend with sunny slopes and good friends; fondue was 20x better this year compared to prior years with dinner at 8 compared to midnight the prior year due to a bit too much wine being added to the cheese without a thickening agent.

Part of the ski group

Looking confused with the fondue

Helping frost the birthday cake

Zermatt - Weekend of Jan. 27
I took a short day trip to Zermatt with a US friend in town to see the Matterhorn and to ski a day.  We were happy to make it to/from the mountain as access to/from this area was closed for a few days early January due to excessive snow and then again from Sunday- Wed of the week of the trip:

Matterhorn....always amazing!

La Grave - Feb. 20 - 23

After working in the US to finish US busy season, I spent the weekend in Chicago with Hastings’ friends before taking the red-eye back to Geneva on Sunday night and arriving on Monday night in Geneva.....it was a long day! 

The following day, I went to work, rented a car, and then drove to La Grave, France to Ski for 3 days; this was less than 24 hours from landing from the US.  I arrived late that night after taking one of the darkest, scarier mountain drives that I’ve taken with jet lag creeping up on me.  My lodging also created some confusion as I stayed at the equivalent of a mountain hostel where only French was spoken.

For those of you that don’t know La Grave, I recommend googling it; it’s a backcountry skiers paradise of ungroomed terrain where it’s required to use a GPS avalanche beacon, carry an avalanche probe, and carry a shovel; I also used an avalanche backpack for extra safety.  There’s a single lift that is quite old where it takes 45 minutes to reach the summit as the gondola cars do not disconnect from the cable, but there are groups of 5 cars so the cable most slow any time a set of cars is being boarded or unloaded.  In general, getting 3 runs in during the day is the goal and the resort has about 500-1000 skiers per day so there is never a queue and you only see other skiers at the top at bottom of the lift.

Given I came by myself on this trip, I went to the guide station on day 1 to join a group tour and was lucky to join to other German guys of similar ability that were also doing 3 days of skiing so we were able to ski all 3 days together and with the same guide who was able to vary the terrain by day.  Our guide was Oliver Giroud, but not the soccer player.

On day 1, we did two runs on the front side of the mountain; one run over a glacier and then through the woods and a 2nd through a rocky couloir with a 35 degree incline that then finished through the same woods.  We grabbed lunch at the resort's sole restaurant at the top of the mountain and then our final descent was off the backside of the mountain where we finished in the city of St. Christophe at a bar that likely was only open when skiers arrived that was a 45 minute taxi ride from La Grave.

View from the top

View from the top of the couloir

Top of the final run

Mid-mountain on the final descent

On day 2, we did similar morning runs to day 1.  The highlight of day 2 required rappelling into a 40 degree couloir using a climbing harness to then start the final descent.  The non-skiing highlight of day 2 was when we went to the same restaurant as day 1 and there was a live saxophone player; this was probably the only time I've seen this while skiing.

Setup for the rappel; yes, the camera is level and this is the actual steepness of the slope....

View after the repel and waiting for the 3rd skier and the guide.

On the final day, we did some ski touring in a neighboring city and this was good practice for the Haute Route that I've planned later in the year.  I drove home this same day to Geneva following the skiing.

All-in-all great trip and I would love to go back, but a place where I would highly recommend a guide to avoid getting into too much trouble.

CAT Ski Day - Feb. 24
After arriving late Friday from La Grave, the CAT team did a ski day in Les Carroz.

Escalade and Verbier Opening - Wkd. of Dec. 2

Escalade Run - Friday

Following the weekend of 2 Thanksgivings, I participated in the Escalade Course du Duc; this is a 20km race that is held every 5 years.  The Escalade is an annual event each year to commemorate the Genevoise defending the city from the French invaders and there’s typically several different runs in the city and a weekend long city festival.  Typically, I’ve missed this event every year as it is the first weekend of December and during ski season; however, the Duc race is Friday night so I was able to do both.

The race starts in Reignier, France at 9:30pm and all runners are bussed to the beginning on packed buses (standing room only) a few hours prior to the race....I spent a lot of time on my feet!  Running the race was nice as there were quite a few supporters, some live bands, many sections  of the route were lit with Christmas lights, and all of the runners also received headlamps to help light the way.  There were quite a few coworkers running along with client contacts that I knew.

The Route

Starting Line

Glad I did the run, but made for a long night as I finished near 11:30pm and then planned a ski trip the following morning that required me to get up at 5am.

Verbier Opening - Saturday

The following morning, I awoke at 5am to meet friends to drive to Verbier for their official opening ski weekend.  This was my second ski outing of the season as I went to Saas Fee for the 'Ski Test' the weekend before Thanksgiving (no broken skis similar to prior year).

For Verbier, they have a promotion for their opening Saturday where skiing is free for everyone dressed as Santa Claus so a small group of us dressed up for the event.  It was very funny to see 2,656 Santa Clauses on the Ski mountain, but it also made it quite difficult to find anyone.

All the santas preparing for the group shot mid-mountain

The event was a blast with free skiing, a voucher for 2-for-1 skiing later in the season, free vin chaud during the group photo, and we finished the night with raclette to kick-off the ski season!

Thanksgiving in Switzerland

Consistent with prior years, Thanksgiving in Switzerland is always a great time as its brings all of the expats together and creates the challenges of trying to make traditional American food with limited ingredients.  This year I had 3 Thanksgiving; it was a great fun, but I had my full of Turkey by the end of the month.

Thanksgiving 1 - Pulley - 11 Nov.

For the first Thanksgiving of the month, the Geneva and Lausanne crew celebrated at Bryan and Lauren’s in Pulley.  I made green bean casserole without French fried onions, cream of mushroom soup, or pre-grated cheese so I had to get a bit creative and make many of these ingredients from scratch.  We had about 25-30 people and dinner was great.

Thanksgiving 2 - Chalet Nitz - 22 Nov. (Thanksgiving Day)

I hosted Thanksgiving for the PwC expat group on Thanksgiving day and we had 26 people; note that my place is much smaller the location from the 11th.  Luckily, I was able to borrow extra chairs and tables from others that lived nearby.

For the dinner, I made Turkey (actually 3 given the size of the ovens and Turkeys in Switzerland).  The procurement of the turkeys involved having a friend drive me to the neighboring country to purchase the turkeys and bring back to Switzerland; I cooked one the day before, one the day of, and Vince made the 3rd.

Hosting dinner went well as everyone brought something to share and we had way too much food (there was an entire turkey extra)!

Thanksgiving 3 - Geneva - 25 Nov.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, another friend hosted a 3rd dinner for about 10 of us.  For this event, I made chocolate cake; only issues with this recipe is there are no chocolate chips or boxed devil’s food cake so both were made from scratch.

Great celebrating the holidays with these great groups of people!  Although, the rest of the world needs to learn that Americans do not work on the Friday following Thanksgiving.

Alba White Truffle Fest - Wkd. of Oct. 28

For the weekend, a group of friends went to Alba for the annual white truffle fest in Piemonte, Italy.  This was a festival that I had been to my first year in Geneva with the Baleskys and my 3rd time to the Piemonte region (last trip was August 2016 with the Bellgraphs).

The group of 9 of us rented a house one top of one of the hills on the vineyards outside of Alba and then there were two other groups of friends in the area staying in other locations.

Sunset on the drive in

On Friday, we drove from Geneva and the first thing that we noticed along the drive was it was quite foggy after entering Italy.  After further research, we discovered that 30km west of Turin that there were several wildfires and this led to the poor visibility.  Luckily, the smoke was noticeable for breathing, but it did it down on some of the views of the vineyards.  Once reaching Alba, we dropped off our gear and settled prior to going to dinner.  We had dinner at Vinoteca Centro Storico, which is near the castle in the nearby town of Serralunga; the place was great!

Serralunga from above

Chef at the restaurant carving Serrano for appetizers

The following morning we had planned a guided truffle hunt with a truffle hunter and his two dogs where we learned about the truffle and the ‘hunting’ season and it was all quite interesting.  While searching for truffles, our group found 2 black truffles and 1 white truffle and it was fun to see the dogs search the forest floors and then begin to dig when catching an aroma.

Truffle hunter

Truffle Hunting

Post truffle hunt

The remainder of the day was spent in Alba at the trufflefest.  The festival is a large tent with farmer/vendors selling truffle and other truffle flavor foods.  We used the opportunity to purchase an assortment of food as the group (9 from our house and the 9 others in the area from Geneva) had a giant pasta family-style dinner where we were staying that night.

Truffles at the trufflefest

Dinner is served

The following morning, we did a wine tasting in the area to re-stock on Barolo and Barbarescos before driving back to Geneva.

Short movie that one of the people on the trip created:

Fall Soccer Matches (Milan - 10/15 and London - 10/22)

Continuing on a goal to see some of the major European soccer teams while living abroad as noted in the Paris post; I went to the Milan to see Inter vs AC at San Siro and then London to see Tottenham vs Liverpool at Wembley.

Milan - Wkd. Oct. 14

I traveled to Milan with Bryan on Sunday for the game that same day; Milan is quite easy to travel to as there is a 4 hour train from Geneva.  We stayed with a friend of his who was a PwC US employee he had known from the US and was now on secondment.

Up to the game, we did our own walking/eating tour of Milan:

- Pizzeria Spontini near the Duomo

- Rice Ball near Naviglio Pavese-

The game was at 9pm was the stereotypical experience that you would expect from a European soccer match between two rival teams (city rivals) with screaming fans.  The stadium was quite large compared to others in Europe (80k vs 40k capacity).  The game had plenty of excitement as the final was 3-2 with the tiebreaker being a controversial penalty kick at the 89’.

Following the game, we had pizza again and then took the train home the following morning to return to work.  Coincidentally, I received a note that morning for an audit in Italy and the individual we stayed with was joining a team I was working with so it was helpful to meet face-to-face.

London - Wkd. Oct. 21

The following weekend of the Milan trip, I had planned a trip to go to London to see some friends from when I lived in Royal Oak (Jamie, Yanai, Adam, and Milena) while they were traveling the UK for two weeks along with another friend that had moved to London when I moved to Geneva (Kate).  Coincidentally, I had to be in London already for work already.

While in London, we went to the the School of Rock musical on Friday and the British Museum/National Gallery on Saturday.  On Sunday, we then went to the game before the full group flew out at various times on Monday.  

The game atmosphere was quite different from the other game as there were very few away fans or at least they were quite secretive about it so.  The game was quite exciting as there were many goals (4-1 final score) and we were quite close to the field.

Food in London was a good change of pace from the French cuisine of Geneva and Italian food in Milan.  On Sunday, we had a large roast dinner at the neighboring pub from where we were staying.  I also was sure to visit Chipotle once in the trip to get some spicy food given there are not many Mexican food options near me.

Both trips were a blast with not much sleep, Milan was day trip where I returned the next morning via train and in London, I flew Friday morning to be at work on time and left Monday morning to do the same (two 4am mornings); wouldn't do it any other way!

Oktoberfest (Wkd. Sept. 23) and Trail Runs (Oct. 8)

So the two trips included in this post could not be further opposites...

Munich - Oktoberfest - Wkd. Sept. 23rd

As a break from work, I went to Oktoberfest this year for my 4th time (2011, 2015, 2016, 2017) and my 6th time in Munich.

I spent the trip with a few Hastings friends (Paul) and then also some old friends from Royal Oak and Switzerland (Brad, John, Pat) and we had a fun few days in the tents and on the carnival rides of Oktoberfest.  We stayed very close to Oktoberfest and went to the HB, Hacker-Pschorr, and Schottenhanmel tents.  We also had our fill of German food eating in the area; needless to say and consistent with my prior trip, I was excited to see vegetables/fruits when returning home!

Royal Oak Crew

Hastings Crew

Let me know if any of you plan a trip to Europe as I feel like I could be a tour guide after visiting this city more times as a tourist than any other location in Europe.

Vallee de Joux - 8 Oct.

Trail Valle de Joux is a 22km trail race in the Jura mountains, which are about 1 hour by car from Geneva.  A group of friends decided to try a trail race and trained together during the weeks up to the race and then we had a potluck dinner the night with the group the evening before the race.

Before

The style of race is very typical in Switzerland, but something that I had never experienced.  I would compare it to more of a speed hike than a true run given the inclines are at a degree where almost all participants are walking.  The declines were then steep, rocky descents where runners would try to remain on the paths while dodging rocks to avoid a sprained ankle.  Our race was one peak ascent in the middle followed by one descent; however, typically these races are 50-160km and have multiple peaks.

Climb to the top!

Crossing the Top of the Mountain

The day after I was extremely sore consistent with what I would feel following a Marathon.  When training for the race, I did road runs of almost twice the distance of the trail run; it was different set of muscles from what I was accustomed.  The race was very pretty and I would do another.  

After

Of course the Swiss/French give out wheels of cheese and wine to every finisher!