Tag Skiing
I should have written about this earlier but I kept forgetting, so a little late, here goes:
As Chinese New Year drew closer, we finished up the work in Switzerland and planned to go back home. I however, did not go back to Taiwan. Instead I took a short flight north to Sweden were I met up with Yini at the airport. A few hours later, my parents came to pick us up and we drove north. Since we started fairly late, we slept one night in Gävle about two hours north of Stockholm. The next day we continued up … Read the rest
Today I woke up bright and early, and after a hearty breakfast, headed out in the slopes.
I spent the morning exploring different parts of the system than yesterday, and found plenty of untouched powder just a short distance from the main track. The weather was good, only light clouds scudding across the sky and I had plenty of fun.
Just before lunch I stopped off at the local igloo village. The igloo was not quite as impressive as the ice hotel in Jokkmokk but still pretty good. I also checked out the nearby snow mobile park, but it was … Read the rest
The view from up here is magnificent; all around in the distance the stupendous mountains of the Swiss Alps, snow-clad broken tips and bare cliff faces. The sky is overcast but lively and and on the horizon, just above the mountain tops, is a gap in the clouds showing a strip of azure blue. The weather however is bad, my provisional winter clothes that have worked well so far, are insufficient to withstand the cold. The wind blows icy needles into my face that sting my eyes and my hands quickly turn to frozen lumps. I cannot remain here. No … Read the rest
My company has sent me to Switzerland to do some work on a machine. So far I have mostly just seen the factory where the machine is, and a bit of local sightseeing in the small town where I live, so not very much to write about.
A bit of local tourism in Badsäckingen
Now that it is weekend however, I took the chance to go skiing. I took an early morning train from my little town near Basel to Engelberg. There I dropped my bags at the hotel, a pretty shoddy military barracks style of dormitory hostel, then went … Read the rest
It’s a few degrees above freezing, a milky grey mist hangs low over the hills and there is a fine drizzle in the air. The trees are bare and lifeless, bland pop music is blaring from a subpar speaker system and the snow is beige rather than white. It is possible to ski but it feels all wrong; the snow is either too hard or too soft and sticky, it’s not cold enough to give the air that crisp feeling and the dreary weather is just depressing. I can not muster up the enthusiasm to say that it is fun … Read the rest
An observation on human behavior: There are two lifts that take you to the main summit of this ski slope; one is a chairlift that seats six abreast, the other is a dual anchor lift. They are roughly equally fast, the only difference is that one allows you to sit down for a few minutes while in the other you stand up, getting pulled by a plastic hook behind your legs; not so that it is painful, just a bit less lazy than the chair. And yet, with such a small difference between the lifts, there is a massive queue … Read the rest
The orange globe of the sun hangs low in the december sky, barely reaching above the mountain range in the east. It spreads its amber rays over the white snow causing everything to sparkle with joy. The air feels crisp and cool against my skin as I speed down the slope in long, sweeping turns, cutting a smooth, clear path through the corduroy surface. This is one of those moments when everything just comes together and it is, in a word, perfect. I live for moments like this!… Read the rest
There is a piercing pain below my knee and a numbing pain in my elbow every time I move my right arm. The weather is generally overcast and a bit windy and it’s hard to see clearly. All of that is of no consequence: it is my first day in the snow since april and it feels good to be back.… Read the rest
I’m right smack dab in the middle of the biggest lift queue I have ever seen. There are people all around me jostling for space; a massive onslaught of snowboards, ski poles, boots and helmets. The late april sun blazes overhead, slowly boiling the people in the queue. I’m hot, there is no space for my right foot and I’m being pushed and shoved from all sides. It is uncomfortable in oh so many ways, and yet I bear with it for on the other side awaits one of life’s most worthwhile indulgences.… Read the rest