Three day!

I got my three-day break, so we of course got a break from the snow. It rained all day on Wednesday, HARD. I stayed in for the morning, hoping it would ease up. No dice. At least I got a bit more work done. Being a hale Oregonian, I set out for Engstligen Falls after lunch, rain be damned. It was a nice walk, about 1.5 hours each way. The rain didn't melt the snow much, but there was slush at a few junctures. My waterproof coat held up nicely, and my gloves and boots made it nearly the whole way. I didn't think about food, since I left after lunch, so my snack was only a liter of water and a Gu gel. The waterfall wasn't completely iced over anymore, so it looks like the ice climbing season is over. Oh well.

They've got these hiking signs all over the place, so it's difficult to get lost. No worries, I did manage it on the way back by crossing the creek too soon, but I found my way back to the Wanderweg quickly. The yellow signs (or just diamonds by the side of the road, in the less traveled areas) are for Wanderwegen, or hiking paths. The ones with white and red stripes at the tips are mountain crossings, not quite suitable for travel yet. I'll start hiking those when the snow melts. They've little snowman pictures to indicate the winter walking paths, and they've light blue signs scattered across the fields to show the crosscountry skiing runs. There are also pink ones for snowshoeing. You can see the gondola and bus stop markings on this junction sign. The one nearer to town shows three different ski lifts you can jump on. It's incredible. Despite the weather, I ran into a number of other hikers. I like the Swiss spirit of ownership of the outdoors. They respect the wilderness, but they also spend time in it. I think the one leads to the other, and vice versa.

I've got lots of pictures from the hike, and from my trip in general. I might get around to posting more online. Let me know if you're interested.

On Thursday, I skied all day, this time with Finn, SAussie, and Sydney, though Sydney was snowboarding. It was yet another glorious day. We went up to Luegli, my favorite mountain, and flew down the black runs. I'm definitely getting to be a better skier. I won't bore you with too many more pictures of sunshine and mountains (this is a blatant lie), but here're a couple from Thursday.
We skied from eight in the morning, when the lifts open, until two in the afternoon, when those on duty came out to cook us and the guests a snow barbecue. They brought lots of hot chocolate, so I was quite content while they grilled bratwurst. They made me a grilled veggie thingy afterwards. Stuffed, we continued skiing until they closed up at five. We went to the skicross areas for a while, so I got to practice on a few jumps. Naturally, I crash landed. It was still great fun.

My legs burned the next day, but I went out again anyway. Finn and I skied all morning, not including a hot chocolate break. I'm starting to get the names of all the peaks down, but not quite well enough to give it a shot here. Also, I need to take a 360 degree video to really give the best idea of what it looks like here. One of the pistes goes out along a ridge, so as you're skiing it looks like you're on a peninsula with valleys to each side and the front and mountains rising up just behind the valleys. Amazing.

At two, Finn and I caught the bus to Frutigen, the next town up the valley. I wasn't expecting it to be as bustling as it was, though it is the last train station in the area, and it's a major junction for a few of the river valleys around here. We fiddled around with the photo booth, then I got a half-fare card for cheap'n'easy travel in Switzerland. I wandered the town while she ran an errand, stoping by the park, walking along a stream, poking my head into a veloshop (snowboard-bike hybrid!), and getting sucked into two bakeries. We had a very Swiss lunch: her with Apfelsaft, the delicious sparkling apple juice they make around these parts, and a Swiss croissant, and me with Rivella, the peculiar whey-based soft drink, and smelly, soft, and tasty Appenzeller cheese. The soft drink tasted less sweet than I expected, which I was happy about. It didn't taste at all like a milk product, but it did have a not-unpleasant vitaminy aftertaste. The Swiss must like that flavor, as it's a part of a few of their foods. I also saw a fantastic playground, complete with an old train car, a zip line, a huge slide, a cave, and a great swingset.