We took the group on a hike to Engstligenalp two days ago. It was as usual. We all have three days off now, while there are no guests, and then we have a full house for ten days. A group of Trefoil Guilders, all British women of about 65-85 years old, will be staying with us and going on a full program of activities. We’ll have ten days without a break, but at least we’ll get to go out traveling.
Canuk and I went snowboarding and skiing again today, of course, this time with Dutch. All the areas are closed except for Engstligen, which has only eight runs. It’s in a bowl high up on the mountain, so it keeps its snow a lot longer. I’m going to have to decide when to ski/snowboard/sled/cross-country ski for the last time. Engstligen closes on 4 May. I had intended to spend this whole break up on the pistes, but Bowie, Sloan, and Brazil have planned a trip to Luzern, and it would be fun to go with them. I wish they’d planned it for May, though, so I could get more skiing in. Life’s all about choices. Still, the pistes were fun today. It snowed a lot, and we could only see one pole at a time. The poles mark the edge of the groomed pistes, so you don’t really want to lose them, especially in a place like Engstligen. We could hear each other shouting, laughing, and skiing, but we lost track of each other visually about five meters away. Dutch got vertigo and left, but Canuk and I stayed till it cleared a bit, then skied the powder all afternoon. The faster black run goes directly next to the t-bar, so you can see how steep it is while you’re getting pulled uphill. It’s a rush going down. I had a great time. I’m definitely getting better at skiing. I don’t have to think about it anymore, and I can zip around without worrying about falling. I still get tired after six hours in the powder, but I’ll have another break at the end of Trefoil week. Those will be my last two days to ski.
We keep having internet problems around here. I’m not getting much time online, so I’m getting behind in the work I’m doing for school and for scholarships. I’m also not able to post to the blog as much as I’d like. I hope I will find time to catch up before my next break.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
Staff challenge.
All I’ve done for two days is work. We had no guests for a while, due to a black-out week, and we’re nearly done with the spring cleaning. We have forty-odd people coming in for just tomorrow night, so we’ll need to prepare for them and then clean up after them as well. On the plus side, with just staff here, we have gotten a LOT done. We also have tea every day, and we’ve been getting creative with pastry dough.
Here are some spare pictures instead of a description of my work activities.
This is our Chalet cat. She's usually sweet, but she yowls something awful around dinner time and is good at interrupting your work for a quick pet.
Here's yet another couple pictures of some great mountains.
This is the staff having a snow picnic.
Here's the cable car at Engstligen falls. It's a bit of a tight squeeze going up with a lift full of skiers and gear, but it's a fun ride nonetheless.
This is what the locals do for fun in the winter, besides skiing, of course. Official timed sled races! One person steers and the other controls the speed, as far as I can tell.
Here's another fun winter activity I didn't take part in. It looks like fun, but I'll wait till I make it to Alaska.
This is your typical Swiss mother. The kidlets get their own mini sleeping bags and everyone goes out into the snow. I've also seen tots in backpacks during crosscountry ski trips or snowshow hikes.
I decided to work on my Staff Challenge after work, since I didn’t have time to do anything exciting with my nights. One of our challenges is to climb the fire escapes. We have to do it as though we were fleeing a fire, though: out the window and down.
Other challenge activities include (bold if I’ve done them already):
These are all worth one to five points, and we have to get eighty points to meet the challenge. I think I have about thirty points so far. I need to get going on these, and I need to get the ones I’ve done signed off. There are another twenty or so items on the list, some more boring than others.
Here are some spare pictures instead of a description of my work activities.
This is our Chalet cat. She's usually sweet, but she yowls something awful around dinner time and is good at interrupting your work for a quick pet.
Here's yet another couple pictures of some great mountains.
This is the staff having a snow picnic.
Here's the cable car at Engstligen falls. It's a bit of a tight squeeze going up with a lift full of skiers and gear, but it's a fun ride nonetheless.
This is what the locals do for fun in the winter, besides skiing, of course. Official timed sled races! One person steers and the other controls the speed, as far as I can tell.
Here's another fun winter activity I didn't take part in. It looks like fun, but I'll wait till I make it to Alaska.
This is your typical Swiss mother. The kidlets get their own mini sleeping bags and everyone goes out into the snow. I've also seen tots in backpacks during crosscountry ski trips or snowshow hikes.
I decided to work on my Staff Challenge after work, since I didn’t have time to do anything exciting with my nights. One of our challenges is to climb the fire escapes. We have to do it as though we were fleeing a fire, though: out the window and down.
Other challenge activities include (bold if I’ve done them already):
- hiking at least three mountains (6000 meters total) [waiting for the snow to melt on the trails]
- camping overnight somewhere [waiting for warmer weather]
- staying submerged in a glacial lake or stream for five seconds [ditto]
- hiking to Kandersteg [ideally over the mountain pass]
- hiking to Dorf [Adelboden village] and back on your own at midnight
- cycling to Frutigen [will do soon.]
- skiing a red, blue, and black run
- tobogganing Tschenten or Silleren [I tried, but night sledding was closed on that occasion.]
- cross-country skiing Boden or Engstligen track
- explaining four Swiss hiking signs
- snowshoeing for two hours
- checking out the Adelboden night life
- climbing the fountain in town
- climbing the main chalet and Spycher fire escapes (one normal, one a rope ladder)
- sledging down Hohliebeweg (our road) at night
- climbing around a table without touching the ground
- sleeping in the attic of the main chalet, built in 1932 and reputedly gently haunted
- sleeping in the bomb shelter
- climbing through the old Swiss oven and writing a poem about it while inside
- writing a new Chalet song [Brazil did it, actually, but I learned and performed her version and they counted it.]
- cooking a traditional Swiss dish
- cooking a dish from your own country for the staff
- cooking dinner for everyone by yourself
- learning some Swiss-German
- watching a sunrise or sunset from the peak of Bonderspitz [waiting for the snow to melt on the trail]
- climbing into our commercial clothes dryer
- doing an extreme sport (canyoning, bungee jumping, paragliding, etc.)
- organizing a staff evening program
- traveling to somewhere in Switzerland
These are all worth one to five points, and we have to get eighty points to meet the challenge. I think I have about thirty points so far. I need to get going on these, and I need to get the ones I’ve done signed off. There are another twenty or so items on the list, some more boring than others.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
French Switzerland.
Canuk and I went to Genève at 0630 yesterday morning. She is trying to get a work permit for Northern Scotland for the summer, and she had to go to passport HQ to sort it out. The train ride was nice. We could watch the countryside transition from cow meadows to vineyards, and the town names switch over from German to French. I’m not sure where the border was exactly, but the train conductor switched his announcements to French as well at some point. After reading so much German all the time, I felt a little lost in the Geneva train station. We were no longer in the Genf Bahnhof, but in the Gare de Cornavin Genève, and we had to check the horaire for our parcours instead of the Fahrplan for our Streke. I would be okay for the afternoon, as Canuk, a proper Canadian, had studied French since primary school, but I was on my own for the morning. She had her meeting with the work permit people for about twenty minutes, plus what turned out to be a couple of hours of waiting time. I successfully bought myself a baguette and understood the price in French, but somehow the baker gave me 50.- CHF back for my 50.20 CHF instead of 47.- CHF, so I got the bread for twenty Rappen. I was over in the old town when I realized why the change had looked odd in my palm: five-frank coins instead of twos.
Canuk and I had seen the temple, a small, old church, and the Basilique Notre Dame before her meeting, since we arrived early, so I set out for a walk along the Rhone. I crossed the Ponts de l’Île, then the Pont de la Machine, then back over the Pont des Bergues.
This last bridge connected to the Ile Rousseau, which had a lovely bird sanctuary and a stature of the philosopher. (Canuk’s a birder, so she told me what they all were when we came back along the river in the afternoon.) I then wandered through the Place du Moulard, which had old buildings, a fountain, flowers, and a lot of people enjoying their morning at an outdoor café. I passed a sixteenth-century tower that used to guard the entrance to an old city wall, but I couldn’t go inside. 
Spotting colossal spires, I began heading for the guaranteed viewpoint. On the way to the cathedral, I stopped by the Hôtel de Ville to check out the carriage entrance. It’s akin to a spiral staircase, only squared off and in ramp form so that the carriages can get up the cobblestones. I’m not sure why square was better than round, and I’m definitely not sure that sixteenth-century dignitaries truly needed to ride all the way up to their meeting chamber, but it was neat. The town hall also had a small, but well-lit courtyard, and it is where the first Geneva Convention was signed in 1864 to start the Red Cross. Just outside, they’ve got five seventeenth- and eighteenth-century artillery cannons and some historical mosaics where the old arsenal stood.
The Cathedral of Saint Pierre was huge.
It was built between 1160 and 1232, then went through a lot of changes during the Reformation. The archaeological site under the cathedral was closed, unfortunately, but I climbed its 157 steps for these views before noticing that it was time to meet Canuk by Genève’s famous jet d’eau. 
Naturally, we wandered out on the jetty, getting delicately misted by the fountain in the process. She didn’t get her visa because her Swiss residency permit had just expired, but she had expected difficulties and was resigned to going back to Canada for the summer before returning to Europe. (I am an official Adelbodner and Swiss resident until the beginning of June.) She has also applied for a summer job in Finland, where it’s supposed to be easier to go than the UK, as well as her old canoeing guide position back in Canada. I would love to jump from job to job around the world like Canuk and SAussie, but school calls.
The two of us wandered back into the old town and saw the Place Bourg-de-Four, which was full of little bistros.
It’s the oldest square in Genève, and it has another fountain and the Palais de Justice. We also saw Rousseau’s house, the Place du Grand-Mézel, and the Place Neuve, which had this statue of General Guillaume-Henri Dufour (professor, engineer, mountain cartographer, 1847 Confederation Army Commander, and member of the Committee of Five that thought up the Red Cross). The Place Neuve sits in the middle of a lot of museums, concert halls, and theaters. 
It’s also right next to the Parc des Bastions. There’s a great view overlooking the park from outside the Cathedral of Saint Pierre, and it was worth a stroll on our way back around to Lake Geneva and the Jardin Anglais. Many of the parks in Switzerland have giant games, but I had never seen so many giant chess matches going on at once. The English Garden’s flower clock was our last stop, since we had already been to a few of Genève’s bountiful greenspaces and we didn’t care to see the Red Cross or United Nations headquarters. 
I’m sure the Palais des Nations is great, but our train goes past it on the way out, and we wanted to visit Lausanne while we were in the Swiss Riviera. We happened to arrive at the train station two minutes before a train going in the right direction, so we ran through the tunnels and up the ramp, jumping on with seconds to spare. The gentleman behind us wasn’t fast enough.
Our train took us on a slightly longer path than the usual track, but we enjoyed the view of the wine country and watching the highschoolers goof around on their train ride from school to the tiny towns in which they live. The Lausanne train station is right between Lausanne proper and the old, lakeside district of Ouchy. (They apparently call it “oo-she” instead of “ouch-ee.” Crazy Frannnch.) We headed uphill first, to the vieille ville and “Loh-zahn.” But first, the public restroom, which was underground: a hole in the floor of the stall, doors that didn’t lock, blue lights, and a syringe receptacle.
It’s also BYO-TP. Luckily, Canuk had some wet wipes. Ugh. We left quickly and hauled ourselves uphill, against the flow of foot traffic. It seems everyone else took the bus up and walked down. Not we hardy Adelbodners. We made it to L’église Saint-François panting only slightly. It was nice, but we could see the huge cathedral up the hill, so we didn’t stay long. Lausanne’s is the biggest cathedral in Switzerland, with a giant pipe organ and a thirteenth-century rose window. The bridge on the way there is supposedly designed to psychologically discourage suicidal leaps, but I thought it mostly just made photography difficult. This cathedral is pure John Calvin Protestant Reformation, 
and word is the church members aren’t even allowed to dance. Iconoclasm hit hard, and the cathedral is very bare compared to some of its ornate Catholic cousins. We poked around and found an opening under the altar area. 
Canuk flicked on her headlamp and we could see the ruins of the previous building, a smaller church. We also climbed the tower, at 225 steps, and snapped a ton of pictures. You can see France easily from that height, and Evian, with its fancy spring water, is directly across Lac Léman, to the south. To the southeast were the French-Swiss and French Alps, including the highest, Mont Blanc, and to the west were the Jura Mountains, lower and softer, much less jagged. A watchman still stands guard in this tower every night, looking for flames and calling out the time between 2200 and 0200.
We stopped for an afternoon snack by the plaza and fountain outside the cathedral (“Esplanade de la Cathedral”), where we could look down on the buildings below. Thus fortified, we made one final foray uphill, past the old académie and up to the castle. The château was closed, but it had a statue of Major Davel, who tried to free the area from the Bernese in 1723, after they had ruled for almost two hundred years. (He failed, and was decapitated for his efforts. Napoleon managed to beat the Bernese in 1798, but Canton Vaud joined the Swiss Confederation soon afterward, in 1803.) On our way downhill, we searched for an old, mechanized clock. We found the city history museum and huge square, which it was supposed to be near, but no Fontaine de la Justice, which it was supposed to be directly above. We spent so long looking for the clock that we ran out of time to see the old watchtower. Lots of Swiss towns have better rampart remnants, however, so I’ll see some later. We did pass by the cantonal gymnasium (secondary school), which was built circa 1590, during the Bernese occupation. What a place in which to learn. Finally, with only minutes to spare, we found Place de la Palud down a side street and behind some construction.
We stared at the clock as passersby gave us curious glances. The minutes ticked by: no mechanical horological celebration. Just as I was cursing and we were about to leave, a few minutes past the hour, it began. The clock boomed out a short story in German, and soldiers paraded by, followed by music and dancers. Neither of us could make out what was going on. We laughed so hard that we set out in the wrong direction, and only made it to the waterfront after a lengthy tour of non-touristy Lausanne. We knew which way the lake was, but we couldn’t make a left turn to get there until we hit the train tracks, then wound down the hill through a nice neighborhood and a park. The parks all have table-tennis and great sandboxes, but you’re supposed to train your dog to use the sandbox so you don’t have to pick up after it. Don’t play in Swiss sandboxes.
We made it down to Ouchy just at sunset. Canuk and I walked along the lake and marina until we made it to the weathervane.
It’s a large C shape, and you can tell which way the wind is blowing only by walking out onto the pier and lining the C up with a column. We skipped that jaunt in favor of a pirate ship-shaped play structure. We made it to the Olympic museum right before it closed, but the grounds were just as interesting as the pricy exhibits. They’ve the current world record shot put, high jump, discus, et cetera, all set up. 
I marveled at the height of the pole vault bar. They also have some statuary and Chinese decorations, as they’re gearing up for the summer Olympics, and we had passed by some external exhibits on our long wander through Lausanne earlier. We enjoyed the Olympic flame and views of the lake before climbing back up to the train station. We fell asleep as we were whisked punctually back into German Switzerland. We returned to the Chalet at midnight, ready for a good sleep before we headed back to work in the morning.
This is your bonus picture for today, since I didn't post any from my last snowboarding day. Piet Mondrian construction company! I wish I could see what they build with that.
Canuk and I had seen the temple, a small, old church, and the Basilique Notre Dame before her meeting, since we arrived early, so I set out for a walk along the Rhone. I crossed the Ponts de l’Île, then the Pont de la Machine, then back over the Pont des Bergues.
This last bridge connected to the Ile Rousseau, which had a lovely bird sanctuary and a stature of the philosopher. (Canuk’s a birder, so she told me what they all were when we came back along the river in the afternoon.) I then wandered through the Place du Moulard, which had old buildings, a fountain, flowers, and a lot of people enjoying their morning at an outdoor café. I passed a sixteenth-century tower that used to guard the entrance to an old city wall, but I couldn’t go inside. 
Spotting colossal spires, I began heading for the guaranteed viewpoint. On the way to the cathedral, I stopped by the Hôtel de Ville to check out the carriage entrance. It’s akin to a spiral staircase, only squared off and in ramp form so that the carriages can get up the cobblestones. I’m not sure why square was better than round, and I’m definitely not sure that sixteenth-century dignitaries truly needed to ride all the way up to their meeting chamber, but it was neat. The town hall also had a small, but well-lit courtyard, and it is where the first Geneva Convention was signed in 1864 to start the Red Cross. Just outside, they’ve got five seventeenth- and eighteenth-century artillery cannons and some historical mosaics where the old arsenal stood.The Cathedral of Saint Pierre was huge.
It was built between 1160 and 1232, then went through a lot of changes during the Reformation. The archaeological site under the cathedral was closed, unfortunately, but I climbed its 157 steps for these views before noticing that it was time to meet Canuk by Genève’s famous jet d’eau. 
Naturally, we wandered out on the jetty, getting delicately misted by the fountain in the process. She didn’t get her visa because her Swiss residency permit had just expired, but she had expected difficulties and was resigned to going back to Canada for the summer before returning to Europe. (I am an official Adelbodner and Swiss resident until the beginning of June.) She has also applied for a summer job in Finland, where it’s supposed to be easier to go than the UK, as well as her old canoeing guide position back in Canada. I would love to jump from job to job around the world like Canuk and SAussie, but school calls.The two of us wandered back into the old town and saw the Place Bourg-de-Four, which was full of little bistros.
It’s the oldest square in Genève, and it has another fountain and the Palais de Justice. We also saw Rousseau’s house, the Place du Grand-Mézel, and the Place Neuve, which had this statue of General Guillaume-Henri Dufour (professor, engineer, mountain cartographer, 1847 Confederation Army Commander, and member of the Committee of Five that thought up the Red Cross). The Place Neuve sits in the middle of a lot of museums, concert halls, and theaters. 
It’s also right next to the Parc des Bastions. There’s a great view overlooking the park from outside the Cathedral of Saint Pierre, and it was worth a stroll on our way back around to Lake Geneva and the Jardin Anglais. Many of the parks in Switzerland have giant games, but I had never seen so many giant chess matches going on at once. The English Garden’s flower clock was our last stop, since we had already been to a few of Genève’s bountiful greenspaces and we didn’t care to see the Red Cross or United Nations headquarters. 
I’m sure the Palais des Nations is great, but our train goes past it on the way out, and we wanted to visit Lausanne while we were in the Swiss Riviera. We happened to arrive at the train station two minutes before a train going in the right direction, so we ran through the tunnels and up the ramp, jumping on with seconds to spare. The gentleman behind us wasn’t fast enough.
Our train took us on a slightly longer path than the usual track, but we enjoyed the view of the wine country and watching the highschoolers goof around on their train ride from school to the tiny towns in which they live. The Lausanne train station is right between Lausanne proper and the old, lakeside district of Ouchy. (They apparently call it “oo-she” instead of “ouch-ee.” Crazy Frannnch.) We headed uphill first, to the vieille ville and “Loh-zahn.” But first, the public restroom, which was underground: a hole in the floor of the stall, doors that didn’t lock, blue lights, and a syringe receptacle.
It’s also BYO-TP. Luckily, Canuk had some wet wipes. Ugh. We left quickly and hauled ourselves uphill, against the flow of foot traffic. It seems everyone else took the bus up and walked down. Not we hardy Adelbodners. We made it to L’église Saint-François panting only slightly. It was nice, but we could see the huge cathedral up the hill, so we didn’t stay long. Lausanne’s is the biggest cathedral in Switzerland, with a giant pipe organ and a thirteenth-century rose window. The bridge on the way there is supposedly designed to psychologically discourage suicidal leaps, but I thought it mostly just made photography difficult. This cathedral is pure John Calvin Protestant Reformation, 
and word is the church members aren’t even allowed to dance. Iconoclasm hit hard, and the cathedral is very bare compared to some of its ornate Catholic cousins. We poked around and found an opening under the altar area. 
Canuk flicked on her headlamp and we could see the ruins of the previous building, a smaller church. We also climbed the tower, at 225 steps, and snapped a ton of pictures. You can see France easily from that height, and Evian, with its fancy spring water, is directly across Lac Léman, to the south. To the southeast were the French-Swiss and French Alps, including the highest, Mont Blanc, and to the west were the Jura Mountains, lower and softer, much less jagged. A watchman still stands guard in this tower every night, looking for flames and calling out the time between 2200 and 0200.
We stopped for an afternoon snack by the plaza and fountain outside the cathedral (“Esplanade de la Cathedral”), where we could look down on the buildings below. Thus fortified, we made one final foray uphill, past the old académie and up to the castle. The château was closed, but it had a statue of Major Davel, who tried to free the area from the Bernese in 1723, after they had ruled for almost two hundred years. (He failed, and was decapitated for his efforts. Napoleon managed to beat the Bernese in 1798, but Canton Vaud joined the Swiss Confederation soon afterward, in 1803.) On our way downhill, we searched for an old, mechanized clock. We found the city history museum and huge square, which it was supposed to be near, but no Fontaine de la Justice, which it was supposed to be directly above. We spent so long looking for the clock that we ran out of time to see the old watchtower. Lots of Swiss towns have better rampart remnants, however, so I’ll see some later. We did pass by the cantonal gymnasium (secondary school), which was built circa 1590, during the Bernese occupation. What a place in which to learn. Finally, with only minutes to spare, we found Place de la Palud down a side street and behind some construction.
We stared at the clock as passersby gave us curious glances. The minutes ticked by: no mechanical horological celebration. Just as I was cursing and we were about to leave, a few minutes past the hour, it began. The clock boomed out a short story in German, and soldiers paraded by, followed by music and dancers. Neither of us could make out what was going on. We laughed so hard that we set out in the wrong direction, and only made it to the waterfront after a lengthy tour of non-touristy Lausanne. We knew which way the lake was, but we couldn’t make a left turn to get there until we hit the train tracks, then wound down the hill through a nice neighborhood and a park. The parks all have table-tennis and great sandboxes, but you’re supposed to train your dog to use the sandbox so you don’t have to pick up after it. Don’t play in Swiss sandboxes.We made it down to Ouchy just at sunset. Canuk and I walked along the lake and marina until we made it to the weathervane.
It’s a large C shape, and you can tell which way the wind is blowing only by walking out onto the pier and lining the C up with a column. We skipped that jaunt in favor of a pirate ship-shaped play structure. We made it to the Olympic museum right before it closed, but the grounds were just as interesting as the pricy exhibits. They’ve the current world record shot put, high jump, discus, et cetera, all set up. 
I marveled at the height of the pole vault bar. They also have some statuary and Chinese decorations, as they’re gearing up for the summer Olympics, and we had passed by some external exhibits on our long wander through Lausanne earlier. We enjoyed the Olympic flame and views of the lake before climbing back up to the train station. We fell asleep as we were whisked punctually back into German Switzerland. We returned to the Chalet at midnight, ready for a good sleep before we headed back to work in the morning.This is your bonus picture for today, since I didn't post any from my last snowboarding day. Piet Mondrian construction company! I wish I could see what they build with that.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Learning to snowboard, part three.
Canuk and I spent all morning on Bühlberg. It snowed at least fifteen centimeters while we were out, and we nearly had the place to ourselves. Silleren-Metsch and Lenk close on 13 April, so this is the last week and we figured we’d better ski/board to our hearts’ content while we still could, despite the weather. I think most Adelbodners will wait for another sunny day (e.g. tomorrow, they way the weather works around here). We had taken the first lift up of the morning, and it was completely whited out by the time we got to Bühlberg (via Silleren and Giles-Lavey). I was trying to get a feel for how far to lean over on the snowboard, but I couldn’t see the ground underneath me. I managed to lie down on the hillside at one point when I thought I was only barely tilting. I crashed into Canuk on that first run down Bühlberg after braving the easy ridge trail over from Tanzboden, but I improved quickly. (It helped that it stopped snowing quite so hard and I could see where I was going and even see Canuk on the piste, though she stayed behind me for an hour after I took her out.) I even managed the skicross trail by lunch time, though I fell on the hairpin turn and nearly wiped out on the third jump. After lunch, we boarded Lavey and Hahnenmoos for a while, then took Brenggen for kicks. T-bars are very intimate when you’re both on snowboards. I couldn’t imagine riding one with a goofy-footed stranger.
We could see the ground from the lift later in the day, and we could track our progress by following our tracks back up the mountain. Mine looked much better after I’d had some practice. We had to head in around three, since we were both tired from the long day on the pistes yesterday and fighting the powder all day today. My right leg was also starting to fail me, and I slipped off the piste at one point when I didn’t quite make a turn. I flew about two meters and landed seated, then got up and bumped over some crunchy whirls and jags where last night’s snow had hardened before getting enough speed to jump back up onto the main run. I also managed a full cartwheel on another trip down: I caught an edge, flipped over, pushed up into the snow with my palms, and landed on my board again. Sadly, Canuk didn’t catch it on film. It was too snowy for pictures in general, actually, so I'll spare you the usual shots of snowy mountains.
We could see the ground from the lift later in the day, and we could track our progress by following our tracks back up the mountain. Mine looked much better after I’d had some practice. We had to head in around three, since we were both tired from the long day on the pistes yesterday and fighting the powder all day today. My right leg was also starting to fail me, and I slipped off the piste at one point when I didn’t quite make a turn. I flew about two meters and landed seated, then got up and bumped over some crunchy whirls and jags where last night’s snow had hardened before getting enough speed to jump back up onto the main run. I also managed a full cartwheel on another trip down: I caught an edge, flipped over, pushed up into the snow with my palms, and landed on my board again. Sadly, Canuk didn’t catch it on film. It was too snowy for pictures in general, actually, so I'll spare you the usual shots of snowy mountains.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Adventures in ski land.
(For reference: Adelboden Piste Map)
Canuk and I got an early start today. We’ve been on every lift and piste in the Silleren-Metch area multiple times, so we headed over to Lenk today.
It’s in the next valley over, and you can’t walk there over the mountains due to its steepness and the intervening wildlife preserve. You can drive up our valley, around the side of the lake, and back down that valley, or you can go on skis. We headed up from Oey to Eselmoos, Bergläger, and then Sillerenbühl, skied Aebi a few times for good measure, and headed over to Geils. We tried to take a shortcut, but it was closed, so we took Bühlberg up and skied over to Metschstand. After riding that lift, we skied the ridge by Metschberg and caught the Metsch-Lenk gondola into Lenk valley. The bus took us to the Lenk-Stoss-Leiterli gondola, where we could get onto all the Lenk pistes. They had some good off-piste areas by Hasler, and we also did the slalom course set up between Wallegg and Mülkerblatten. Off-piste off the slalom course was deep, deep powder, so we fell a lot and laughed at ourselves. 
Lenk is fun because there’s a sheer drop of the far right side and the paths all cross each other, so you can dodge around the mountain all day, picking your run at the last second. It was pretty empty, so we tried a lot of jumps and off-piste skiing. We also zipped past someone’s alp (small mountain outpost, often used for hay storage in the summer), ducking under the eaves as we came around the far side. At the end of the day, we rode the Balman t-bar a few times. 
There’s a tunnel for kids to ski through, and someone had set up a steep jump after a fast side trail. We both made our first attempt, then crashed mightily on the second. I wasn’t trying to slow down on the trail (and there wasn’t much space to do so anyhow), and I flew about three meters off the top of the jump. When Canuk stopped laughing long enough to make her own attempt, she came off sideways and never got her board back under her. No injuries, though I did lose my hat & Sonnenbrille. These pictures are, of course, the mountains around Lenk.
To get home, we skied down Stoss, then took the bus back to Lenk-Metsch gondola and went up Metschberg.
We did most of the lifts on the way back, but you’re forced to ski at least Metschstand and Lavey, then take the red-black dropoff back to Silleren. If you can make it over fast enough, you can catch a black run and skip both Stand and Tanzboden. If you miss those lifts entirely, it’s back down to Aebi, which is fun in the late afternoon anyway. From Silleren, you can ski all the way down to Oey, in our home valley.
We had incredible weather and a ton of fun, so we’ll head out again tomorrow morning. I need to practice my snowboarding. We’re supposed to get a lot of snow again, and I’m better boarding in powder.
Canuk and I got an early start today. We’ve been on every lift and piste in the Silleren-Metch area multiple times, so we headed over to Lenk today.
It’s in the next valley over, and you can’t walk there over the mountains due to its steepness and the intervening wildlife preserve. You can drive up our valley, around the side of the lake, and back down that valley, or you can go on skis. We headed up from Oey to Eselmoos, Bergläger, and then Sillerenbühl, skied Aebi a few times for good measure, and headed over to Geils. We tried to take a shortcut, but it was closed, so we took Bühlberg up and skied over to Metschstand. After riding that lift, we skied the ridge by Metschberg and caught the Metsch-Lenk gondola into Lenk valley. The bus took us to the Lenk-Stoss-Leiterli gondola, where we could get onto all the Lenk pistes. They had some good off-piste areas by Hasler, and we also did the slalom course set up between Wallegg and Mülkerblatten. Off-piste off the slalom course was deep, deep powder, so we fell a lot and laughed at ourselves. 
Lenk is fun because there’s a sheer drop of the far right side and the paths all cross each other, so you can dodge around the mountain all day, picking your run at the last second. It was pretty empty, so we tried a lot of jumps and off-piste skiing. We also zipped past someone’s alp (small mountain outpost, often used for hay storage in the summer), ducking under the eaves as we came around the far side. At the end of the day, we rode the Balman t-bar a few times. 
There’s a tunnel for kids to ski through, and someone had set up a steep jump after a fast side trail. We both made our first attempt, then crashed mightily on the second. I wasn’t trying to slow down on the trail (and there wasn’t much space to do so anyhow), and I flew about three meters off the top of the jump. When Canuk stopped laughing long enough to make her own attempt, she came off sideways and never got her board back under her. No injuries, though I did lose my hat & Sonnenbrille. These pictures are, of course, the mountains around Lenk.To get home, we skied down Stoss, then took the bus back to Lenk-Metsch gondola and went up Metschberg.
We did most of the lifts on the way back, but you’re forced to ski at least Metschstand and Lavey, then take the red-black dropoff back to Silleren. If you can make it over fast enough, you can catch a black run and skip both Stand and Tanzboden. If you miss those lifts entirely, it’s back down to Aebi, which is fun in the late afternoon anyway. From Silleren, you can ski all the way down to Oey, in our home valley.We had incredible weather and a ton of fun, so we’ll head out again tomorrow morning. I need to practice my snowboarding. We’re supposed to get a lot of snow again, and I’m better boarding in powder.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Kandersteg night.
The volunteer family left today. They’ve done a lot of work, all told, work I’m glad I didn’t have to do. The three of them did a lot of odd jobs and small, annoying tasks, and they did them cheerfully while enjoying free room, board, and evening programs in the Alps. It seems like a worthwhile vacation to me. They took a few days off at the end of their stay to enjoy the area, and I think they’re going to hop around a bit before flying back to Texas. I mostly appreciated having a second woodchopper to help me split kindling, and I’m excited that they fixed the ping-pong table. Dutch and I had a raging table-tennis match last night. (I’m not supposed to call it ping-pong, as the proper name is, as the Aussies have informed us, table-tennis, but “table-tennis table” is too redundant for me.) We’re practicing up so we can beat up on the Kandersteg boys.
We took a staff night out to the Kandersteg International Scouting Centre (KISC) a couple of nights ago. We had a tour of their compound, then did introductions. They have about twenty-five or thirty staff members right now, to our eight, due to the size of KISC.
Their facilities are nice; they have more skis and a larger outdoor kitchen than we do, plus their staff don’t have to do their own laundry or clean anything. I still like the setup at our Chalet, though. It’s nice having a little family of nine of us, even if it means we’re on duty more often, and our place is vastly more beautiful than theirs. Also, we’re on the mountainside for easy hiking access whereas they’re in the river valley, we have a ton more ski runs than they, and their uniform is a bright pink shirt. Anyway, we’re due to get another four or so staff members soon (kitchen, maintenance, programming, head manager), so things should settle down around here. Oh, and their whole staff is volunteer, except for the head manager, but we get paid, even if it’s not much.
We split up into five teams for a trivia game after the introductions. They’ve an international staff as well, which made for great fun during the game. They had an international pop culture round, a round about KISC and our center, a round about Switzerland, and a photo round. We had to know things like the highest peak in CH, how many cantons CH has, whether the picture was of Bob Dylan of Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan, in which eye their Brazilian staff member is blind, where the Chalet cat was when she got lost a month ago, and the KISC manager’s middle name.
My team won by a single point and was awarded giant bars of Toblerone, as well as other candies. Everyone was treated to an all-night dessert buffet (during which SAussie dared me to have one of each and I certainly complied) and two free drinks. I tried another Swiss beer and a cider.
After the quiz, we adjourned to their hangout room, where we had a table-football tournament. (You can’t call it fuseball in German-speaking countries, because Fussball just means football/soccer. They’re very keen on “table” sports in the rest of the world, though they do go in for air hockey instead of table-hockey, I believe.) We played Americas v Europe, Sweden v Finland, Germany v England, USA v Australia, Netherlands v Southern Hemisphere, etc., until we ran out of combinations of teams with at least two people in the category. I’d forgotten how difficult it is to play with one person per dowel, all four of you crammed along the side of the table and trying to see what’s going on all at once. Overall, the Swedish boys and the Netherlands team of Dutch from our place and SAussie’s boyfriend from KISC proved to be the best, I think. Germany also did well, as did any team with more KISCers on it, since most of our Chalet crew hadn’t played in years.
We then adjourned to the fireplace room, their actual staff room. Their Korean staff member was turning twenty-one that night, and the KISCers gave him a bottle of sake. I thought they said that someone’s Japanese mother made it back home. We shared it around during lively conversation, and then someone dared the Kandersteg boys (and their couple of girls) to sing their KISC song. They said they would if we sang ours, but they didn’t all know theirs, so they had to run off and practice. We took the opportunity to escape out the window so that we wouldn’t have to sing.
They had scaffolding up, so we climbed down and crept around to watch them learn their song through the window. Their Brazilian staff member helped us learn it quickly, and we made up our own verse. They eventually found us outside, so we hopped back in and sang their song to them as they prepared to begin in the history room. They put on a good performance after all, and we didn’t sing ours, promising a rendition if they came to visit us soon. Another KISCer produced a bottle of mystery alcohol from some other country, distilled by a friend’s friend. It was light brown, sweet, and strong, and we left them to it after a bit. We had to get home and start practicing our table-tennis for next time. We’re also planning a capture the flag match on our territory. We’ve fewer streams, more trees, more hillside, and we know the area.
I’m off to a campfire now. The adorable British kids have promised to teach me some amusing English songs. I’d best have a relaxing evening, as I have three days off and I want to make the most of them.
Lastly, I got up early this morning to take a few photos of the fresh snowfall, so here those are. The water trough is traditional on Swiss farms. They keep them running year ‘round for thirsty hikers. And cows, of course.
We took a staff night out to the Kandersteg International Scouting Centre (KISC) a couple of nights ago. We had a tour of their compound, then did introductions. They have about twenty-five or thirty staff members right now, to our eight, due to the size of KISC.
Their facilities are nice; they have more skis and a larger outdoor kitchen than we do, plus their staff don’t have to do their own laundry or clean anything. I still like the setup at our Chalet, though. It’s nice having a little family of nine of us, even if it means we’re on duty more often, and our place is vastly more beautiful than theirs. Also, we’re on the mountainside for easy hiking access whereas they’re in the river valley, we have a ton more ski runs than they, and their uniform is a bright pink shirt. Anyway, we’re due to get another four or so staff members soon (kitchen, maintenance, programming, head manager), so things should settle down around here. Oh, and their whole staff is volunteer, except for the head manager, but we get paid, even if it’s not much.We split up into five teams for a trivia game after the introductions. They’ve an international staff as well, which made for great fun during the game. They had an international pop culture round, a round about KISC and our center, a round about Switzerland, and a photo round. We had to know things like the highest peak in CH, how many cantons CH has, whether the picture was of Bob Dylan of Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan, in which eye their Brazilian staff member is blind, where the Chalet cat was when she got lost a month ago, and the KISC manager’s middle name.
My team won by a single point and was awarded giant bars of Toblerone, as well as other candies. Everyone was treated to an all-night dessert buffet (during which SAussie dared me to have one of each and I certainly complied) and two free drinks. I tried another Swiss beer and a cider.After the quiz, we adjourned to their hangout room, where we had a table-football tournament. (You can’t call it fuseball in German-speaking countries, because Fussball just means football/soccer. They’re very keen on “table” sports in the rest of the world, though they do go in for air hockey instead of table-hockey, I believe.) We played Americas v Europe, Sweden v Finland, Germany v England, USA v Australia, Netherlands v Southern Hemisphere, etc., until we ran out of combinations of teams with at least two people in the category. I’d forgotten how difficult it is to play with one person per dowel, all four of you crammed along the side of the table and trying to see what’s going on all at once. Overall, the Swedish boys and the Netherlands team of Dutch from our place and SAussie’s boyfriend from KISC proved to be the best, I think. Germany also did well, as did any team with more KISCers on it, since most of our Chalet crew hadn’t played in years.
We then adjourned to the fireplace room, their actual staff room. Their Korean staff member was turning twenty-one that night, and the KISCers gave him a bottle of sake. I thought they said that someone’s Japanese mother made it back home. We shared it around during lively conversation, and then someone dared the Kandersteg boys (and their couple of girls) to sing their KISC song. They said they would if we sang ours, but they didn’t all know theirs, so they had to run off and practice. We took the opportunity to escape out the window so that we wouldn’t have to sing.
They had scaffolding up, so we climbed down and crept around to watch them learn their song through the window. Their Brazilian staff member helped us learn it quickly, and we made up our own verse. They eventually found us outside, so we hopped back in and sang their song to them as they prepared to begin in the history room. They put on a good performance after all, and we didn’t sing ours, promising a rendition if they came to visit us soon. Another KISCer produced a bottle of mystery alcohol from some other country, distilled by a friend’s friend. It was light brown, sweet, and strong, and we left them to it after a bit. We had to get home and start practicing our table-tennis for next time. We’re also planning a capture the flag match on our territory. We’ve fewer streams, more trees, more hillside, and we know the area.I’m off to a campfire now. The adorable British kids have promised to teach me some amusing English songs. I’d best have a relaxing evening, as I have three days off and I want to make the most of them.
Lastly, I got up early this morning to take a few photos of the fresh snowfall, so here those are. The water trough is traditional on Swiss farms. They keep them running year ‘round for thirsty hikers. And cows, of course.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
I've plans for the future, just you wait.
I really wanted to play tricks all day today, but I just never got around to it. I will have to save up my ideas for my last week here. Canuk says April Fools/All Fools Day ends at noon, anyway.
Most importantly, I got mail today! Thanks, Mom. Everyone else was green-eyed over my package, so I shared my news clips around the table.
The other highlights of the day included chopping hundreds of pieces of kindling with the volunteer dad, a goofy first-aid training courtesy of the volunteer mom, and a night hike.
I led it, and I pushed the group hard up the hill so we could reach the falls before we had to turn around. The ginger UK kids kept right on my heels and taught me British children's knowledge. 
I had a great time chatting with them. We'd just had daylight savings, too, so we got to watch the sun drop over the row of mountains across the valley from a different perspective than usual. It was a sharply clear night, and the stars came out in batches, a few at a time and then in great bursts. We all need to brush up on our astronomy, but we had a laugh while making up constellations. 
The hike ends with a short, steep hill, atop which you can see the town again. Even so, it doesn't give off much light pollution.
I've got a streak of work days coming up, and then a three-day break. I get a couple of three-day "weekends" this month, actually, which is perfect for traveling. I want to hit the pistes a few more times before the season ends. With three days off, I can both ski and travel. The farthest reaches of Switzerland are perhaps four hours away by train, so I can see quite a bit in a day. With an overnight stay, I've got all the time in the world for sightseeing.
Most importantly, I got mail today! Thanks, Mom. Everyone else was green-eyed over my package, so I shared my news clips around the table.
The other highlights of the day included chopping hundreds of pieces of kindling with the volunteer dad, a goofy first-aid training courtesy of the volunteer mom, and a night hike.
I led it, and I pushed the group hard up the hill so we could reach the falls before we had to turn around. The ginger UK kids kept right on my heels and taught me British children's knowledge. 
I had a great time chatting with them. We'd just had daylight savings, too, so we got to watch the sun drop over the row of mountains across the valley from a different perspective than usual. It was a sharply clear night, and the stars came out in batches, a few at a time and then in great bursts. We all need to brush up on our astronomy, but we had a laugh while making up constellations. 
The hike ends with a short, steep hill, atop which you can see the town again. Even so, it doesn't give off much light pollution.I've got a streak of work days coming up, and then a three-day break. I get a couple of three-day "weekends" this month, actually, which is perfect for traveling. I want to hit the pistes a few more times before the season ends. With three days off, I can both ski and travel. The farthest reaches of Switzerland are perhaps four hours away by train, so I can see quite a bit in a day. With an overnight stay, I've got all the time in the world for sightseeing.
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