Swiss Ski Season

With spring right around the corner (perhaps?), Switzerland continues to enjoy its coldest and snowiest winter in over 40 years. In early November the snowfalls started in earnest and have barely relented since, piling up to twice the average annual depth. But don't worry about us (were you?), because to say that Switzerland is enjoying this winter is no euphemism--everyone here is ecstatic. Although the snow melts quickly in the city flatlands near the large lakes, such as Lake Zurich and Lake Geneva, it continues to accumulate across the vast Alpine heights and create possibly the best ski season anyone here can remember. And as we're finally learning this year, forget entirely about cheese, chocolate and Rolexes...this country is absolutely all about skiing.

As new arrivals to Switzerland in Nov 2007, we prioritized settling a few million lifestyle items over skiing that first winter. Without skis, friends, a car or a clue where to start, the thought of a weekend in the mountains instead of, say, drearily searching for new furniture, seemed a touch ludicrous. Ah, but the game had changed come Nov 2008, eh? After a year in Europe with our feet replanted partially-solidly underneath, we laid the groundwork for investigating the hubbub. Still carless but now comfortably employing the bus and hourly rental car service, we found a far-flung suburban discount ski outlet (discount is still an oxymoron in expensive Switzerland, but we saved 700 Francs at the very least) and each bought the whole kit--fancy composite carving skis, boots, pants, ski socks, goggles, gloves, helmets (very trendy), you name it.

So adorned, we sat around the apartment waiting for snow to fall and the phone to ring--and wouldn't you know, they did. Repeatedly. For reference, the last time we skied was two days over Thanksgiving weekend 2004 (an awesome trip to Whistler, British Columbia) and, at least for myself, less than half a dozen days prior to that in my life (Steph grew up skiing in MN and is much more experienced) . Now in the last three months, I've been out 10 total days on six occasions, still mild by Swiss standards, with at least two more excursions in the works.

This tiny country--half the size of South Carolina--features 157 distinct ski resorts. In the winter, it's not a stretch to imagine the entire Swiss transportation infrastructure built to accommodate their national pastime. Even reasonably-popular ski areas situate one or more lifts directly adjacent to or a short walk from a main train station; buses fill the gaps between resorts and several towns are even completely car-free. It's therefore quite commonplace (and we still find hilarious, although we'd like to try it soon) to see people fully geared-up on a weekday morning, clunking out of their city apartments in those terribly awkward ski boots to a local bus stop, then clunking through the busy Bahnhof, clunking onto any number of trains and then off in some resort town--100 miles door-to-gondola, no street shoes necessary.

I'll try to tell some slope stories next time, we have a few. In the meantime, here are some pics from several outings this season: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=2hd8fyj.cljaeiaj&x=0&y=1pik12&localeid=en_US