"Can you be-lieve it, eh?"

So this all started as just a ski trip, so I better share a bit more on that.  But wait - first there were a few moments of levity that really need to be memorialized.  All involve skiing, though that's debatable and I'm sure Andreas would strongly disagree.  I'm not sure I'll capture every detail, and unfortunately (or fortunately for some of us), the go-pro's were turned off.

MINE

The first that comes to mind, and the nearest and dearest to me, was a tumble I took mid-week.  I generally assumed the position of "papa bear" on the slopes - with Andreas in the lead of our large, 9-person posse, I positioned myself behind everyone else so that I could keep us together, gently keep people moving, and maybe assist anyone who may fall, lose a pole or ski, or whatever.

We stayed on-piste most of the week, but at one point Andreas took a small group off-piste for a short bit (though it was just barely off).  There was an icy, moguled slope we hit and I watched our group go down safely and took some video with my phone.  I waited too long to put my phone away and suddenly Andreas, Izzie, Alex, and (someone else?) were at the bottom staring at me.  I took off still putting my phone away, before I even had my poles separated.  Not sure what I was thinking, although whatever it was, I was thinking it with confidence!  Because the slope was steep, glazed in ice, and well-moguled.  And for some reason, I decided to begin my descent out of control.  And I never gained it.

Slicing back and forth the whole way down until I was maybe 30 yards above the group - my confidence then escaped me and I inexplicably laid back too far in a turn and began some awkward tumble sequence that I still can't understand.  It was like I layed on my back at who-knows-what-miles-per-hour, and then started rolling.  My skis stayed together and on my feet.  At one point in time, I remember looking up at the sky for a millisecond and seeing both skis rotate across the clouds, in perfect parallel symmetry.  I then landed on them and stood upright and made it to the bottom before the group stopped laughing at me.

On the gondola I asked Andreas to rate the mishap on a 1 to 10 scale, based on his many years of guiding casual skiiers.  He awarded me a 10, commenting that "at least it was graceful".  He also remarked that the move should have a name - backturn or something like that - but we didn't come up with a good one.

MY WIFE'S

I'm not sure how Suzy will feel about me sharing this one.  She is so thankful that there is no known video of the following circumstances.  I only have vague flashbacks of looking down a steep 15' slope while in a lift line, and seeing her laying on her stomach with skis and poles in tow, desperately (and I mean desperately) trying to climb up the snow bank to join the rest of us in the line.  But I'll try to piece together sufficient details.

OK - I'd intended to narrate the whole sequence - but the mental image of the above is really the punchline, so I won't clog up the blog with too much minutia.  Hopefully you get the gist.

She had stopped at a chalet to drop Paige and others off for a break, and then just missed the turn to the lift line where the rest of us were gathered in a bunch.  She did stop herself at the bottom of the hill just past the lift, which is where she found herself needing to climb the steep and snowy bank.

Many people were in the queue, and many enjoyed watching Suzy's adventure.  I probably wasn't the most noble husband because not only did I not scurry down the bank to help her, I'm not sure I even let anyone know I was acquainted with her.  (I'M JUST KIDDING - I WAS TOO FAR IN THE LIFT LINE TO BE ABLE TO HELP IN TIME).  Andreas of course took it in stride - "Help her, Alex," he said (in a way that I remember as kind of like Obi-Wan-Kenobe - "use the force, Luke..."), because Alex was closest to her.  And like a good son he did so.  The rest of us just watched her slowly crawl to the top, now with a bit of assistance.

She, too, made it up in time, back on her skis, to catch most of us still laughing.

KIRSTIN'S

Someone somewhere may still be laughing about this one, albeit in a different language.  I think it was before Suzy's mishap, but in the same lift line where Kirstin somehow reverted to the most novice of B-movie skiiers by sliding, on flat ground, and in slow motion - into the backside of a woman in front of her.  I actually only looked after they made physical contact, and then I still think I watched her advance in slow motion for another 2 minutes or so.  The woman probably thought she was being taken on a very short, slow, awkward ride.

Rob called it "reverse spooning", and I still can't figure out how after over 15 years of skiing Kirstin ended up in this unfortunately basic situation.  I know she can't either, although I think her laughing fit triggered it, and it definitely rendered her temporarily helpless until the woman must have bucked her off (or something - I still don't know how they eventually separated).

I wrote this section on the plane back, and am editing it a bit before work on Monday...sadly.  I've got a few more posts to share, as we're re-entering the real world.  Wait, were all of these wonderful people we just spent a week of our lives with just a dream?  Andreas, Erica, Romain, Ed, Suzanne... Poppy??  Somehow, I think the real versions of them were better than any dream could have created... and Zermatt as well.  The skiing, maybe not so much because of the wind.  But the negative of that was far overcome with the rest of the experience.....

TISSOT TIME

How could travel to, within, and from a country be so comfortable?  Sad to be leaving Confederation Helvetica / CH / Switzerland, but it sure is seamless.  From the acclaimed efficiency of the rail system, to the ease of navigating the Zurich airport, to the friendly, helpful nature of airport terminal staff (sorry - flughafen), to the ease with which we sailed through security... what a pleasure.  The only negative is that we are leaving.

I want to move on - but before I do - I must share that I am on the plane leaving, with my iPad on my lap capturing these words - and I look at the clock and it reads 2:18.  We are moving on the runway, picking up speed toward our takeoff spot, on a plane scheduled to depart at 2:20 (14:20).  How fitting that our departure perfectly aligns with the swiss reputation of timeliness and efficiency.  What a cool country!

Our Zermatt ski guide Andreas would probably smile at this observation - and say to himself "then why-y did you show up late to ski each morning??  You know you're in Switzerland, you know we're on time, then (all the kids on the trip can fill in this blank) were you thinking???"

Maybe if I got this watch - which I obsessed about all week thanks to great advertising (since when have I cared about a watch?) - I would have been able to coordinate the timing of our group better.

Let's go skiing!

We have been keeping a running list of quotes and sayings from our remarkable ski guide Andreas Fux.  Some of them probably need to be kept out of this family record - but many more of them we will want to record for posterity and remember for a long time.  His presence has been yet another pleasant surprise of this trip.  One of his standards, when our group was deliberating where to go, or we were coming off a pause - has been just a simple "Let's go skiing!", kind of in a "..and then we're off" sort-of-style.

So, oh yeah - we are in the Swiss Alps, and this all did start with the "annual ski trip" - so a few reflections on our time on the slopes.  Truth be told, this week brought historically bad weather to this resort.  Hurricane force winds resulted in major lift and piste closures throughout the week, and while we did get several days and half-days of quality skiing in, we also experienced abnormal congestion and wait times on several of them due to all of the wind-driven closures.  Andreas on several occasions told us he hasn't seen it "this bad" in 30 years.  But we did get to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise (on the only day it was open), and spent quality time in other areas on other days.  But for the true Swiss Alps ski experience - we may have to return again....

Here are a few pictures.

Preparing to head out with our legendary Ski Guide Andreas Fux

A "catered" vacation?? "With board"??

So many of the lodging options we considered in Switzerland were quoted "with board," or with "half-board," it threw us for a bit of a loop.  Part of our travel enjoyment is usually sampling different restaurants and food, and there appeared to be many good options here in Zermatt.  Chalet Ulysse, which is where we landed (and from where I am sitting right now in the kitchen typing this blog), even came with a dedicated Chef (who, as I type, is working hard 8 feet from me preparing our last dinner of the trip.... but I'll get to that).

We didn't know what to think, and considered whether we should only look at places that allowed "a la carte" or (no catering).  What kind of food would the catering provide?  Plates of lasagna?  Sandwiches?  "Bulk food"?  Who knows?  We still don't really know - because we lucked out.

Our hosts - Erica and Romain - have catered our vacation with a level of quality we could not have found with restaurant or a la carte dining.  And we haven't had to grocery shop, cook, or do dishes!  The benefit of this freedom surprised us.  And the quality has been superb - with no offense towards the restaurant, our weakest meal of the week was the one we had last night at one of the finest restaurants in town - on Erica and Romain's night off!  Here they are with most of our crew before dinner a few nights ago:

What an unexpected treat this has been.  I wrote about one of Romain's apres ski cakes the other day, here are a few pictures of other things he and Erica have prepared throughout the week.  Fine dining for certain.

Rice pudding!

Beef wellington with roasted oven potatoes

 French toast with strawberries and caramel sauce

 Smoked salmon with asparagus specialties

 Pan-seared cod with black olive polenta

Swiss chocolate cake!

This may be the most pleasant surprise of this trip.  How can we do a traditional vacation now?

MATTERHORN

OK... what a day of contrasts.  Just a quick post this afternoon to get this picture up!  We woke up to this view from Chalet Ulysse this morning.  WOW.  The Matterhorn at 8 am or so is just such an inspirational sight.  The only problem today was - if you look a bit closer, you can see the wind kicking up around the base.  Most lifts were shut down either all day or for critical parts.  So - we're glad we got some good skiing in this week, but the party is now over - the ski party that is.  Off to see the village!

JACK OF ALL TRADES

OK - even big boys get upset when they get a splinter.  Jack decided to try to pilfer a piece of wood from the Matterhorn Museum Zermatlantis today as a free souvenir.  

Unfortunately, it kind of stung hidden beneath the first layer of skin on his right hand.  When we got back to Chalet Ulysse, he had to "come clean", with the help of a bucket of soapy water. 

Jack has had quite the week already, seasoned traveler that he is.  Yesterday he raced off to ski school in big sister Sophia's boots (but kept his own skis).  Committed father Rob sacrificed a fairly good ski day with master guide Andres in order to secure new boots for both Sophia and Jack, and then track Jack down in ski school on another part of the mountain.  It was all fairly successful, but the adults didn't see Rob all day on the slopes.

This morning in the confusion created by the windy weather, Jack nearly missed his start time.  Rob and I raced him down to the school and Rob took him downstairs to gear him up.  I took a call from Andres on Rob's phone near the gondola, only to miss Rob and Jack coming back up from the storage room.  Because they were late, they raced off to the drop off spot.  I found out later that Rob got Jack on the bus - but not his boots!  So Rob jumped on the next bus with the boots, but no phone, and I was left upstairs dreading having to tell Kirstin and Suzy that I somehow ended up with Rob's phone and he was disconnected trying to connect Jack with a teacher who was thought to be somewhere Rob would never figure out on his phone!

Alas, it all worked out, and Rob and I even enjoyed a few coffees in the nearby Hotel Berghoff restaurant.  Turned some stress into total relaxation.

But back to Jack.  He got done with ski school today at 3 pm and told his Dad he had no food - only hot chocolate!  Language barrier?  Forgetful instructor?  Too much fun on the slopes?  Couldn't be that - Jack said he didn't even ski!  Well, with the weather that wasn't too surprising, but the no food thing was troubling.

Enter Kirstin.  Straight to the ski school to inquire about the day.  Staff was very nice and responsive, and immediately checked into how the day was spent.  Calls to instructors and dining hall staff led to the discovery that not only did JOAT (Jack of all trades) have one helping of pomes frites and chicken - he actually had two!  and lots of ketchup!  "He was so hungry!"  When confronted with this new information while sharing pizza and a banana float sundae with his Dad at the nearest Zermatt restaurant (Rob raced him there immediately fearing hunger pangs) - JOAT said "oh yeah".  Pretty good stuff.

JOAT (Jack Of All Trades) with his pizza and the toy he was rewarded with for all of his pain and suffering.

thar' she blows...

so we woke up staring at this beauty (and there are at least 8 distinct vantage points from Chalet Ulysse where you can enjoy a view like this on a day like today - we picked the right spot to stay for our week in Zermatt...)

only to realize there may be no skiing today!  High winds lead to lift closures lead to avalanche risks etc etc - and so we've been reconciling the contrast of the beautiful scenery with the dangers present, all leading to "no skiing for us" today... and then we remember we're in Zermatt, Switzerland - so we quickly get over any feelings of self-pity.  One look at the Matterhorn - and it's hard to feel sorry about anything.  Not to mention the luxury of the chalet we chose, the character of this village, and the company we're able to enjoy this week.  How lucky we are!  But here is the map at the gondola that started all of our emotional adjustments....

I don't think you can see this very well, but lot of red X's, in fact red X's on nearly everything.  And the message board on top tells you how fast the wind is blowing - 140 km/hour at the worst location!  So we're going to maximize the day in Zermatt.  It's funny - but I think we kind of felt guilty telling our masterful guide Andres that we weren't going to at least try something on the slopes today!