Yesterday I went skiing at Hoch-Ybrig with Lilli, one of my colleagues who I also went to ski school with. We chose Hoch-Ybrig because it is quite close to Zurich (less than 1.5 hours by train) and it had a good number of blue pisten. (The system here is blue=easiest, red=middle, and black=hard.) We wanted to get a little more practice before our big ski weekend next week, especially because we didn't have a lot of time on the actual piste during ski school.
We got up bright and early, and were at the lift station by 9.30. I have to say that it is nice not to have to travel on the trains with skiing gear. Pretty much everyone else on the train was wrangling skis or snowboards, poles, boots (or wearing the boots, which is even worse to me- it is so hard to walk in those things!), helmet, and a backpack. I was happy to only have my backpack and helmet to worry about, although I have to say that, once again, Swiss public transportation is fantastic. The trains all have ski racks in the winter (which are replaced with bike racks in the summer), and the buses have pull-behind trailers for the skis and snowboards. Amazing!
We rented our skis and such, and then hit the slopes. By the way, we are in the middle of a cold snap, so it was about 8 F and windy on the mountain. (As in so cold that my water bottle froze and my iPhone literally froze and wouldn't work until it warmed up...) We were absolutely freezing going up the chair lift! Also, it was our first time really on a chair lift, so that was exciting. I think we definitely provided some amusement for the more experienced guests.
We survived our first run, which was a feat of no small proportions. It was really steep, and definitely much more intense than the blue piste that we experienced at Laax. When we were skiing at Laax, we had time to think about turning and slowing down and form, while as at Hoch-Ybrig I just tried to stay alive and in quasi-control, with more or less success. I really felt like I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, although I did stay on my skis.
After a few times up and down, we decided to go up a different chair lift and get a coffee at the top to warm up, because we were basically numb. Unfortunately, we got on the wrong lift and ended up at a top with red pisten as our only option. Yikes!
At the top, we saw a skier dressed up like a tschäggättä (my best guess, based on some internet research, although he also looked a little like a creature from Fraggle Rock), which is a carnival-related phenomenon. From what I can understand, he wanders around at carnival and throws soot on people. So, this person was on skis and dressed in head-to-toe fur and with a full-head mask, and instead of poles he carried some sort of fir switch. And instead of sooting people he skied up and down the hill powdering people and shaking a cowbell. Oh, Switzerland. Sometimes you are so strange!
We fortified ourselves with warm drinks and recovered feeling in our toes before tackling the red slope, which, I am happy to say, we did with more or less success. Although I was quite happy to avoid that hill for the rest of the time. With that traumatic episode out of the way, we got on the correct chair lift to Spiristock and had lunch at the top.
We really only got brief glimpses of the mountains around, as it was quite foggy at the start and got worse as the day progressed, sometimes even snowing a little bit. This made it hard to see follow the piste (thank goodness for those neon orange stakes that tell you when you're about to go off-piste), but the snow was really powdery and quite nice, I think.
After lunch, we went down a new blue run, and this one was more our speed. It was longer and not quite so steep or busy, so we could practice what we had learned in ski school under a little more control. The steepest part of this run was at the very bottom right under the chair lift, at which point I was mostly going really fast and rocking the largest snowplow that has (possibly) ever been seen. I am pretty sure that people were wondering what on earth I thought I was doing, but I did stay alive!
We both enjoyed the afternoon run a lot more, as it was calmer and a little warmer and we weren't afraid of dying at every minute. We left around 16.00 to head back to Zurich and were home by dinner time. I love how easy it is to spend a day in the mountains! And I am also thankful to have a skiing buddy that is at the same level. It just makes things so much nicer to have company!
Based on this experience I have come to several conclusions. First, I really need to take some more skiing lessons, which, thankfully, we already have planned for the upcoming ski weekend. Second, skiing when it is really cold is a challenge. And third, skiing must get more fun when you're better at it and not in fear for your life all the time (at least I hope so), so I need to keep at it, I think.
**Some photos courtesy of Lilli's iPhone.
We got up bright and early, and were at the lift station by 9.30. I have to say that it is nice not to have to travel on the trains with skiing gear. Pretty much everyone else on the train was wrangling skis or snowboards, poles, boots (or wearing the boots, which is even worse to me- it is so hard to walk in those things!), helmet, and a backpack. I was happy to only have my backpack and helmet to worry about, although I have to say that, once again, Swiss public transportation is fantastic. The trains all have ski racks in the winter (which are replaced with bike racks in the summer), and the buses have pull-behind trailers for the skis and snowboards. Amazing!
We rented our skis and such, and then hit the slopes. By the way, we are in the middle of a cold snap, so it was about 8 F and windy on the mountain. (As in so cold that my water bottle froze and my iPhone literally froze and wouldn't work until it warmed up...) We were absolutely freezing going up the chair lift! Also, it was our first time really on a chair lift, so that was exciting. I think we definitely provided some amusement for the more experienced guests.
We survived our first run, which was a feat of no small proportions. It was really steep, and definitely much more intense than the blue piste that we experienced at Laax. When we were skiing at Laax, we had time to think about turning and slowing down and form, while as at Hoch-Ybrig I just tried to stay alive and in quasi-control, with more or less success. I really felt like I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, although I did stay on my skis.
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| Lilli at the top before the first run. |
After a few times up and down, we decided to go up a different chair lift and get a coffee at the top to warm up, because we were basically numb. Unfortunately, we got on the wrong lift and ended up at a top with red pisten as our only option. Yikes!
At the top, we saw a skier dressed up like a tschäggättä (my best guess, based on some internet research, although he also looked a little like a creature from Fraggle Rock), which is a carnival-related phenomenon. From what I can understand, he wanders around at carnival and throws soot on people. So, this person was on skis and dressed in head-to-toe fur and with a full-head mask, and instead of poles he carried some sort of fir switch. And instead of sooting people he skied up and down the hill powdering people and shaking a cowbell. Oh, Switzerland. Sometimes you are so strange!
We fortified ourselves with warm drinks and recovered feeling in our toes before tackling the red slope, which, I am happy to say, we did with more or less success. Although I was quite happy to avoid that hill for the rest of the time. With that traumatic episode out of the way, we got on the correct chair lift to Spiristock and had lunch at the top.
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| Warm drinkies! |
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| About to tackle the red piste! |
We really only got brief glimpses of the mountains around, as it was quite foggy at the start and got worse as the day progressed, sometimes even snowing a little bit. This made it hard to see follow the piste (thank goodness for those neon orange stakes that tell you when you're about to go off-piste), but the snow was really powdery and quite nice, I think.
After lunch, we went down a new blue run, and this one was more our speed. It was longer and not quite so steep or busy, so we could practice what we had learned in ski school under a little more control. The steepest part of this run was at the very bottom right under the chair lift, at which point I was mostly going really fast and rocking the largest snowplow that has (possibly) ever been seen. I am pretty sure that people were wondering what on earth I thought I was doing, but I did stay alive!
We both enjoyed the afternoon run a lot more, as it was calmer and a little warmer and we weren't afraid of dying at every minute. We left around 16.00 to head back to Zurich and were home by dinner time. I love how easy it is to spend a day in the mountains! And I am also thankful to have a skiing buddy that is at the same level. It just makes things so much nicer to have company!
Based on this experience I have come to several conclusions. First, I really need to take some more skiing lessons, which, thankfully, we already have planned for the upcoming ski weekend. Second, skiing when it is really cold is a challenge. And third, skiing must get more fun when you're better at it and not in fear for your life all the time (at least I hope so), so I need to keep at it, I think.
**Some photos courtesy of Lilli's iPhone.
