Ski Day

Day four

We were up early today. The kids had planned to ski half a day so I was planning for an eleven o’clock departure but when we rolled out about eight we got the bums rush for a full days skiing because the weather was just “too good”. Pete and Scott, who both suffer from the energy gene, headed up the hill right away and the rest of us followed as soon as we could get organized. It’s about an hour from the house, to the ski rental shop, to the bottom of the gondola, to the next gondola, to the top of the hill. When I say top of the hill, I mean, “the top of the world”. It gives a whole new meaning to “deep in the mountains. The top of the hill is Schilthorn, the ski resort above Murren, and about as majestic a spot as you’ll ever visit. Everything around you is snow-covered mountains as far as the eye can see and the weather we had today was severe clear. It must be close to the view from the top of Mt. Everest. These mountains are fairly young with as many cliffs as there are slopes. The valleys are thousands of feet below and so precipitous that some get sunlight only a couple of hours a day. Transportation up is by cable car, cog railway or both. It may be that there is comparable scenery in the world but I doubt that any are better. Jamie rode up with us and stayed in the revolving restaurant with a book and hot chocolate until we joined her for lunch. I’m so glad that we passed this way. It was magic.

I loved skiing with the kids. They were all patient with me and it was so wonderful to see what great skiers they are. They are all much better than I’ve ever been. Even on these world class mountains they are at ease and even aggressive with the challenging areas. Jamie and I rode the gondola down together. The kids skied down and stopped at one of the many “huts” to have a snack and a beer. We met up with Andres at lunch and he skied with them the rest of the day. We hiked into town for a very Swiss dinner and may have driven some folks out early with our stories and laughter. Jamie and I walked back to the chalet under the stars while the kids went to a disco to hoot a little more. Remember the “70’s discos”? ……..still here in the Alps. Off to bed a little sore from my first days skiing in a number of years. Another wonderful day.

Here are some more photos, mostly from today