So my mom and I have been talking about skiing in Switzerland for years now, and it finally finally happened! One of her Swiss friends suggested the tiny town of Champéry as a destination, and everything fell into place.
I set off last Wednesday afternoon, following my last class. Unfortunately, train #1 (from Strasbourg to Basel, Switzerland) started the afternoon's bad luck when it decided to break down in Colmar. Everyone was ushered off to wait on the platform for the next train heading to Basel to arrive (train #2)... and it showed up an hour later. So of course, I missed my connecting train in Basel, and had to take a completely different route. Train #3 was from Basel to Bern, and it arrived a full seven minutes late, giving me only one minute to run to my connecting train. Train #4 (from Bern to Lausanne) was so full that after walking through 8 different train cars without finding a single empty seat, I just gave up and sat on the floor near the exit doors. Train #5 (from Lausanne to Aigle) was also late, and I almost missed it. Then I had a 40 minute wait in Aigle for the tiny mountain train that was to take me to Champéry. Unfortunately, this little two-car train decided to stop for 10 or 15 minute "breaks" several times throughout the trip--making it almost an hour late--and, finally, it broke down for good about 4 towns away from Champéry. The conductor apologized and called a taxi for us -- me and four other cheerfully confused passengers.
The taxi dropped me right off at the hotel (Le National) at 9:30 Wednesday night, where I met my mom nearly eight hours after I had left Strasbourg. She had arrived in Champéry much earlier on Wednesday, and had already picked out a restaurant for us to eat at... less than a minute's walk from our hotel! We had a fantastic dinner: salad (with a tiny cherry tomato rabbit), mushroom risotto, and wine.
Thursday morning was when we hit the slopes, but not very early. First came a long, leisurely breakfast, an hour of figuring out what to wear, and a ski rental. Although it's quite a small village, the best part about Champéry is that it is located in the heart of what is known as Les Portes du Soleil, the second-largest ski area in the world, encompassing 14 valleys, 400 miles of slopes, and 200 ski lifts and spreading across two countries--France and Switzerland. There was a cable car onto the slopes just a three-minute bus ride away from our hotel, bringing us up 2,000 meters into the mountains for immediate access to the slopes.
And the views from every slope were absolutely incredible.
I've been skiing before (in Vermont and Pennsylvania), but neither can even begin to compare to skiing in Switzerland. The views were jaw-dropping--I took over 100 photos the first day of skiing alone--and the trails were long, sometimes 20 minutes to get back to the chair lift! And the weather... it wasn't even remotely cold! Seriously, my mom and I were dressed way too warmly for skiing: we were both sweating! I saw people skiing in snow pants and long-sleeved shirts, and that's it! I didn't wear my gloves once, there was honestly no need to do so. How different that is from Vermont skiing, where I remember icy biting winds, freezing on every chairlift despite wearing six layers, and sucking all the warmth from my hand warmers within minutes! In fact, the threat of becoming sun-burnt was a much more realistic worry than being cold!
What's more is that my mom and I ate outside for every lunch! We were on top of mountains, 6,000+ feet up, surrounded by snow and eating on the outside decks of all the cafes, not even a bit chilly! Totally normal occurance in Swiss skiing, apparently. For goodness' sake, everyone else was eating outside as well, splitting bottles of their favorite red wine (of course) and eating fancy cheese plates or fondues! That was my favorite part, the eating outside.
Snow quality was icy in the mornings and a little mushy by mid-afternoon, especially near the bottom of every slope, but for the most part, it was lovely. However, les Portes du Soleil were definitely not created for beginners! I've been skiing since I was 5 years old, and I had trouble on some of the blue slopes (the easiest ones!). Granted, I haven't skied at all in the past 3 or 4 years, so I was a little shaky in the beginning and my form was atrocious, but by the second day I was a little easier on my skis and the slopes were still difficult. We did try some icier red slopes with slushy moguls near the bottom, and I didn't fall once during the two days, but it was still hard!
On the Friday morning, my mom and I discovered a nice long blue slope that was absolutely lovely--definitely my favorite. It took us at least three miles through gently sloping mountain passes encrusted with pine tree forests, and we ended up in Morgins, a little Swiss village located very far away from both the cable car and from Champéry. My mom and I spent the rest of the morning (and well into the afternoon) zig-zagging our way up and down slopes to get back to the slopes near Champéry. On the plus side, we were able to ski a whole new area of the Portes du Soleil that we hadn't even touched on Thursday. Unfortunately, these slopes were in full sunlight, which meant that the snow was very wet and heavy, and it tired both of us out. As soon as we had made it back to our starting point, we ate lunch, took that very same long blue slope down (arriving 20 minutes later back in Morgins), then hopped on a bus back to Champéry.
I haven't even mentioned the village of Champéry, but it was gorgeous. It's a tiny, cute little town, filled with ski chalets and restaurants serving fondues and racklettes. It's also nestled deep in a mountain valley, which means that we were constantly surrounded by towering snow capped mountains. So it all boils down to be my type of town. My mom and I took long strolls through the village after skiing every night, and I don't know how many times I exclaimed to her, "I love it here! Look at these mountains! It's all so beautiful!"
From our hotel, we had a balcony that faced the town and the church's bell tower, which rang on the hour at all hours of the day and night. Luckily, my mom and I are sound sleepers, so it didn't bother us at all -- instead, it made the little village even more picturesque!
Friday night, after our walk, we dined at the hotel (delicious raviolis and wine, followed by tarte tatin for me!). And Saturday morning, following another leisurely breakfast, we packed up all our bags and headed for the train station. It was a short little ski holiday, it's true, by my long weekend in Switzerland didn't end there! Next, my mother and I headed to Vevey, but that is for another blog post.
No comments:
Post a Comment