Titlis

The weather held out for our last day of skiing, which was great, but I was a little skiied out. I have improved immensely this week, but in the end, I need to work on the same things I did before. Small things, like to lean forward in my boots more, use my poles properly, having a rhythm to my turns, unweight my skis before turning, keeping my skis parallel and close together, and facing down the mountain and so on. But the major hurdle is still my confidence on skis and fear of speed and falling. I can ski beautifully (if I do say so myself) on shallow smooth slopes, but put me on a steeper or bumpy slope, and I ski like I did back in December, particularly if there is nobody around my level to follow down the slope.

Anyway, we tried some deep snow skiing today, where I really think it would help if I wasn't so scared of going fast. As soon as I got any speed, I would try to turn and stop, which usually ended up with one of my skis under the snow, which meant sometimes meant falling over and having to dig my way out. Luckily, the snow was soft, though it was getting heavy the second time we tried it. It was still heaps of fun though.

What was more fun though, was the planned camp activity after lunch, which was a short ski race. The camp director asked the resort to prepare a short slope for us, and the instructors set up a salom course on it with red and blue markers. We all were timed going down it with varous handicaps depending on our skill level. The first group were allowed to go down normally, with both skis and poles. The second group weren't allowed poles. The third group had to go without poles and through the first gate backwards before turning around and doing the rest of the course normally. The last group then had to go down on one ski and with one pole. Here is a photo of the group after the race at the bottom of the slope.


After this (and a group snow fight and photo) we had a free snow afternoon without instructors, but I decided, with the guys I had been skiing with all week to back up to the top of the mountain again for some photo taking since it was a lovely day. When we got up there, there were clouds swirling around the station, and so we moved from side to side of the viewing area, taking photos while it was clear and moving when it got cloudy in that direction.

I have now been on the top of quite a few peaks, but I don't think I will ever become immune to the beauty of the views. It's times like these that I'm glad I have a camera that I can put into my pocket and safely ski with. Though no camera can really capture the experience of being at 3000m, above the clouds, and looking down 2000m metres to the valley below. The glimpses of the blue glacier ice through the snow as we were heading up in the cable car was also amazing.

Oh, the floor of round cable car you see in the above photo roates during ascent and descent, and was supposedly the first one to do so. I think it's a little unneccessary as we spent the rides sitting in the centre, though I guess if it was really packed it would be nice to get a chance to see the glacier. It is a little strange going up actually, with the mix of tourists and skiiers. It must be very disappointing to have the mountain day of your holiday tour be cloudy and snowy, though I guess there is always the ice grotto inside the glacier to see, as well as movenpick icecream to eat and Swatch watches to buy and staged photos to take at the station. But still, to miss out on the view must be a little devastating. At least we got the chance to see it.

Brunni

Today didn't start out too well, with the camp director telling us that most of the resort was closed today for skiing due to very high avalanche danger. Actually, one of the other camp partipants was telling me about his avalanche experience yesterday when he and the instructor were going off piste. They were resting and heard a rumbling sound and saw two avalanches approaching them, one on the left and the other on the right, at which point the instructor said that it might be a good time to head on down.

As a side note, both the participant (from Austria) and instructor (from Switzerland) learnt how to ski when they were kids, and had school ski camps every couple of years, even if they lived in a city. My Swiss housemate told me that the camps were even paid for if you were from an underprivledged family. I guess it's like swimming, we all had to have swimming lessons at school back home. Although, I happen to think that swimming is a slightly more important skill to have than skiing. Having said that, I do know people in Melbourne who don't know how to swim at all. So there must be some rare Swiss people who can't ski, right?

Anyway, yesterday, the risk of avalanches was at four on a scale which goes up to five and where it is usually two or three, so some of the lifts weren't running, mostly the higher ones since skiers can trigger avalanches, but some of the lower ones also weren't running since they are in avalanche paths. Today, the risk must have been five, so they decided it was safer to close the whole north side of the valley and spend the day artificially setting off avalanches by helicopter bombing. We could hear the explosions all day long and saw a few in a evening on the way to the pub.

So skiing today was confined to the south facing slope, where there is only one lift and run, and it didn't start out too promising, as it was snowing and fairly windy and there were heaps of people. But the sun came out mid-morning and it was lovely, particularly since we hadn't seen any sunshine since Monday morning. All the more experienced skiiers went playing in the deep snow, leaving the slope fairly empty.

Another side note here, I still find it strange that the sun sits to the south of the sky in the northern hemisphere, meaning the south facing slopes get more sun and are thus less snow and aren't as good to ski on. This is where the brand The North Face gets its name from. I wonder if people learn directions here by facing south and then knowing west is right and east is left.

Speaking of things which are different from back home, I did not realise that we have different world maps at home. I can't remember what we were discussing, but somebody was drawing the continents to illustrate a point, at which point they confused me because of the order they were drawing them in. Supposedly, most world maps have America on the left, then Europe, Asia and Australia is in the bottom right corner and this is how most people see the world. I'm used to seeing Australia near the center, with Europe and Asia to the left and America to the right.

Anyway, here is a photo of Engelberg taken on the cable car on the way down from the slopes. The building to the right with the tower is the Benedictine Monastery, now a school. According to the resort's winter brochure, the founder of the monastery heard an angel's voice telling him to build a "place dedicated to God" and when it was finished, while they were thinking of a name for the monastery, they heard angel's voices and looking up, saw a choir of angels and that is where the name Engelberg, mountain of the angel, comes from.

Jochpass

Just a quick post before I go and take a nap before dinner. Today's conditions weren't the same as yesterday, they were at the same time worse and better. The snow was much better, has it didn't snow as much overnight, but it was really windy, which made visibility a huge issue as it blew snow off the mountains and swirled it around the open areas, which most of the time, happen to be where the ski slopes are. Luckily, I now have adequate ski gear that being able to see is the only problem when it's windy. I remember the first time it was windy when I was skiing, I was so cold after taking the chair lift. Actually, it probably wasn't the gear which saved me from freezing today, it was the fact that the chair lift we were using had a canopy, which made the ride quite pleasant. It was the wind that finally caused us to leave the slopes early though, it is quite unnerving not being able to see the snow you're going to ski on or more than a couple of metres in front of you.

If anybody is wondering about the strange names of my past few posts from Engelberg, I'm naming them after the main chairlift/ski slope of the day. They can all be seen in the piste map of the resort:

People tell me that the slopes at Engelberg are generally marked harder than at other resorts due to the topology of the valley. Meaning what is makred red here might be marked black at another resort. It is supposedly also the only resort where there is a yellow slope, which they tell me is a steep ungroomed run. I don't think I'm going to be doing it any time soon...

Engstienalp

An entry while waiting for dessert tonight. It promises to be good, with leftover chocolate cake from yesterday and some Austrian cake with a name I can't pronounce. After the weekend, each of the dinner at the camp will/have been cooked by participants showcasing specialities from their home countries. On Monday we had French food cooked by the camp director as not enough participants volunteered to cook and tonight, it was Austrian. Tomorrow will be Polish, Thursday Columbian and Friday, Swiss. Should be interesting, to say the least.


Today's skiing was hard work, as we had a heap of snow last night, which made for some very pretty scenery. We spent the day on blues and reds. (For those who don't know, the run grading system in France/Switzerland goes green, blue, red, black, yellow from easiest to hardest.) The conditions meant that the usual slope categories didn't really matter, since all the runs we went on were fairly wide. All the fresh powder means a different skiing technique than on groomed pistes, which took getting used to, and which uses different leg muscles. This means I'm sore in all different places today, though at least I can take solace in the fact that I will look good for summer. *winks* I don't mind the fresh snow though, since it's so much softer to fall in, which is fortunate, since I did fall down a fair few times today. It does make for harder skiing in the afternoon though, after people have been skiing all morning and creating bumps on the slopes.

Tomorrow's conditions should be the same, so I'll get more opportunity to practice what I learnt today. I'm actually a little worried about how much I'm getting to like this skiing business. I won't get much chance to do any after this season. Unless I catch a few days at the end of season at home in August. Or come back to CERN during ski season next year. Anyway, I'll make the most of it here while I can...

Gerschnialp

Just a quick entry before bed tonight. Today we spent the morning on blue slopes higher up in the resort and went up to the Titlis look out point for lunch and the afternoon before heading back down and skiing the last run into town to catch happy hour (again) at the pub.

It was quite a good morning, I feel like I'm really improving my skiing, but it was a fairly disappointing afternoon, as it took us ages to get to the top, and when we got there, the clouds had come in and we couldn't see anything in the snow. It was kind of interesting up there though, with all the tourists and the ice grotto carved out of the glacier.


Happy hour was also better this time, since I now know the people at the camp better, and there was much less people there as it was a weekday, meaning we were the largest group there and had a set of tables to ourselves and made a mini dance floor out of some empty space. I must admit that I think I expended more energy dancing in my ski clothes and boots than I did on the slopes.

Overall, a good day, though more skiing would have been great. I kind of wish I had the stamina for all the partying that everybody else seems to have. The walls in the chalet are currently vibrating from music downtstairs. It was also the same last night when I got to bed. I guess it's a good thing that I'm so tired I can get to bed with the noise.

Kloster

It's currently rest time at Camp Engelberg, between skiing and dinner, where people are either relaxing after a day of skiing, or enjoying half price drinks during happy hour at the pub opposite the train station. As you can probably guess, I'm doing the former, because I'm not too sure my ears can take another happy hour, or my sense of self a few drinks before dinner.

So I've been in Engelberg now for about a day, and it's been good. The people at camp are nice and friendly, I love the fact I don't have to cook (though I do have to help clean up), and I get to ski all week. *grins* The accommodation isn't too bad, I'm in a 6 bed room, which is currently only half full. It was very warm last night, and has a sink in it, which is very convenient, though it started making strange noises at 5am this morning.

My borrowed set of skis and boots are okay, I actually like the boots much better than the pair I rented for the season, but the skis are much heavier. Which is quite annoying, since we have a walk a fair way with them to either the close by slopes or the bus stop to the other side.

Yesterday, after arriving and going to the common area, I went with the group of people already there to the happy hour at the pub. Which was very full, and the only spot we could find to hang was under the speakers. Which was very loud. And somewhat awkward, since we didn't know each other, and we couldn't talk.

It was then dinner time, which was soup, pasta, then ice cream. Not bad at all. We also had the welcome by the organiser and an explanation of the rules and whatnot. The camp is run by volunteers, and isn't associated with any Swiss university, though it is advertised at all of them. The participants are a combination of previous participants, some taking time off work and flying here for the week, and others, like me, are students at a Swiss university.

We then were given our equipment and put into groups for skiing based on our experience and it was time to get some rest before our first day on the slopes.


This was the view from the slopes near the chalet, which we went to to avoid the weekend skiers. I was put into the beginners group as I said I wasn't comfortable on reds yet. This meant that instead of heading up the mountain, we just stayed on the blue slopes at the bottom. As you can see, the view wasn't half bad, but the slope was icy in the morning and slushy in the afternoon since it was on the south face of the mountain. I'm looking forward to the snow which is expected at the resort later this week.