Sognare Ad Occhi Aperti: Adventures in the Alps

Well you could definitely say that my view of skiing and mountains in the U.S. will forever be tainted now that I have experienced the breathtaking Swiss Alps! This weekend a group of seven of us trekked off to Interlaken, Switzerland by first flying into Geneva and then taking a bus to the town of Interlaken. We had a four-hour layover between the flight and the bus, so we decided to explore Geneva and get some dinner outside the airport. It was worth leaving to see the city, but you could definitely say we experienced our first frigid temperatures of the weekend (high in the teens and lows in the negatives throughout the weekend with an even lower wind chill- one of the coldest weekends in 25 years in Interlaken)!

Walking around Geneva with all our layers and baggage

Geneva

We stayed at Balmers Hostel, which is located in the valley town at the bottom of the mountains between the two lakes (hence the name “between lakes”). Although clean and overall decent, it was definitely an interesting first hostel experience! Arriving at 2am from Geneva, we got our room assignment and headed in the direction of our room. Arriving at the top of the steps, the sign said that room 17 was to the right, but the only door in that direction was the guys’ bathroom… Opening the door, we went into the bathroom and found to our dismay a door labeled #17 directly across from the showers… Unlocking the door, it was indeed our room for 8 people and there were no other entrances except how we entered through the bathroom. It definitely was not the most pleasant location, but at least the room inside was clean…. The views surrounding the hostel definitely made up for the location of the room and hostel experience.

Balmers with the mountain in the clouds

Along the river in the town of Interlaken

Melissa, Will, Dave, and Eric headed out for the day of skiing and snowboarding Friday morning. Meanwhile Kelly, Kara and I went to explore the town and surrounding rivers of Interlaken. I really enjoyed the mix of modern and château style architecture of the town. It also amazed me to see how the town is so flat and then the rock wall of the mountain rises vertically behind it all!

Victoria Jungfrau Hotel (mountain behind is amazingly high)

On Friday afternoon the three of us who don’t ski booked a paragliding trip. We met up with our driver, pilots, and headed up the mountain on a road that climbed switchbacks between 15 foot walls covered in snow (…or in all honesty they easily could have been snow banks but it was impossible to tell because everything was so white!). Arriving at the top, we put on our gear and walked through a snow-covered area that had to have had at least 1.5 feet of fresh snow. Our guide then announced “Welcome to the Airport!!” The guides prepared everything, strapped us to them, waited for the right wind conditions and then yelled to start running. Running down the mountain, the parachutes caught wind and soon our running legs were no longer touching ground. We were airborne!! Starting out at 2400ft above Interlaken, we flew to the center of town at 25 miles per hour! Despite the snowstorm covering some of the upper part of the mountains (and flying in our faces), the views were amazing and it was unbelievable to be flying that high!! My guide even let me drive, that is until I ended up taking us too far off course and he started screaming “No! No go more to the right! To the right! To the righhhhttt!!!” We also did some really fast corkscrew dives that really allow you to feel the centrifugal forces! Landing was an interesting process because once you hit the ground you actually have to start running backwards because otherwise the paraglide will pull you off your feet backwards!

Kelly on our trek to "the airport"

"The Airport"- ran directly down the center of this image for takeoff

Kelly and I in all our gear

Getting ready to fly!

My guide Dominik and I

View from above!

Flying!

Friday night Kelly and I started planning out what we wanted to do the following day since neither of us ski. We had planned on doing some hiking, riding the train to some lookout points, and ice-skating, but because of the weather, none seemed very appealing. Around midnight we made a game-time decision and decided to go skiing! The guys promised to teach us in the morning, so we warily passed on signing up for the private lessons. Eight hours later we were up, dressed, and decked out in ski gear! Trying to catch the 8:30 bus with the guys, we ended up having to run to the bus stop with all our skis, gear, and wearing the heavy ski boots (not having experienced walking in the boots for more than 2 minutes)! After a bus and two trains with unbelievable scenery, we reached Kleine Scheidegg that sits at an elevation of 6762 feet!

View from the train

After getting the skis on I attempted tackling the first of the beginner runs. Weaving my way, I made it down the first baby slope without falling. After having the same results on the bunny hill once or twice, the guys sent me down the “easy run.” Apparently the easy runs are equivalent to the green and blue runs in the U.S. I somehow made it down the first long run without falling… that is until I got to the last turn and everyone in my group was in front of me. Only once I was on the ground with everyone else out of sight down around the hill (not knowing I had wiped out), did I realize that no one taught me how to get back up!!! I was stranded and didn’t know what to do!! Luckily another skier saw I was struggling, stopped and climbed back up the hill to where I was and helped me up! He sent me down ahead of him and made sure I met up with the rest of the crew.

Eric, Dave, Melissa, me, Kelly and Will

Made it down my first slope!!

The slopes may have been fine, but the chairlift was an epic fail! Kelly and I were going to do the easier hills again (Kelly’s only skied a few times before, and it had been a long time so we stayed together) while the other guys went on the bigger runs. Getting on the ski lift wasn’t difficult, but the end definitely proved to be too difficult! I wiped out getting off, ended up knocking Kelly down, and having the ski lift push me into her… needless to say she ended up with quite a few bruises, but she took it really well. She was a good sport the whole day with my slow pace of learning!

We had a delicious lunch at a interesting restaurant made of a huge tipi at Kleine Scheidegg which was where we started in the morning. I had a club sandwhich that had random things on it (in addition to the normal chicken, bacon, lettuce and tomato) such as eggs, a cheese that I've never had, and greens that I've never seen before. Despite being so random it was very delicious! Also as a side they gave paprika chips which are really popular here. To me they seem like a mix of barbeque and sour cream and onion chips.

After lunch the plan was that Kelly and I would work our way down the ‘easy’ run to Wengen. Meanwhile the other group would do various runs down the hill and would end in the same town at the end of the day. Our trail was quite the experience because it first entailed at least 45 minutes of some hardcore cross-country skiing, then a huge steep section, before finally weaving down through the trees. The steep section terrified me to the point that I was frozen in fear on the mountain halfway between two towns! At this point it was snowing and you couldn’t see where you were going. The part that scared me the most was that at the bottom of the hill the trail, you had to make a quick turn or else you’d go off a cliff running parallel to the black diamond trail! Realizing I was panicking and we were nowhere near civilization, Kelly gave me three options “ski, take off my skis and attempt to walk, or we call snow patrol.” Despite literally shaking in my boots, I inched my way down the mountain, crashing every couple turns to slow myself down. Once we reached the flatter section that wove through the trees, I was able to relax and very much enjoy the scenery and the skiing! Once we finally reached Allmend (elevation 4852 ft) I was spent and caught the train down to Wengen while Kelly skied the rest of the way down.

The easy trail is visible down the center of the image

Kelly in the Alps

Taking a break during my favorite part of the trail

2000 feet later

Having skied down 2000 feet in elevation on my very first day of ever putting on skis, I was very proud of myself!!! I basically taught myself how to ski, and I did it in the Alps! It could have been a frustrating day of falling, but it ended up being an amazing adventure that I will never forget!

After leaving Interlaken on Sunday, we headed to Geneva and explored the city. The waterfront was gorgeous, but it was simply too cold to spend time outside. Waking up at 3:45am Monday, we made it to our flight on time, but it ended up being delayed forty-five minutes. Considering missing half of our Monday morning class was the worst thing that happened the whole weekend, I’d say the weekend worked out really well.