Swiss Home Invasion

The doorbell starts ringing and I open my eyes. I assume it's Travis after picking up his mom from the airport, but it's way too dark outside for that. I look at my watch and can't decide if the hands are showing 2:30 or 6:10. I decide it looks more like 2:30. I stumble out of bed to the door and look out the peephole. I don't have my glasses on, so I see a figure. I guess it could be Warren come back from DnD late. So I open the door. Nope, don't know this guy. He starts yelling in Swiss German and tries to force his way past me. Tyler telling me that the first 3 minutes of being awake is equivalent to being drunk came to my mind. I manage to push the guy back out into the hall and shut the door. But there is no way to lock it. Still in a daze, I run to Travis' room and try to wake him. He is in a worse daze than me, so I pull the covers off and he seems to get the point.

'There's some crazy dude trying to get in our house.' and I quickly leave to find the key. After a minute of frantic searching I get it and lock the front door. Warren has begun stumbling out of bed as well and comes to see what is up. I'll leave the next part of the story to Warren, who wrote about it last night;

I'm lying in bed, just my boxers cover my magnificent full glory. Suddenly the door bell rings. I stir awake, whoa did I just dream a doorbell vividly? I ignore it, I go back to sleep. Silence for a time. The door bell rings again. Again... again. Then theres yelling, its in German I can't make out whats said. I'm still in a daze, Its all just background noise to me.

Devon leaps into the room in his boxers, his glory is not as good as mine. "Holy Shit! Theres some guy trying to break into our place!"
"What... where"
"Hes right outside..."
"Wha --?"

I'm up, I look out, its bright but I see nothing. Theres no one there. I turn to walk away, Devon takes a look.

"He's back!"

Suddenly there is this pounding on the door. The stacatto of the strangers fists on the door and his alien yelling. I thought the door would come down.

"Dude, I opened the door and he tried to force his way in, I pushed him out. Then for like five minutes I was looking for the key."

"If he had just tried the door he would have gotten in."

The assault on the door continued for what seemed forever. Then it stops for a minute. I look out again and see some guy, probably in his late twenties, staring around the hallway.

"I hope he doesn't take our stuff"

"Hes got to be drunk or high. He's high, he's not drunk."

"Let us in! Its the Swiss TV and Radio guys!", I joked.

The bashing continues, the guy is a big guy, so I go and grab some kitchen knives and distribute them among my roommates, just a preparation if the door comes down. I peek a look out again, the man is walking down the stairs and away from our flat.

"He said he wanted water, yeah right."

The hallway light kept turning on and off, each time it turned on we wondered once more if it was the landlord or the stranger. Devon and Travis were busy searching the phone books for the landlords number, or the police. We heard the sounds of smashing outside, we went to the windows were we could see. All I could make out was the shadow of a figure kicking at the steel gate before our home, and the resulting ringing as the gate became nonfunctional.

He came back into the building. Devon kept getting busy signals... suddenly he got through, but not to the landlord or the police. He had accidentally called a friend from Calgary from the phone's memory.

".. no I've got to go call the police. I've got to hang up now..."

The yelling continued. Then stopped. We listened to him talking to himself, before he disappeared outside again. We could see him on the street from Devon's room. He had our soccer ball and was kicking it along Mellingerstrasse. Finally we got through to the Landlord. Unfortunately the landlord was asleep and wouldn't wake up through this whole stupid event, only the landlady was available. So we put on pants. The glory is gone. If our poor landlady opened her door she'd be considerably worse off than we three would be (especially because we thought the landlord wasn't home). Devon is barely able to talk to her on the phone, Devon's swiss german isn't fantastic, and our landlady's english isn't superb either. Speaking Swiss german isn't really a language, its a heimlich manuever.

Time passes and our Landlady comes to our flat. From what we can determine she knew the kid. It was her nephew, the son of a Doctor. She said "What can you do with a kid like that?". We're able to tell her that he left and met up with an unknown friend and had walked away, down Mellingerstrasse.

Outside we go to check on our shoes and to retrieve the ball. I didn't bother to put shoes on, so I take the ball and return home, locking the flat door and starting this blog post. Shortly Devon and Travis arrive. They tell me the landlady knew where he lived and they walked there to determine what had happened. Apparently he was still banging on the door of another top floor flat in a similar building. He got in. It turned out that this wasn't the landlady's nephew, but a friend of her son -- or something. Anyway, everyone is safe, and our stuff seems to be in okay working order.

What an asshole.

The rest of my sleep was sporatic, and coupled with the fact that I had to shower in the sink this morning due to the bathroom being freshly painted, I am as tired as shit.

Skiing: Zermatt

Back after a weekend skiing in Zermatt. Friday afternoon, Richard, Lindsey, Adrienn, Jacqui and I headed out on the train to Zermatt. It was dark by the time we got there, and we decided to go out for a while. Zermatt is known for its nightlife. We found what seemed to be the busiest place and went in. They actually sold pitchers of beer there! First time I've seen that in Europe. The DJ there also had ADD or something, because he only played the first minute or so of every song. He made pretty good choices though, so it was all good. At around midnight we headed home and hit the sack.

Richard and Lindsey

Adrienn, Jacqui and I

In the morning, Shane and Evan came by the hostel, they had renegade camped overnight near Visp. We got all organized and headed up the mountain. The final cable car is pretty intense, you go right up into the side of the Klein Matterhorn, and then have to walk through it by means of a tunnel.

View of the Matterhorn from Zermatt

The way down didn't look so great though. It was all a huge groomer, and off-piste on a glacier is really dangerous due to crevasses. We sped down the groomer, and some Swiss guy yelled at Evan, even though he ran into Evan. We caught a different lift up, and hiked up a little section near the top. What we learned from the hike is that the whole other side had no exit, so it wasn't skiable unless we wanted to do a huge hike.

Evan and Shane hiking

Next to the Matterhorn

We took the longest T-bar setup ever, did a couple laps of the T-bar and the park and then stopped for lunch at the top. We took a look at the Italian side, and some lady got mad at us for standing in her sun for a moment. People seem to be impatient here. The snow on the Italian side looked pretty good, but our tickets didn't cover that, so we couldn't go down.

The Italian side

After lunch we talked to some guys who told us about one spot up top on the glacier that was safe and had good snow, so we headed over to that. We only got two runs in on it, but they were good fun. After that Evan and I booked it down the ski-out all the way down to Zermatt.

After a glacier run

View into Zermatt

We dropped off our equipment and headed into a Coop to get some food and wandered around town. On the way back, we took a look around the graveyard, which was full of climbing graves.

He Chose To Climb

After getting home and having some food, we started thinking about the party for the night. I invited a Norwegian guy named Axel to join us partying for the night. It was still early, so we waited for a while, then started playing a card game called High, Low, Red, Black. Basically your partner flips a card, then you guess whether the next one will be higher, lower, red, or black. If you get it wrong you drink and start over, if you get it right five times, you switch with your partner and they start guessing.

High, Low, Red, Black

Needless to say, everyone got pretty drunk after this, and we headed to the same bar as the night before. It was a blast, I think everyone had a really good time, but I only stayed out until one or so. The next morning we were slow to get going, but it didn't really matter since the conditions weren't that good. Axel joined us, and we decided to take the alpine train to Gornergrat instead this time. The train had a really nice view, but kept lurching to a halt and throwing people around.

Evan and Axel in the morning

At the top of Gornergrat they have the highest hotel in the Alps, at 3100m. There is also a great view of Monte Rosa, the highest peak in Italy. We looked around and decided to take the next cablecar over to Hohtälli. We were the only ones going over, and there was a cablecar full of people going the other way. On the other side we realized why. There was no way down. The only run down was closed, and the cablecar going further up was closed too.

Flight over Monte Rosa

Kulmhotel Gornergrat

We asked around to see why the run was closed, and were told that it was because of low snow coverage towards the bottom. We decided to gamble and go, because the worst that could happen would be a big hike over rocks. It turned out a lot better than that, and we were able to ski the whole way down. We even spotted a good off-piste area, but wanted to see it from below before trying it.

Axel in a tight spot

Out without a scratch

We caught the next cable car back up to the top, and went over to the section we had spotted. We got in some really good turns in there, and then hiked out through a creek bed. We took our skis off because we were worried about sliding in between rocks. Next we headed back up to Gornergrat, and on the way over spotted some tracks under the hotel that looked promising.

Shane making a track

Evan spraying snow

Waiting in the cablecar

At the top we took a few minutes to grab some pictures and relax, then stepped in and dropped in. I really enjoyed that line, even though the snow was a bit crusty near the top. We did another full loop and moved over to the next chute, which was an even better run for me. I got a small 2 or 3m cliff drop in the middle and some great turns. I reinjured my skier's thumb though, and the annoying part was it was on the flat traverse after the run, I stepped off the track and tripped up in my skis and landed on my thumb.

At the top of our line

View of the first line from far away

View of our last lines

The day was pretty much done, so then we just headed down and met up at the train station and headed home. All in all, Zermatt was definately worth going to, but it wasn't the quality of skiing that made it worthwhile. It was the party atmosphere, the beautiful views and hanging out with friends that made it a good trip. And I guess we can't complain about those lines on the second day.

The Matterhorn

Skiing: Engelberg

Went skiing in Engleberg yesterday. I wish I had gone Saturday too, because the conditions were really good, one of the best skiing days I've ever had. On the train it was Kevin, Lindsey, Jacqui, Richard, Mike, Evan and myself. Tommy caught a later train because he had gone to Zürich the night before and stayed out late. On the train my LCD on my camera fried, but it seemed to take pictures the rest of the day, so it's better than nothing.

Kevin and his ski mustache

From the train

Shane and Adrienn had skied the day before and camped out so the plan was to meet them on the hill. For the first part of the day, Evan, Kevin, Mike and I did a bunch of runs on a T-bar near the top of the mountain. We got all the fresh snow, so it was good to practice on my skis in deeper powder, but it got tracked up pretty quickly, and there was a layer of ice under the powder.

Lots of tracks

We made our way down to some new runs, and found some chutes off to the side in a protected area. Evan, Kevin and I did a few laps of that, I got a couple clean 360s off this one wind lip, and then we decided to cross over to another side of the valley. By complete fluke we ran into Shane over there, and he joined up to show us where he'd been riding. His group from the day before had run into some problems with a broken collarbone, so he didn't get in a full day of riding, but had still had a blast. The opposite side of the valley was pretty good, there were a couple nice cliff drops in there, but we ended our run back on the first side of the valley.

Shane ready to hop in

We did a few more laps there with Shane, and then Shane and Evan headed off to check out the Laub, a big off-piste run with 1200m of vertical. Kevin and I hung back because we don't have any avy equipment yet. I had broken my pole on the last run, and while buying new ones we ran into Adrienn, Jacqui, Richard and Lindsey.

Shane looking pumped

More tracks

We all headed for lunch, and sat out on the balcony, even though it was pretty cold. We saw some skiers skiing the glacier, which looked really intense and dangerous, and even saw a helicopter lifting someone out of it. Crazily enough, we found out later that Mike had ridden the entire glacier, after only a few times snowboarding in his life. But that's Mike for you.

Cables over the glacier

Lunch break

Shane and Evan met up with us as we were heading back out on the hill, and informed us how awesome the Laub was, and that the danger was low. Kevin and I decided it would be okay to go, but wanted to ski with the other guys first. On the way to the chutes from the morning, I found and dropped a nice cliff, followed by Shane and then Evan. Only problem is Evan lost his ski and we couldn't find it. After about 20 minutes of looking Shane stepped on it about 5m down from where Evan fell. Next we hit the chutes, and Shane and I dropped a nice 5m wind lip into a soft landing. Once further on with Kevin and Evan, we looked back and saw the others sitting on the hill. We figured they were gonna split up anyways, so we headed over to the Laub.

Above the clouds

The snow over there was epic, for me at least. The hill was steep, there was really good coverage, and I got in an amazing run. I'm super glad I did it, but Kevin and I agree that we need to get some equipment in order to do more intense skiing.

Shane spraying snow

Kevin hopping down the hill

Getting in some nice turns in the Laub

At the bottom of Laub, we hiked back and caught pretty much the last gondola up, and went to do our chutes one more time. We found Jacqui there. Apparently the reason everyone was sitting on the hill before was that she had lost her ski under the snow. She had been looking for almost 2 hours, with no luck. After about 20 minutes, we found it, and Jacqui was relieved. We hit the ski out and met up with everyone at the base station, and headed home, completely satisfied.

Skiing: Laax

Nice and sore after good skiing in Laax. The group was Travis, Lindsey, Tommy, Jacqui, Richard, Evan, Shane, Adrienn and I. We got up and headed out early Saturday for our weekend on the hill. Laax hasn't been getting any real snow, so we weren't expecting stellar conditions. We walked to the hostel to drop off our stuff and learned that the hostel wasn't open yet. I didn't have anything of value, so I just left my stuff there, and we caught a bus back up to the bottom of the hill. Travis was borrowing my skis, so there was some concern he wouldn't be able to rent boots to fit them, but that worked out perfectly.

Tommy and Evan confused at a transfer

Travis tending to the skis

The snow didn't look too bad on the way up, but there was no fluffiness to it at all. Some European park competition was going on, so that would be pretty cool to check out. Some of the boarders were going pretty huge, and it was cool to see. We did one tree run, which had surprisingly good snow, and then one run down a T-bar section, where the snow was alright.

Looking down the chair

Evan's game face

Tracked up

We decided it would be best to head all the way up to the top of the glacier, and see if there was any good snow up there. Since there was a lot of flat ground on the way, the skiers lost the snowboarders, and had to wait at the bottom of the glacier for them.

Bottom of the glacier

Extreme skiers

After riding the glacier for a while, which consisted of a few mogul turns followed by a run in the half-pipe and then speeding back to the T-bar, we needed something new. I hadn't really been in a pipe on skis before, so it was good to try it out. Evan, Shane and I decided to hike a ridge to and ski the face opposite the glacier. The hike was pretty easy, just walking on slate in ski boots is annoying. After getting to the top, we rested for a bit, and then got ready to drop in.

Off-piste

Evan and Shane ready to hit some untracked snow

The run was really good, a great chance to try out my skis in some thicker snow. It was far from deep powder, but still a good run. There were some rocks near the bottom, but none of us hit them, so it was all good. We skied back down to the gondola, did some more runs in the pipe, then hiked up the ridge one more time. After some tips from Evan, I felt way more confident the second time around.

On the ridge

We skied down the rest of the mountain, catching a couple small areas with snow, but it was mostly icy and hard-packed on the way down. All in all, it was a pretty successful day, but we were still lusting for better snow.

Our peak in the distance

Once everyone had made it back to the hostel, which was now open, we all crashed for a couple hours, a ski-siesta if you will. We each had our own rooms, and the beds were so fluffy and comfortable, perfect for a ski lodge. The original plan was to have some dinner in town and then go out, but we opted for staying in instead. Tommy, Lindsey and I talked our way into dinner with the other group that was at the lodge. They charged us 20 CHF and we got quite a bit of food, some rice and meat sauce, ceasar salad and ice cream for dessert. Then we all got together to play cards and have some drinks. Everyone ended up drinking quite a bit, and I headed to bed around midnight to get some rest for Sunday.

Playing some cards

The next day we got out pretty late, around 10 o'clock. Shane, Evan and I wanted to check out some new areas, so we started by hitting the tree run from the day before. We found a nice wind lip before the trees and practised some spins. There were a few good pillows in the trees, but there was a rocky creek bed we had to avoid. After several runs in the trees, we decided to move on.

Lindsey getting antsy

Crap at the base

We started working our way over to an off-piste area with a cablecar going up, but it looked like a long time to transfer over, so we planned it to hit some good runs on the way. At the top of the first gondola we ran into Richard, who decided to join up. There were some big kickers heading into a valley that Shane and Evan wanted to hit, so we headed over to them. I didn't like the look of the landing, so I skipped it. Shane went off without a hitch, but on landing one of Evan's skis released, and sped all the way down the hill into a rock garden at the bottom. Evan had to hike down and retrieve his ski, so I took the opportunity to have a couple sandwiches for lunch. Richard headed down on his own, and once Evan was back, we headed on.

Evan hiking the rock garden

Balloons

Next we went along a rocky ridge, which turned out to have a pretty big cliff below, but we saw it and went around. We had a little cliff drop and then headed into a treed in area.

Cliff we luckily missed

Takin' a break

After the run in the trees, Evan decided to skip the cablecar because he couldn't initiate any more turns. Better safe than sorry. We had trouble finding our way to the lifts that carried us up to the cablecar. The lifts turned out to be strange, you had to take off your equipment to ride the chair. The problem is Evan and I have skis that are too wide to fit in the rack, so we had to hold them. At the top Evan headed down and Shane and I waited for the cablecar. It was there pretty quickly and took us up for our off-piste run. There were lots of rocks below, so we were worried about finding a good way down.

Shane and I at the top of the cable car

Once we started going it was pretty easy. The snow at the top was pretty hard, but it wasn't unridable. There where lots of rock pillows to hop off, and it was tons of fun. We dropped the roof of a bunker onto hard pack, which didn't feel too great, but then after that the snow got so much better. The powder was awesome, tons of pillows and lots of places to launch off. Then it got into a bit more trees, and then we came across a house in the middle of the run. It was too perfect to skip over. There were some people on the bench out front of the house, but after a few innocent questions I deduced it wasn't their house. I told them we were going to drop the roof, and to make sure they weren't in the way. The first video of me didn't work out, but the transition was super smooth. It was tons of fun.

People relaxing

The Jump (right-click, save as...)

After dropping the roof

We did the cablecar run again, then another run from the base of the cablecar, which allowed us to hit the house again. The back of my binding came off when I stepped in after filming Shane's second drop. I was pretty worried, since they're new bindings, but with a screwdriver we got it back on, and it seemed solid. The cablecar run and the run below it were definately the best part of the weekend, Shane and I had a blast in there. On the ski out we ended up having to hike through a bit of the town, then taking a gondola all the way back up a different side, just to get back to the bus stop.

After a good long day