Zermatt weekend report (by request)

Drove down to Zermatt Friday night, via Lotschberg tunnel. Snow as low
down as Frutigen on the Bern side was a good omen, although there was
none on the South-facing side once through the tunnel. But once past
Visp there was a lot again, and at Tasch there was 40cm of fresh
stuff :-))

So Saturday augered well, but due to sorting a friend out for ski hire
& ski school we didn't get off to an early start, which then got
worse. In the queue for lift passes at 0930, finally git them by 1010.
Then another 15 minutes queuing for the new 'Matterhorn Express' 8-man
bubble.

This was running only as far as Furi, where we then had to queue again
for over an hour to get the next stage cable-car to Trockener Steg.

So it was about midday before we even got our skis on, and we were not
happy bunnies. But the sun was shining, the snow was excellent, and a
couple of runs soon brightened our demeanour.

Another new lift, a six-man chair to Furggsattel, combined with the
existing one from Furgg, gave access to a reasonable amount of skiing
around this area, with the added bonus of a couple of the red runs not
having been opened (or pisted) yet, so some powder was found and duly
skied. Heavy and chopped up in parts, but great fun nonetheless.

Later on we went up to the top of Kl. Matterhorn and did a couple of
runs up there before heading for home. The cable car queues looked bad
again so we decided to ski down, thinking it ould be peaceful as the
black run from Furgg was closed. Unfortunately it was a bit of a
moving slalom most of the way down, as many people had got caught out
by the Furgg chair closing so were doing the same as us. At Furi there
seemed to be further queues so we went down the path/road all the way
to resort.

Sunday was a much better start, with the Matterhorn Express now
running all the way up to Schwarzsee, so no quese today. Skied mainly
over in Cervinia, which was a first time for me, and very pleasant
indeed, although we pretty much stuck to cruisy reds (some soft-ish
bumps and stuff, so not too boring), as we were both suffering a bit
from first-day leg syndrome[1]. Great conditions though, and mo st
upper runs open and well-prepared. Stopped for a very nice lunch over
there too, then meandered home, this time taking the lift back, as a
lot of rocks were now showing.

[1] aka, in my case, old age :-{

--
Ace (bruce dot rogers at roche dot com)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club.

15C in Laax and getting warmer! Sandals definitely (been wearing them since
March) but at this rate it'll be T-shirt weather tomorrow :-)
--
Simon Brown
www.hb9drv.ch

On Tue, 2 Dec 2003 11:12:07 +0100, "Simon Brown"
wrote:

15C in Laax and getting warmer! Sandals definitely (been wearing them since
March) but at this rate it'll be T-shirt weather tomorrow :-)

remarkable, it's 4.5c here (near Fribourg)
--
Yeah, because you never know when the value of 2^15 will change and
you have to go through all your code fixing it.
-- Paul Tomblin

On Tue, 02 Dec 2003 11:20:05 +0100, Ian Spare
wrote:

On Tue, 2 Dec 2003 11:12:07 +0100, "Simon Brown"
wrote:

15C in Laax and getting warmer! Sandals definitely (been wearing them since
March) but at this rate it'll be T-shirt weather tomorrow :-)

remarkable, it's 4.5c here (near Fribourg)

And it was only about 3c here (Basel) on my way in this morning,
although I heard foehn forecasted for further south.

--
Ace (bruce dot rogers at roche dot com)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club.

Oh it's warm. FWIW none of the locals expect the wimmin's racing to go ahead
on December 20-21. And it will get even warmer tomorrow / Thursday.
--
Simon Brown
www.hb9drv.ch

"Ace" wrote in message
...

And it was only about 3c here (Basel) on my way in this morning,
although I heard foehn forecasted for further south.

Current weather is on http://www.alpenarena.ch/pages/wetter/meteo.asp

3C at 2,228m
--
Simon Brown
www.hb9drv.ch
"Simon Brown" wrote in message
...
Oh it's warm. FWIW none of the locals expect the wimmin's racing to go
ahead
on December 20-21. And it will get even warmer tomorrow / Thursday.
--
Simon Brown
www.hb9drv.ch

"Ace" wrote in message
...

And it was only about 3c here (Basel) on my way in this morning,
although I heard foehn forecasted for further south.

On Tue, 2 Dec 2003 12:37:49 +0100, "Simon Brown"
wrote:

Current weather is on http://www.alpenarena.ch/pages/wetter/meteo.asp

3C at 2,228m

Obviously just Eastern Switzerland, as Zermatt is still looking good
for the next few days - sub-zero temperatures and some snow and wind.

--
Ace (bruce dot rogers at roche dot com)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club.

In message , Ace
writes
On Tue, 2 Dec 2003 12:37:49 +0100, "Simon Brown"
wrote:

Current weather is on http://www.alpenarena.ch/pages/wetter/meteo.asp

3C at 2,228m

Obviously just Eastern Switzerland, as Zermatt is still looking good
for the next few days - sub-zero temperatures and some snow and wind.

Thanks, Bruce - I'll keep an eye open for lift problems and try to
abandon anyone who isn't ready for a prompt start!

As for the weather, it could do anything in two days, and it seems to be
warmer in Laax than it is in Reading - it's well chilly here.
--
Sue ];(

Bounce, bounce

Today was another lovely day, the next 5 or so will be clear blue skies but
a tad colder.

Enjoy Reading :-)
--
Simon Brown
www.hb9drv.ch

"Sue" wrote in message
...

As for the weather, it could do anything in two days, and it seems to be
warmer in Laax than it is in Reading - it's well chilly here.

On Wed, 3 Dec 2003 20:20:28 +0000, Sue wrote:

In message , Ace
writes
On Tue, 2 Dec 2003 12:37:49 +0100, "Simon Brown"
wrote:

Current weather is on http://www.alpenarena.ch/pages/wetter/meteo.asp

3C at 2,228m

Obviously just Eastern Switzerland, as Zermatt is still looking good
for the next few days - sub-zero temperatures and some snow and wind.

Thanks, Bruce - I'll keep an eye open for lift problems and try to
abandon anyone who isn't ready for a prompt start!

Presumably you're referring to my comments in another post? It's worth
pointing out then that the problems we encountered were a result of a)
only 2/4 lift pass windows being open (it being the first day of the
season didn't help) and b) the new lift not running its full distance,
leading to a bottleneck at the mid station as everyone was turfed off
and had to wait for the cable car.

SO I think it's unlikely that there will be similar problems again.

--
Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club.