We arrived in St. Moritz just before noon on Sunday, after a pre-dawn departure from Ellmau in order to drop Cam off at the Innsbruck airport to start his multi-leg trip home. We will miss Cam's up tempo enthusiasm.
With clear weather for the day, Brian elected to route us to St. Mortiz through the mountainous and twisty Engadin Valley in far Eastern and Southeastern Switzerland. A nostalgic nod at Schoul (where Brian has overnighted 5 times in the TAR), we scooted up the valley, following the In (Enn) River to arrive in St. Mortiz. After check in, purchasing ski passes and a quick lunch, we walk to the ski rental shop at the Signal Bahn lift to secure equipment and locker storage. Once again, Brian gets kudos for hotel selection. Our hotel is just a few minute walk to the Signal Bahn lift and we are storing our ski gear at the rental shop.
Anne is teeming with energy to explore St. Moritz. The frozen St. Mortiz Lake is alive with spectators arriving for a Sunday afternoon match of the post Davos, 3-day, annual Snow Polo Match. It is a 'glitterati' event, a canvas of colorful, dazzling fur coats, Maseratti and Bentley SUV shuttle cars, champagne bars and an onsite casino. We are decidely undressed, but stay to watch the match warm-up.
From the lake, we walked to the entrance of internal escalator that lifts us from lakeside to the center of St. Mortiz 'dorf', exiting near the famous and historic Badrutt's Palace Hotel and admist an array of Rodeo Drive quality retail stores. Thankfully, it is Sunday. They are closed and none of us has a need for retail therapy.
Monday. Ski Day 1. It is a near bluebird day, with only a few wisps of high altitude clouds as the sun warms the slopes of Corviglia. We are en route, up the mountain by 10:30 AM, just enough time for the sun to soften the hard overnight freeze. We multiple lap the 3 main upper/mid mountain lifts in bright sun and softening snow. My new Stockli skis are a delight, piste perfect for short radius turns on steeper slopes. We are skied out by 1:30 and decide to stop for lunch at the Chamanna as lower level clouds are starting to roll in.
Lunch on the deck of the Chamanna turns bitter cold. The wind has seriously freshened. We decide to take the long, outer route back down to the Signal Bahn and call it a wrap for our first day of skiing at St. Moritz. Brian and Anne want to head up town for shopping for the grandchildren and I am due for an afternoon nap.
Tuesday. Ski Day 2. White Out and Wipe Out. Light snow has arrived overnight. It is still dusting as we discuss our ski strategy for the day over breakfast. No urgency to get on piste is the consensus. From the Signal Bahn, it appears to be clearing. From the top, we are encased in a white out. We decide to carefully ski over to Chamanna to wait for a change in weather. We are cautioned by a long term employee at the Chamanna to ski down as soon as possible; she advises conditions will further deterioate. We decide to cautiously ski the long outer loop down. There is limited visibility and the light is flat; en route down, the fall line is impossible to read. I am the 1st to take a spill; Brian follows with 2 more. It was a 45 minute run that took less than 15 minutes yesterday. Our ski day is over. We return to our hotel exhausted.
Wens. Day 3. Still snowing. Probably plus 3" overnight. A check of the on mountain web cams indicates a continution of white-out conditions. We discuss our game plan for the day at breakfast and decide it is a no ski day. Instead, we will retrieve our boots and my skis from the rental shop and go explore the historic Olympic bobsled run, built in 1904 and the only all natural ice raceway in the world.
After wandering by the historic outdoor skating arena and the curling rink (1928 and 1948 Olympic facilities), we discover the correct route to the bobsled run. To our delight, we arrive at the Cresida starting gate as time trials/practice runs for the skeleton are in progress for the coming weekend World Cup event.
It is cold standing watching the starts and the time runs on an outside big screen. So, we retreated to the level upper level cafe/bar for the final skeleton runs on the inside big screen and warmth. Anne befriends the Team USA Bobsled chiropractor and we are double treated -- first on the details of the Team USA comeback performance on the World Cup circuit this year, and second a short peak into the ultra private (no pictures allowed) elite Dracula Club -- a club founded in the early 1970's for bacchanalia among the royals and uber wealthy of Europe; membership is by invitation only.
Brian and Anne return later in the afternoon for the bobsled time trials and I thaw out and prepare for our departure to Arosa in the morning.
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