st. moritz snow day

I am sorry I’m such an infrequent blogger. I never feel that I have the time to write what I would like to write so instead I don’t post. Lately I’ve been having fun with Instagram so maybe this will just become a photo-based blog.

After work on Friday we caught a train up to Celerina, a small town just outside St. Moritz. Martin knows how much I love snow. I don’t know if it is because I have so many great memories of snow forts, sledding, and ski vacations with my family,  but snow really makes my soul calm and happy. Since we haven’t had much snow here in Zurich, we have been trying to get out to a new snowy spot every few weeks. Just a few hours reading and relaxing on the train and we find winter wonderland–whether in Engelberg, Davos, or St. Moritz.

The Horseshoe Turn at the Olympia Bob Run

This weekend we headed to Celerina and St. Moritz for more snow, a World Cup bobsled event (on the world’s only all natural, all ice track), and a night and long day surrounded by the white stuff. This time spent surrounded by snow is only made better by the great company, lots of warm drinks, and beautiful scenery.

We began the day with breakfast, and a couple of hours wandering the streets of St. Moritz and enjoying ginger tea in a cafe. Martin caught up on his journal and I read. We both people watched and saw lots and lots of full-length fur coats and hats.

In the early afternoon we headed over to the Olympia Bob Run for world cup two-man bobsledding. The skies had cleared of the early morning snow showers and the mountains were beautiful. Spectators entered above the start area and then could walk the full length of the bobsled run through the woods and around the corners to the finish. We watched a number of sleds start and then ambled down through the woods to catch the bobs as they whirred down through the woods. The best part was watching them fly through the horseshoe turn. It was a lot of fun and now I’m sure I won’t hear the end of Martin’s desire to try to bobsledding for quite some time.

After we had walked the whole course, we headed over to Muottas Muragl funicular to ride up to the top for a long sled ride down. When we reached the top the wind had really picked up and the whiteout conditions kept us (and our freezing faces) from descending for a few minutes.  Once we were off the exposed face, the sled ride down was fast, fun, and very scenic. While we have definitely improved our technique since our last run in Davos, we still have a lot to learn. Two sleds are better than one. Goggles (I had mine) are better than just glasses (poor Martin). And, as Martin will tell you, it may be better to take a mogul than over steer to avoid it. He is sporting a nice shiner today to prove it. We both had so much fun though that even this injury won’t prevent us from sledding again.

Now we just need to break out our snowshoes, and I really need a ski buddy.