Today was the first day skiing and we woke up to fresh powder - tons of powder! We enjoyed a nice European breakfast of meats, cheeses and pastries and then it was off to the ski room to change. The hotel has a nice little room downstairs where we can store our skis, put our boots on the boot dryer and keep the mess and snow out of our room. Kevin, Jason and Rachelle planned to go skiing while Keely stayed back to check out the town.

Since there was so much snow, we skied right down the road to the bus that would take us to the base of the lift. With all the snow (a terrible winter the locals are calling it - can it be terrible with so much snow?!), many of the lifts were closed while they did avalanche patrol. But without too much confusion we boarded the gondola and rode what was a very long ride to the Schwanzee ski area of Zermatt.

When we got there, it was a near white out between the clouds, fog and falling snow. It was tough to see where we were going but the runs were very well marked on both sides. Unfortunately, there was a lot of skiing by feel which resulted in hitting a few too many bumps and a couple of falls. After the first few runs, we took a T-Bar lift but didn't really know where it took us. Turns out, at the end of the lift we arrived in Italy! The ski area has access points in both countries! We skied down a bit to a little restaurant and enjoyed a quick bite to eat before heading back to Switzerland.

Between our first and second runs back on the Swiss side, the sun started to come out and it was amazing how much better we were able to ski. We did several more runs and as it got later in the afternoon, we had better and better views. Can't wait until its clear because there are mountains everywhere!

Our gondola took us up nearly 6000 feet from the mountain's base so we had a long way back down to Zermatt. We started the ski down and the views were fantastic: small little villages nestled in the mountains; peaks and ranges as far as we could see; and a nice smooth path to ski down. By the time we got to the bottom, we were able to see the Matterhorn - the signature mountain of the area - as the sun was going down.

Keely spent the day exploring the town checking out the spas, restaurants, chocolatiers and high end clothing stores. Thankfully, she only purchased a bit of chocolate so we'll be able to afford the rest of our trip!

After a rest and showers, the four of us headed in to town to find dinner. We landed at the Swiss Chalet and shared fondue - cheese and meat versions. Delicious! We had to hurry back though to catch the Alverno's conference championship basketball game! Pretty amazing that we could watch the game broadcast over the internet! Tough loss though unfortunately!

Keely is skiing with us tomorrow after she takes a morning lesson to learn the best areas to ski. Looks like sun is in the forecast so we're excited about that as well! Can't wait to see the views!

Kevin