Keely's Day

Rachelle and I decided not to ski today. The forecast was for a lot of snow and clouds, so we decided it would make for a good day to relax. We ate breakfast with the boys and then we took a couple of hours to read and relax before venturing out for the day. Midmorning we walked around town for a bit talking to some people about massage options, but then opted to go on a hike. We started out at about 11:45 on a hike that we thought would take us a little over an hour to get up to the Furi ski lift. We got there, but it was pretty slow going on the way up! It started snowing about half way through the hike. Luckily the path was really nice, it was plowed into more of a road than a path, so that made for nice walking and it wasn't too slippery. The path continued to go up after we got to Furi but we decided we were hungry and started heading down. By the time we got back to town it was 2:30 already! We were starved so we stopped into the Brown Cow Tavern and grabbed some fancy hotdogs on baguettes…delicious!

Next we decided that we would eat in as a group and we went grocery shopping for some bread, meat, cheese, fruit and wine. That required several bakery stops! We also stopped at a delightful butcher shop where the man allowed us to taste all the meats and cheeses we were buying and helped us select several "specialties of the county." One of them is a dried and smoked beef that is sliced thin, it is very delicious. We finally headed back to the hotel around 4 and were surprised that the boys were already back from their day of skiing!

Kevin's day

Last night before dinner we exchanged skis to get something a little wider for the deep snow. It was great to ski something with which I was much more familiar. We started the same way as yesterday skiing through town to the tunnel lift. This lift is quite amazing. When you first get to it, you have to walk about 100 yards through a tunnel buried right into the mountain. Then you board train cars set at a steep angle that takes you straight up the inside of the mountain. In no time at all you gain 2000 feet and are halfway up the side of the mountain. Very fast and efficient!

We did a few runs to warm up as we were both a little sore and then tried out our new fatter skis. Still lots of soft powder but this time we floated across the top instead of sinking to the top of the boots! We headed to the top of Rothorn again and had great views but the clouds started to come in so we hurried down (poor Keely - the groomers smoothed out all the bumps on the run she hated yesterday!) to get on the Hohtalli lift. This took us up the other side of the valley.

This side of the mountain was more terrain that we were used to and snow we were accustomed to skiing. We skied the bowl a few times and then headed down because the snow and fog had set in and we were skiing mostly by feel. We took the long way down and would shortcut the groomed traverse to hit patches of untouched powder. Unfortunately it wasn't much clearer on the lower part of the hill so we decided to head back into town.

Jason and I stopped at a few bars and restaurants on the way down but most were full as many others had similar ideas. The one spot that did have room only took cash. We didn't have any but the bartender took down our name and hotel and told us to just come back tomorrow! I don't think we'll mind!

Back together again!

This evening we ate some of the delicious bread, meats and cheeses the girls found while walking around town. Thankfully they also picked up some chocolate for desert! After a few more games of Euchre, we called it a night. Snow continues throughout the night and into the morning so we won't be starting too early but the afternoon should be clear. We're looking forward to another great day of skiing!

Kevly