The Parents' Association at school organizes ski/snowboard lessons each year. This year 155 kids from the school are participating -- including all 3 of ours! The lessons take place every Saturday for 5 weeks. C.J. is in an intermediate snowboarding group, Brendan is in a beginning snowboarding group, and Abbie is in a slightly-better-than-beginner ski group. Lessons go from 10am-3pm. The kids are served a hot lunch mid-day.
I heard the lessons were great and the kids had fun skiing with all their friends, but I was still a bit nervous the first day. In the past we've always skied with the kids. C.J. was worried that he wouldn't learn anything. He was pretty sure he didn't need any lessons. Brendan seemed excited, but was a bit worried about not knowing anyone in his group. Abbie is our little princess and tends to tucker out by mid-day. She's cold. She's hungry. She wants hot chocolate. Does she really have to go outside again? She seemed excited about the lessons, but we wondered if she'd make it past lunch.
More excited than worried, we headed out for our first day of lessons/skiing. The ski area is about an hour away from our house, so we left the house at 7:15, allowing plenty of time for us to park, put on gear, and walk to the resort to meet the instructor between 9:15 and 9:30. We were picturing U.S. ski resorts where you can park a half mile from the lift. Then, you have to worry about getting to the lesson meeting point. Definitely not the case here. All 3 kids were meeting at the beginner's ski area. We pulled in and parked 3 cars away from the meeting area. We looked around for the resort. Hmm. Not quite what we were expecting. The entire parking lot for the "resort" was smaller than an average parking area for a U.S. grocery store. The "lodge" consisted of a restaurant with seating for maybe 30 people. There wasn't any ski shop, and the ticket counter was a booth with one person -- right next to the lift line. And the lifts -- well, they were rope tows.
While the ski area where the lessons occur is a fairly good sized ski area for Switzerland, ski areas aren't major resorts over here -- at least not the local resorts. They tend to be a bunch of lifts that are scattered around a town or a few towns. The areas may be connected via lifts, but they aren't always. For example, the kids' were at the beginners area, and you can't access it from the rest of the ski areas. For John and I to ski, we would need to drive to another lift.
The beginners' area consisted of a toddler area with a magic carpet, a bunny hill with a rope tow, and another tow lift that went up the "big" hill.
We introduced the kids to their instructors. I was glad to see that my friends' kids were in Brendan's group and I introduced them. Brendan said "hello" and then turned and introduced himself to another boy in the group! My shy child is coming out of his shell.
We then introduced Abbie to her instructor. She didn't know anyone in her group, but she was happy enough with a female instructor. 
C.J. made his way over to his group and seemed happy enough. 
One thing to note is that being at the lessons is fun. You run into all your friends, and everyone around you is speaking English. It may not seem like anything special, but English isn't the norm over here. If we hear someone speaking English when we are out and about, it stands out. We often strike up a conversation with the person, because it's unusual. So, hearing everyone speak English around you is actually relaxing. It's nice to know that you can turn to the person standing by you and strike up a conversation. So, the kids wandered off with their instructors and John and I made a break for it.
For our skiing, we had two choices. There is an intermediate chair about a half mile down the road or there is a gondola a couple miles away in another town. We chose the chair as it was the closest location and it's where all the intermediate lessons take place. The parking lot for this area is a bit bigger, but we still parked quite close to the counters/lift. Oh, and this resort is a tad bigger -- there is a ski shop! They don't need large resorts as you tend to eat on the slopes. There are privately owned restaurants scattered over the mountains.
John and I bought ourselves some tickets -- 50 CHF, so not too expensive, and hopped on the chair. It was a strange experience. The last time we skied together without kids in tow was when I was pregnant with Abbie. That was probably the last time John skied with poles as well! We looked at each other and both said, "Wow, we're skiing the Swiss Alps!" If you had said we'd be here a year ago, we would have laughed. Yet, here we were.At the top of the chair, we realized that it wasn't exactly what we had pictured. Visibility was nil. You could see about 10 feet in front of you. Yet, we persevered. The trails are marked with tall orange poles, so we could mark our path by staying between the poles. We skied down the mountain, and came to ... a rope tow! Neither of us had been on a rope tow since high school, so we weren't exactly sure what to do. There wasn't anyone to assist either. Employee cost is really high in Switzerland, so to keep costs down... they just skip the employees. We managed to catch a t-bar and we made it up the mountain, shaking the whole way. With visibility what it was, we had no idea where the nearest trail was if we fell off our bar. I was a wreck that I'd fall and twist my knee. The furthest you could see was the bar in front of us. No other people were around. The Swiss are obviously too smart to ski on such a horrible day.
We made it to the top and found a trail to ski down. About 3/4 of the way down the mountain, we ran into a restaurant and stopped for a soda and fries. We assessed the situation and decided it was just too dangerous to ski. You really couldn't see anything, and it's easy to fall off a trail into a ravine. It wasn't fun when we had no idea where we were or where we were going. Sadly, our first ski day consisted of 2 runs.
We headed back to sneak a peek at the kids. They all seemed to be doing well. C.J. was off to try the "big" t-bar. Brendan was falling a lot, but seemed happy. Abbie was still skiing! In fact, girls were calling to her and they all seemed happy. We hung out with other parents, had some hot chocolate, and waited for the lessons to end.
All 3 kids begged to continue skiing. Abbie thew a fit that she couldn't go up the "big" hill with John and C.J. She and Brendan marched off to the bunny hill and rode up the hill together. They did 3 more runs before we convinced them to end for the day. It was so cute to see them side by side on the t-bar! Abbie informed us that she had been in 3 different groups that day. In the end, she was put with her friend's big sister's group (who happens to be in Brendan's class.) My guess is that it had been so long since she skiied that they downgraded her. When she got comfortable, they realized she could actually ski and upgraded her again. She didn't seem to mind and is thrilled with her final assignment. C.J. said he learned some new stuff, and Brendan wasn't at all concerned that he kept falling down on the snowboard.
As much as I moaned and groaned that I had to take a T-bar and 2 weeks later still don't love the T-bar ride, I think it's a great lift for a beginner's ski run. Abbie doesn't have to worry about getting on and off a chair. The ride for her is quite easy and it helps reinforce how to keep her skiis parellel. Very few kids fall off the T-bar so the lift keeps running. If you've ever been on a beginning chair lift, you'll know how many times that lift gets stopped. It can take forever to get up a tiny bunny hill!
We headed home to a dinner of fondue and then 4 out of 5 family members fell asleep in front of the TV at 7pm. Jet lag and a day of skiing had caught up with everyone.
I'll leave you with this final photo. What do you do in Switzerland if you love to windsurf but your lake freezes on you? Do it anyway!
2 comments:
Loved all the details and the pictures. Mom
Cool! Sounds fun.
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