Go Neutral: Blue Blizzard, Black Avalanche, Grey Thunder, and the Abominable Snowman

This weekend I went skiing in Davos, Switzerland with a couple of my friends: Blue Blizzard (Michi) and Grey Thunder (Rene). There was a fourth member in the group, but seeing as she decided to remove herself from the weekend almost entirely, I shall remove mention of her in my blog. I (Black Avalanche, of course) wish I could begin to describe the amount of fun that we managed to pack into one weekend, but I shall do my best.

Grey Thunder, Blue Blizzard, Black Avalanche

Davos is a small ski town in the south-eastern part of Switzerland in the Canton of Graubunden. Unlike skiing in the USA, in Switzerland you only ski the mountaintops. If you're skiing below tree line then you're on a catwalk going home because all the action happens at the top of the mountain. When you first get to the ski resport in the morning you take a gondala or a train halfway up the mountain until you are above tree line and then you get on another ski lift to go to the summit. Once you are at the top, the mountain is your playground. Of course there are marked off areas where the snow has been grommed, but for the adventurous type you can "color outside the lines" and ski the powder inbetween. Luckily for us it snowed the entire day before and there were blue skies the whole weekend. Powder. Sunshine. Priceless.

Jakobshorn

Also unlike Colorado, which is pretty amazing I have to admit, there is something Switzerland has that Colorado just can't compete with - Mountains. And they aren't just any mountains - they are Alps. The Alps make the Rockies look like bunny hills. When we reached the top of the mountain we had a 360 degree panoramic view of the Alps as far as the eye could see. The pictures don't do justice.

Jakobshorn

Parsenn

I can't describe the feeling of skiing down the mountain surrounded by the most breathtaking scenery I have ever seen. I felt so small, yet I felt like I could still conquer the world. It was hard not to forget about where I was skiing and get lost imagining myself jumping from mountaintop to mountaintop. It was a good thing I could still focus on the ski slope at hand in my peripheral vision so I didn't crash into anyone. I had a couple minor Unfallen but nothing that I couldn't laugh about. The texture of the snow was incredible. I don't think I've skiied so hard or so fast in years. Just ask Michi and Rene - I was able to keep up with the boys!

The first day of skiing we went to Jakobshorn. The weather was amazing - blue skies, fresh powder, but -17 degrees celsius which is 1 degree fahrenheit. Pretty chilly, but we packed warm clothes and it didn't slow us down. The only thing that slowed us down was when the Abominable Snowman came and stole my cell phone. It all happened so fast I didn't know what happened until right before lunch I realized that my phone wasn't in my pocket anymore. I guess he needed to call the Lockness Monster or his blury friend Bigfoot. The second day was warmer and we decided to go to a different mountain - Parsenn. It was quite a bit more windy than Jakobshorn so every inch of our bodies were covered up, however nothing kept us from having a complete blast!