| Skiing
at Nearby Flumserberg |
| Flums,
Switzerland (December, 2007) |
| |
| The Alps
had been receiving good snowfall thus far in the season; it was
mid-December and my first day on the |
| slopes.
Irmi had been ill most of the week with
a stomach virus and wasn't yet strong enough to accompany me, |
| so
I hooked up with Susanne, our good friend and Irmi's
colleague at The Dow Chemical Company. We drove to |
| Flumserberg,
a local ski resort only thirty-five minutes away by car, and were carving
gentle turns by 10:00 a.m. |
|
| The
weather was clear and bright, although a bit chilly at
14 degrees Fahrenheit, with a slight wind; but that's why |
|
we all spend big bucks on Gortex outerwear. Snow conditions
varied from well-groomed to crusted and covered |
| with hard
kernels, what locals call "corn snow." A few
stretches had pure, almost powder snow, but don't think of |
| that low-humidity Colorado
fluff, as European snow tends to be on the wetter side, more, perhaps, like
what one |
| might
encounter in Vermont stateside; and patches of ice are quite prevalent
on many of the steeper slopes here. |
|
| In short,
ski conditions were challenging that day, but Susanne and
I were both pleasantly surprised at our good |
| form and stamina.
After four hours on ski's and a leisure outdoor lunch
with
a good portion of the Alps serving as |
| background, we decided
not to press our luck on the first day and headed for home, contented,
and in one piece. |
| |
