Pow Day!
This past weekend we decided to take a snowboard trip to Switzerland.
We lucked out and found an amazing Airbnb that was ski on ski off. The Airbnb also had an amazing view (Picture 1). This meant we didn’t even have to take a bus to the mountain and could walk out of the house and snowboard down the mountain. I was so excited to get to Switzerland and go snowboarding. Unfortunately it was a major struggle to get there.
We left at about 10:30 in the morning after our German class. We got on a little tram to take us to the main train station in Siegburg. Once in Siegburg we got on an ICE train (Inter-City Express) to Frankfurt. This train was an hour and half long and there were zero seats available on this train. My friend and I had to stand the entire time. Overall it was a fine experience. Not super comfortable but the train went super fast. It peaked out at 300 km/hr. The next train ride started out good but very quickly went horribly. We were on our way to Zurich when our train came to a stop near Freiburg. The announcement came on and said that the train would be stopped due to a “Human accident” on the track. I was originally confused by what this meant before I quickly found out that meant someone had committed suicide on the track. This struck me for one particular reason. The reactions of everyone around me seemed completely unphased. They all acted like it happened all the time and were even more pissed that our train wasn’t headed to Zurich. Our train was now not headed to Zurich and stopping in Freiburg. This completely messed up the travel plans because now we would be unable to make our connection in Zurich. We ended up waiting in Freiburg for 2 hours because the tracks to Zurich were closed. What should’ve been a 7-8 hour trip ended up taking 10-11 hours.
After this brutal travel day we finally made it to the mountain. The next morning we get our rentals set up and get on the slopes. As soon as we get to the top I am stunned. The view was just stunning (Picture 2). It was nothing like I had ever seen before. For reference, I normally snowboard at Okemo, it’s a popular ski mountain in Vermont, and Okemo is a third of the size in altitude that the mountain in Arosa was. I was truly, for lack of a better word, Gob smacked. As soon as I started snowboarding I realized that this mountain was not just about the view. The conditions were just amazing. In addition to the conditions the runs were so much fun and so long. We barely spent anytime on ski lifts and most of the time actually snowboarding. The ratio of time on lift to time on trail was amazing. At that time, it was some of the best snowboarding I had ever done in my life. Lucky for me, it got even better on day two.
I woke up on the second day and couldn’t see out the window. There was a white fog across the whole view. I quickly realized that this was snow falling and ran to the front door. When I opened and saw a foot of snow I knew it was about to be a great day. A foot might be underestimating it. There was so much snow and it was all powder. We quickly geared up and headed out for a Pow Day. Now this was truly the best snowboarding I had ever done in my life. There are no better conditions than this. You can fall all you want and not get hurt. You don’t even have to stay on the trails. There is so much snow that it’s so easy to go off trail. I went off trail and the snow was up to my knees, maybe even my thighs. It was an amazing experience that I will cherish forever.
Even with the long travel to get there, the Swiss Alps were well worth the hassle. I know this was only the second week of study abroad, but it’s going to be pretty difficult to top this trip. I really don’t think I’ll be able to get the experience of Swiss Alps snowboarding ever again. I guess I just have to go back!
Jonah R.
Sounds amazing, Jonah! I visited (and skied) Jungfrau and had a similarly amazing experience – trails that go on forever (and taking the train back to the top) and off-piste skiing where you actually couldn’t tell which way was down. Honestly, seems like you just need to go back this winter!