Avalanche Risk: Considerable

My alarm went off at 3:45 in the morning on Saturday. We had a train to catch. Sixteen of us were headed to Zermatt, Switzerland for what would soon become the best weekend of our lives. Over the course of the next seven hours, we took five trains and arrived at our hotel in Randa, Switzerland. Randa is located about twenty minutes outside of Zermatt by train. We stayed at the Matterhorn Golf Hotel, where I imagine golf has never been played. Trip, Taylor, and I were placed in the penthouse, just as we are in the Montarina.

After dropping our bags off at the hotel, we got back on the train to our final destination, Zermatt. As cars are not allowed in Zermatt to preserve it's natural beauty, horse-drawn carriage is one of the main forms of transportation within the town. Zermatt is a small German-speaking town in the shadows of one of the most famous mountains in the world, the Matterhorn. We spent Saturday, exploring the town and making preparations for our ski adventures on Sunday. While in town, we ran into a recent Hokie grad and his father, who helped us find a good place to rent skis.

We enjoyed a delicious lunch and explored the Matterhorn Museum before heading back to the hotel for the evening. Things got interesting Saturday night. Twelve of us met up in the penthouse for a classic game of Go Fish. After about two hours of playing cards, we got a knock on our door from our very angry next-door neighbor, and owner of the hotel, Maurizio. As it turns out, large gatherings are frowned upon in his establishment. After all of our guests left, and a lot of yelling in a mix of Italian and English from Maurizio, things calmed down. Despite his threats, the police were not called. Luckily for us, he arrived about twenty minutes after we broke on of the beds in the room. We had about eight people sitting on the right side of the queen bed while playing, before it caved in. Had we gotten away with it, I would not be blogging about it, however we received an email this morning informing us that we will, in fact, be charged for repairs. Divided by twelve, the cost is minimal, so thankfully we can laugh about it.

Sunday morning we woke up early to head to the slopes. We rented our gear the Saturday night, to help ease the process for the morning. Following a breathtaking thirty-minute ride up the mountain, to the Gornergrat peak we were ready to go. As a relatively inexperienced skier, I was informed that Gornergrat was home to several beginner friendly slopes. It seems as though the term beginner has a different meaning in Switzerland. The initial drop of "beginner" slope was very steep, and stayed that way throughout. I stuck with my friends Alex Santoli and Ashley Graham throughout the day. While Ashley and I had skied before, it was Alex's first time skiing.

Being Alex's first ski trip, she endured the expected challenges, on a mountain far bigger than a beginner should start on. I was incredibly impressed with her great attitude throughout the day. Despite the difficulties, she made it to the bottom with a smile on her face. Ashley had a great approach. She took her time, and stayed on her feet. I tended to get over confident with my abilities every so often. If I managed to stay on my feet for anywhere over five minutes, I started to think I could compete with Lindsey Vonn. Despite having to pull out of the Sochi Olympics after tearing her ACL, if I were to race her today with a three-hour head start, I'm confident she would still beat me to the bottom with time to spare.

While we were only able to see the outline of the Matterhorn through the clouds, the view was incredible from 10,132 feet up. The conditions were perfect, with temperatures hovering around zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) and snow on and off all day. We ran into our new Hokie friends about an hour into our ride. The kindly to guided us to an easier trail that lead to an igloo and an ice bar. Naturally, we had to stop there. Ice bars are cool. Igloos are cool. Ice bars in igloos on top of a mountain that overlooks the Matterhorn are very cool.

After enjoying a beverage, we continued our descent down the mountain.  It took us a while to get down to the gondola. It took three hours and forty-five minutes to be exact. While I had "Help Me Rhonda" stuck in my head the entire time, I loved every second of it. I was in no rush to get to the bottom. We stopped occasionally to enjoy the view, and frequently to help each other up when we fell. We made a few more trips down the mountain, despite notices that warned "Avalanche Risk: Considerable" as we got on the gondolas.

Needless to say, my trip to Zermatt was one of the coolest experiences of my life. I still cannot believe that I skied in the Swiss Alps yesterday, and lived to tell the tale.

Auf Wiedersehen!