Switzerland: Arosa

13-14 January 2007

Arosa is a beautiful ski resort located in the canton of Graubuenden, in the east of Switzerland where most of the other ski resorts are concentrated. Our friends Gaudi and Silvia very kindly invited us Aussie out-of-towners along for a taste of snow for the weekend. This is the first time I had ever seen more than a fingerful of snow, so it was a quantum leap weekend for me in terms of winter experiences!

The Train Trip

It takes under 4 hours to get to Arosa by train. We set off from Bern on Saturday morning and it was a beautiful sunny day so we could see everything. The journey comprised an hour-long train ride to Zurich, then an hour and a bit to Chur, and then a slow hour-long train to Arosa. We practically travelled across a large chunk of Switzerland, and got to see the fantastic changing sceneries.

	train1 Bruce took this one, we've never come this close to a mountainside in Switzerland before and the texture was really cool, especially set against the lake.
	train2 And this one as well. More of said lake -- see!
	train3 As the train climbed uphill near Arosa, we started to see areas with patches of snow. Snow has been scarce so far this winter.
	train4 And more snow. Yay!

Hiking

Our friends greeted us warmly at the station, and after a pleasant relaxed lunch from their balcony we set out for a hike starting from Praetschli towards the sled run. Bruce took these with his Nikon D70 (except for the one in which he appears, of course). All subsequent larger size photos were likewise taken with the D70.

	hike1 View from hiking trail.
	hike2 View from hiking trail.
	hike3 Silvia and I pulling sleds up the trail.
	hike4 View from hiking trail.
	hikebc Preen preen.
	hikegs Gaudi and Silvia.

Sledding

My first attempt at sledding was pathetic to say the least. I had all the wrong instincts for steering and stopping. But it did mean I had several close encounters where I got very friendly with the snow.

	sledct Here's me looking a bit apprehensive about the whole mess. IIRC a child overtook me not very long after this shot. Gaudi looks somewhat amused.
	sledduo1 Bruce came on board, making the sled heavier! No Bruce no! However, he did have better steering skills that I did, so maybe that was a good thing.
	sledduo2 AAAaaaaaAAAA...
	sledduo3 EEEEeeeeEEEE.....
	sledduo4 AAAaaaaaaAAAAA.....
	sledduo5 EEEEeeeeWhee that was fun!!!
	sledbs1 We'd reached the end of the sled run so it was time to head back. However Bruce and Silvia found more sloping ground on the way back for another go.
	sledbs2 From the back... fantastic backdrop there.

Skiing

Day 2. Our first ski lessons. Most of this has not been documented, which is just as well, because we sucked. However, we did have lots of fun, though I'm not sure if our instructor did :)

	roomview View to start the day -- outside our bedroom window.
	slopes The slopes, ready to be conquered (ha ha ha).
	skis We really went skiing, we did. Here's the pic to prove it.
	tschuggen1 And CUT skipping the embarassing bits. Here's us meeting with our friends at Tschuggenhuette for a bite.
	tschuggen2 Gurgle-gurgle blatt.
	break G and S went for more skiing, and B and I made our way back. It wasn't long before we needed a break again though. Perhaps Aussies are not built for 2000 m above sea level. That's our story anyway, until we find a better one.
	snowman Idle pleasures.
	bench Our mark on Arosa.
	mittel Back to Mittelstation, where we took the cable car down back to the village. All in a day's work....