Snowboarding in the Swiss Alps

Villars

Mark showing off his moves

Amazing sunset views from our hotel room

After getting ourselves prepped for winter athletics (see my Snow Clothes Shopping post!), Mark and I headed to the Swiss Alps last Friday night. We took the train up to Villars, about one and a half hours from Lausanne. It was snowing pretty hard that evening and the next morning , which made for some great snow conditions! Friday night we checked in our hotel, Hotel du Golf and went down to the restaurant to enjoy a nice dinner.

Saturday morning we woke up early to get ready. We put on all of our snowboarding gear and then went to the ski store, McBoard, to pick up my board, boots and helmet that we had reserved. At 9:30 we caught the mountain train up to Bretaye, the top of the mountain where the ski runs are located. It was cold and snowy when we first arrived, but we lucked out and had pretty nice conditions during our time spent on the mountain.

We reserved a lesson for the two of us with an instructor from Ecole Suisse Ski and Snowboard. Our instructor's name was Guillaume, an extremely friendly and patient man! He helped me out a lot, as it was my very first time. Mark had been before, although not for a number of years. After our start though, the moves came back to him! He did really well! We started off just learning how to push ahead with one fit locked in and one foot loose. Then we practiced standing up...that is really hard! Another lesson we learned was the "floating leaf" which is the general practice for learning how to snowboard! It's how you move the board back and forth going down the mountain by shifting your weight.

I have to admit that after a couple of hours, I could barely stand my legs were so sore. You use a lot of muscles that you don't use on a normal day! After our lunch break, I did a couple of more runs before my legs completely gave out. Yes, for all you hard-core snowboarders out there, I'm sure you will laugh at that statement. I hate to admit that, but it has given me motivation to get back in the gym and do a lot of weight-training to strengthen my legs and my back!

We took the train back down to Villars and had a relaxing rest of the day. I enjoyed a massage at the hotel spa as well as a dip in the jacuzzi. Sunday morning, we had breakfast and returned my gear before heading home. It was a fantastic snow weekend! I can't wait to continue my lessons and hopefully improve my skills! It doesn't get much better than snowboarding in the Swiss Alps!

Ice Skating!

Ice skating at the Montchoisi outdoor rink near our apartment!

Trying to learn how to skate!

My teacher, the hockey player! :)

Mark getting ready to fly!

Snow Clothes Shopping

New jacket and pants!

Under garment

Crash pads to minimize bruising!

After having such a great day trip to the mountains last weekend, Mark and I decided to plan a snowboarding trip for next weekend. Since neither of us have any snow clothes, we hit up the shops today.

A side-note about shopping in Switzerland: everything is closed on Sundays. It's just part of the European culture that Sunday is a day of rest. Needless to say, after coming from a society where everything is open 7 days a week, and accessible almost or always 24/7, it is an adjustment to have to plan out when to shop. The stores here open between 8:30-10:00 am and close around 6:00 pm. With both of us working now, we have to do all of our shopping on Saturdays.

Knowing that we had to make sure to get all of our clothes shopping done today, we decided to hit the pavement early today to make sure we had the whole day....and thank goodness we did! After a very LONG day of going from store to store, we are now outfitted! I can't wait to hit the slopes.....or in my case, the bunny run!

Les Diablerets!

Les Diablerets!

Ski run map

A view of the lift

On our way up!

Cheese fondue lunch

Mark and I at the top of the mountain!

Back down we go!

What is there to do when everything in Switzerland is closed on Sundays? How about a snow day?!! Mark and I made our way up to Les Diablerets today, a mountain town and ski resort not too far from Lausanne! Some fun facts about Les Diablerets: it is a mountain village located in the Vaudoises Alps; it has a Glacier at the top (at 3000 meters) and offers a variety of snow sports in the winter! It is approximately 1 1/2 hours from Lausanne by train. We reached our destination via Aigle, from which you switch to a mountain train.

Our original goal for today was to go sledding, known as "sledging" in Switzerland. Les Diablerets is well known for their 7.2 km sledge run down the mountain. However, once we reached the town, we found out that the sledge run was closed today! Uh oh! That didn't stop us from having a fun day though! We went and watched (mostly kids) go sledding down a small hill at the bottom of the mountain....kids truly have no fear! I have never been sledding before and I must admit that I thought it looked a little scary! I'm not sure how I am going to do going down the mountain on a sled, but I would like to go back and try one day! LOL!

A few of the ski/snowboarding runs were open, so we decided to take the chairlift to the top of the mountain and eat lunch at the restaurant. (Throwing snowballs at each other also occurred through out the day!!) The chairlift alone was an experience for me, as it was my very first time riding one. I was gripping Mark's arm on the way up, but I have to say that the views offered from that ride were absolutely beautiful! Now that I have experienced it, it won't be so bad with skis or a snowboard attached to me next time! We reached the top and ate a yummy cheese fondue lunch at Les Mazots. After lunch, we watched some of the skiers and snowboarders take off down the mountain. Then we took the chairlift back down the mountain!

My very first trip to a ski resort was awesome! I can't wait to get some gear and make an attempt at skiing or snowboarding!

My first drive in the snow!

Today I drove to work in the snow for the very first time! I had to record this moment since I am a born and bred SoCal girl! Although it was a little nerve-wracking, I made it to work and home safely.

Je suis une etudiante de francais!

Back to French class! I started a new French class tonight. I'm taking the evening class twice a week so that I can work during the day. Hopefully my French will continue to improve!

Happy New Year - Bon Annee!

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2010! We had a great trip back to the States for the holidays! Minus our actual travels, which turned out to be pretty brutal (we are still missing all of our luggage!) we had a great time with our friends and family in Phoenix and San Diego. It felt great to be back home for a couple of weeks. I had so much fun catching up with everyone, and we managed to fit in most of the food we were craving that we have been missing! Mark and I celebrated New Year's Eve with a group of his friends at the Hard Rock Hotel in the gaslamp quarter which was a fun way to ring in the new year. The time went by too fast, but we look forward to our visitors coming in the summer. As we say in our new home, Bonne Annee!