J'ai Perdu!

Being a competitive person has its advantages. I'll admit that it has attributed greatly to my academics, and of course to my skiing. There is just something fulfilling about being able to say I TOLD YOU SO to that little voice inside my head that says I can't do something. Then there are the disadvantages. Take yesterday, for example. Me and a few others from the team were watching a Nadal Federer final of some really small tennis tournament that would never make it onto US television (only a 2/3 set men's final!). If I haven't mentioned it before, here it goes: I'm not a Federer fan. So of course when Nicolas suggested a bet over the winner, I took it eagerly yelling vamos Rafa! If the -27F cold of Saturday or the 60MPH gusts of today weren't cold enough, my roll in the snow last night surely was!

-27 is really THAT cold

So, I don't want to seem like a wuss. Steamboat has been known to hit forty below. Forty below with no wind, and with no moisture is NOT the same as the Saas Fee 27 below. Neoprene mask, boot heaters, and hot hands weren't enough to combat the consuming cloud of cold. And I do mean cloud; after three runs I had to put my goggles under my jacket stuffed with hot hands to melt away the frozen layer of humidity, so I might be able to see an extra four inches. Not the greatest conditions for my second day in gates, but c'est la vie!

My new crib!

I know you guys were all dying to see the house that I have to work so hard to get to. Trust me, its worth it!

I've got 565 stairs to go now

That's right. 565 stairs from the train station to my house. Then there are 38 stairs inside the house to get to my apartment. I know, you are already jealous of how toned my buns will be. Who said you need a gym to get in shape. All you need to do is spend some time in hilly Switzerland without a car!

First gates of the year!!

Today was fittingly freezing, with absolutely no visibility for my first day in gates. Although I wasn't accelerating out of each turn and tearing up the course with amazing technique, I put eight runs in pain free! Not a bad first day.

The soundtrack of my life in Saas Fee

Shutters slamming in the wind. Church bells clanging the hour. Peaceful silence. Baa.

Wait a second, there are sheep in the middle of a ski town?

Yep, moutons (moo-ton) are just another normality here in Switzerland.

Saas fee in the winter

Yeah! Nice sight while it lasts (most likely a day or two!)

Real winter snow!

I thought the weekend would never come! It has been a constant rain storm in Montreux and it was a relief to see that it was snow in saas fee! I love that euphoric feeling of the first snowflake kiss on your tongue. I could resist, so I flung a few snowballs at Morgan!

Epiphany about Montreux

It is in constant construction turmoil! After the francophone fair, I figured thing would quiet down for a bit before they started reassembling for the Christmas fair but no such break occurred. Now, city workers are uniting to set up fake log cabins and pin fake sheets (literally) of snow to various booths. As you can see, someone agrees with me that the lac leman looks like a scene from lord of the rings and ordered a hobbit house complete with fake fungus!

Tear!

My last dinner with the host family! I will definitely miss the eccentric parties and the crazy stories about english horse jumping. As a parting gift, I gave them each a super warm Chaos hat and they told me that I HAD to stop by again for dinner.

The joys of packing

Well I can't believe it has been seven weeks already! At this point, I am moving to a new apartment that is closer to the train station, thus easier during race season. At this point, I'm pretty efficient at bagging up... I clocked two hours total! We'll have to see what my final time is in March (hopefully with a few medals!).

And then there was the rain

Today brought a whole lot of wind and rain to saas, so the lifts are ferme... NOT open. Leaves a good clif-hanger for next weekend.

Not too bad!

Every weekend I get better and better at Swiss Technique! It's coming along nicely, although I'm rotating a bit here. Now I just need to get some gate miles.

Thule on the golf!

My parents back home put on my new Thule rack! It's a good thing I have short skis because the box is as mini as my car. Too bad I can't appreciate it too much until march, but I will be sure to make a trip with my 177 blizzards when I get back!

More piste

Each morning, after rolling out of bed, eating a whopping bowl of muesli and chugging down some nuun, I embark on a fifteen minute walk to the tram. From there, it is a two tram, one train, (under the mountain!) thirty minute journey to the top of the glacier. Today they opened up the terrain under the second tram, creating a gigantic run from the top of the glacier. As it was too windy to set gates, we did a skiing and skating mix. The run was so long (and we skated so much) that we only needed three runs to fill up the entire day.

The sun!

For many weeks, I didn't think it existed in full force. Week after week of cloudy or partly cloudy skies made the sun's full appearance today a welcome sight. As you can see, the team was just as happy. From right Amelie, Bastien, Martin, Nikolay, some random person, Rheto, and Morgan.

Fajita night in saas fee!

During training in Saas Fee, the team takes turns making dinner and tonight was my turn. Veering away from the traditional Swiss breakfast potatoes for dinner, I cooked up some fajitas, complete with homemade tortillas, guak, salsa, and refried beans. As you can see, Bastien is a bit out of practice as he committed a rookie mistake: piling his fajita like a burrito, then finding that he couldn't keep it in one piece!

Bon apetite!

Another nice day...

So it was time for a photo op!

Morgan and I are standing on top of an old, preserved grain hut. Mmm grain stored in an old rotting house! Sure makes me hungry!

Fall hike in Saas Fee

Me and another Swiss Junior took advantage of the nice fall weather (for the moment) in Saas to take a nice hike in the woods. Not exactly the wilderness, as there is a kiddy park or restaurant at least every 100 yards! Just another bizarre fact of life in Switzerland.

INTRODUCING:

Not Slim Shady, but my host family, who are, by the way, the BEST!!! Today was Francois' birthday, so we threw a surprise lunch party complete with horse-meat and hot stones! I bravely stepped up to the plate and threw a piece of "cheval" on the stone and it was pretty dang tasty. After steaming up the entire house and finishing off a vineyard's worth of wine, we still have five platters of various sliced meat.... Looks like we'll be having hot-stone dinner for a few days. I'm definitely not complaining!

Third from the left is my host dad Frederik, who drinks almost a whole bottle of dole every night and teaches tennis (unless my french is so bad that I still don't know!)

From left:
- 2 unknowns
-Geraldine: the daughter who owns a restaurant and has Francois come down almost every weekend to help feed the masses
-Francois: my host mom who is a self taught french chef (I saw her one lunch "whip together" a flaming pan of cognac-beef!)
-more guests

Some lone halloween pumpkins

Although Halloween is almost nonexistent in CH, my good friend, Jeff Graves and his family carved some pretty dang good ones, if I'm any judge! At left Henryk demonstrates the product of a kid + apple corer. The other one is Jeff's (the dad) masterpiece with a slug adding the right amount of creepy Halloween ambiance.