Visiting the Toblerone mountain

Am now in Switzerland after a wonderful week skiing. I was blessed this year to have excellent room mates, my group was generally fun and was part of an exciting social group where every night was a fun night.
The highlight though was definitely skiing alongside the glacier on grands montets. We started at  3300m, definitely the highest starting point I have skied from. The views from the top were stunning. The start was very steep, thin and bumpy. The actual run was more off piste than piste, the snow being knee height at many points on the way. A massive challenge, with group members losing skis in the snow when they fell. Luckily my skis could take a lot of tension (which isn't normally a good thing) so the few times I fell I kept my skis. Surprisingly I skied much better in these conditions. Maybe it was due to the softness of the snow, knowing it didn't hurt at all.
Overall the skiing this week has been tough. I have skied deep snow, moguls, ice, grass andin low visibility, but hopefully I have improved and become a better skier. Although I still have a little fear still about falling, especially on the harder snow/ice.
Now am sitting in a hotel in Brig, Switzerland. I have spent the day in the resort town of  Zermatt. Made famous for the first deaths of mountain climbers on its most famous mountain, the Matterhorn. What a stunner it is. I can see why Toblerone chose this mountain as it's logo. I even went to the spot where the Toblerone view is based from. Although it is not the tallest mountain in the alps, it is much more impressive than Mont Blanc. This is due to its interesting shape and the fact it looks more stand alone. Up close it is obvious why the Matterhorn is so hard to climb.
The whole Valley as a whole would be great to hike in summer. It is a nine day trip. The ski area looks more impressive than chamonix With higher runs. There is even summer skiing. and you can ski to Italy.
Was quite expensive to get to Zermatt though. You can not drive there as it has a no car policy so you have to take a train. This train has beautiful views the whole way, so is just about worth the cost.
Better go to bed now. Of to Bern tomorrow,  the capital of Switzerland.

Joshua

Merry Christmas from Chamonix

So here I am on Christmas Day just chilling out after brunch. Has been an interesting few days.
This year, opposed to last I have some fun roommates more my age, so the social aspect of the trip has been a lot better. We share our costs which makes things so much more manageable. The apre ski I went to yesterday afternoon was so much fun. With all of us dancing on chairs and tables to a Swedish band playing covers.
We also had an all centre Christmas dinner where we had gifts, traditional French Christmas food and random Carol singing. The bar provided us with gifts too. Generally junk, but some got lucky and got a nice beanie.
The skiing has been interesting. Not much base snow left on parts of the run, and so have to avoid stones and plants. Hopefully today it snows as the slopes desperately need it. This has been a challenge for me as I am in group that was already going to be a challenge. But I have survived. Keeping up just with the group I am in. Done some off piste for the first time and done some pretty difficult mogul runs. Done some good falling. But nothing unexpected there. The only issue with the group is that I don't get enough technique work as everyone else is much more advanced than I am.
Just heard snow rumours...... excellent
Merry Christmas all. Hope you all are able to reflect back on a good year. I can say my year has been amazing!!!!!

Another holiday, another blog

This evening I am in Geneva, Switzerland. I am here for one reason, it was phenomenally cheaper to fly on Friday then it was on Saturday. And why was I flying. Well I am of to Chamonix again to ski over Christmas, and the package starts on Saturday. Being based in Sweden, almost everyone I know has gone home or away for Christmas, and sadly Sanne is away travelling South East Asia, so can't celebrate with her.  So it is a chance to go do something I have learnt to do while living in Europe, which I love.
So while I ski there will only be a couple of blogs. The true writing will start in the second half of the winter break. I am travelling from Chamonix to the Matterhorn, Berne, Lucerne, Zurich Liechtenstein and finally Munich.
I am a little excited for this whirlwind tour. I have only once been to Switzerland previously. That was Geneva and I found it boring. Hence I haven't bothered doing much here this evening but eat. But Switzerland is meant to be about the mountains and cute towns. Swiss people have told me to not judge the country by the two major cities as they are fake and don't represent the country at all. So here we are. A weeks time I will be testing that theory. Fingers crossed that the theory becomes fact..
But first, the reason I came this way in the first place. The skiing. Hooray.
So not writing again until Christmas. Which reminds me, I am missing a swedish tradition again this year. ...... Kalle Unka.

Joshua