Author: lisa

Written by Kathy Englar
As more guests come to visit us in Switzerland, I encouraged my mom (a well seasoned traveller in Switzerland) to provide some tips to those who come visit.

The SBB

You have arrived by plane, but the best choice for a visitor to get around Switzerland is the excellent train system. If you’re subscribed to this blog, you know that Lisa and Freddy have navigated to many out-of-the-way places by train, bus, postal vans, and gondolas. 

A one month Swiss train pass is probably less expensive than renting a car and you can get anywhere (within Switzerland) without stressing about whether to purchase additional auto insurance. You won’t need to worry about parking and navigating in cities and you can get to every ski resort and trail head since the pass covers regional train systems, most buses, and some cable cars. The trains are clean, quiet, timely, and accommodate your recreational equipment. During my April 2022 visit, the trains were busy with backcountry skiers and cyclists and I, too, waited for the train wearing ski boots and my helmet. Each train car in ski country has ingenious rubber ski racks by the door. 

There’s an SBB customer service office in the Zurich airport, so you can buy your Swiss Pass after you collect your luggage, thus saving you from paying for your train ride into Zurich. As advised by their website, we brought passport pictures for our passes.  Download the excellent SBB mobile application in advance and be amazed about how many options you have for train and bus service. In reviewing the departure postings at the Zurich HB, we found 100 departures per hour during prime time – that’s a lot of travel options. Mobile data is excellent all over Switzerland, so we could check train departures from a trail and know whether to pick up the pace or mosey along.

Another on-time departure! Some older trains require you to lift your luggage up a couple stairs, but most like this one allow you to roll your bags on at the same level and have an extender when the door opens so there’s no gap between the platform and the train.

You can ship your heavy items ahead by train. If you’re going skiing but spending time in Zurich before and after, ship your ski bag (weight limit 25 kg) to your destination for 12 CHF for 2-day service or 15 CHF for 1-day service. We were very happy to ship our 20 kg ski bag to the Zurich airport when we left our last ski stop. Editor’s note: there are other luggage delivery options, like door to door service. Follow the link above and click around. They also ship bikes!

Downhill equipment is heavy! Leaving Verbier with 120 pounds of luggage with anxiety about navigating these bags on the Verbier city bus, telecabine, regional train, SBB with a transfer – ship skis ahead!!

You can get anywhere, but it’s likely you’ll need to transfer, so do not pack like an Instagrammer (we saw so many Instagramming tourists struggling with huge bags, but I have to admit their supplies paid off because their attire, bags, hair, and makeup looked so great in front of the Matterhorn and Eiger). Our friends, a family of 5 with 9 bags, had 5 transfers between the Zurich Airport and Zermatt because of track work on the more direct route. If that’s your situation and the connection is tight, get yourself and your bags by the door when they call your station.

The trains are almost always on time (except when there is track work.) Some stations are on-demand, so if you need an on-demand stop, find the button to request it. Twice during my trip, I got on the train at an on-demand stop after hiking. It’s amazing that the conductor is ready to handle a stop immediately after exiting a tunnel when he sees you standing by a shelter waving your hand. With so many stations, including the on-demand stops, you can do point-to-point hikes or ski tours without retracing your steps. Whether you’re a fan or uphill or downhill travel, take a train one way.

At an on-demand stop after a point-to-point hike

Everyone is riding the trains/buses: oddly, little kids have two hour school lunch breaks and travel home to lunch and back again by bus.

Hospitality

Lisa and Freddy’s guest room has a blow-up bed (editor’s note: it’s a pull our sofa that can fit two people if you’re comfortable with each other. It’s utilitarian and moderately comfortable), but is also their office and gear storage space, so if you’re one of their parents (me), consider staying in a hotel. There are none in the neighborhood, but plenty around the Haubt Bahnhoff (HB), where you’ll emerge from the train from the airport and where you can catch the #7 tram to Lisa and Freddy’s apartment (Zurich city trams are covered by your SBB pass). It’s a 16 minute tram ride from HB to their apartment. The HB is also a thriving shopping center where you can buy pretty much anything: electronics (if you forget your power converter), groceries, lunch, dinner, maps, watches.

We stayed in two different hotels that were modestly priced (for Zurich) and sub-5 minute walks from the train station:

• Valhalla: https://walhalla-hotel.ch/de/
• Ruby: https://www.ruby-hotels.com/en/hotels-destinations/zurich/ruby-mimi

As with all hotels throughout Switzerland, breakfasts are in another league compared to US hotels. Hotels with spas generally offer adult only/clothing-free saunas and steam rooms. Note that there are many middle-aged plus spa goers, so it will be a cultural adjustment. Since pools are open to kids, they are clothing-mandatory.

Dining: 

• No tipping required, so if your food seems 20% too expensive, keep in mind that tipping is minimal
• Food is better, particularly the dairy products, but across the board
• Lunch at a ski resort seems to involve the need for a reservation, waitress service and alcohol and espresso, and a long rest from the slopes
• For vegetarians like me: you can usually find a falafel place and the ubiquitous Coop market has a variety of vegetarian and vegan salads to go
• Beers are cheaper and when you order a beer, they just bring you one; they won’t read you a long list of what’s on tap and what’s in bottles. Editor’s note: it’s all 4-5% Lagers. You can get an IPA, but not everywhere
• Switzerland has a robust wine industry – grapes are everywhere in the Valais
• Cheese, cheese, cheese: We saw a cheese vending machine in Gstaad, the Coop across from Lisa and Freddy’s apartment has a temperature controlled cheese room, the same Swiss brand of Gruyere cheese we buy at Costco in Reno was so much better (fresher?) and cheaper in Switzerland, and Freddy makes a fantastic fondue (Gruyere and Vacherin).

Grapes growing on every sunny hillside in the Valais

Slopeside dining at Zermatt: generally expensive, often requires a reservation, and not a quick lunch. We had great (but costly) lunches at the Hotel Adler on the Gornergrat side and the Stafelalp under the Matterhorn.

We needed to rest after coma-inducing lunch at the on piste Hotel Adler and quit for the day after a couple more runs. We wised up after that first lunch and split our rosti next time we lunched with the family with three hearty-eating boys

Another note on hospitality: I got through a 3-week trip without changing any money, using my Visa card only. Sometimes the tapping worked, most of the time it didn’t, but the card always worked.

Language Skills

Somehow, the Swiss know by looking at you that you’re an English speaker (is it your Patagonia?) In general, everyone in a customer-facing job in Zurich speaks English, but as a visitor, you will want to know your greetings, please, and thank you in the appropriate language. In German-speaking Switzerland, the trail greeting is Gruezi (pronouned Grits-y).

When crossing from German to French to Italian speaking areas by train, there is an assumption that you magically speak the new language upon reaching a milepost. We traveled by train from Interlaken to Verbier. Between Visp and Sion, the announcements went from German-English-French to French-English-German. That was also true of my Swiss Air flight back to San Francisco: the gate announcements and initial flight attendant announcements started in German, but switched to English when two hours out from San Francisco. I felt loved because the French “Cher Passager” was literally translates to “Dear Passengers” so frequently (as in “Dear Passengers, please make sure you have all your belongings before exiting.”)

All bets are off in French speaking areas. My high school French (sufficient for restaurant ordering and directions) was critical in Martigny and Verbier. I caused confusion searching for our Verbier hotel, the Montpelier, when I pronounced it as I would the home of James Madison in rural Virginia as “Mont-peel-yer” rather than “Mon-Pell-E-A”. I’m assuming that less pervasive English speaking is also an issue in the lakes region where they speak Italian.

Other things you’ll notice:

Zurich is 10 degrees of latitude farther north than San Francisco. If you’re visiting between March and September, it will be noticeably lighter later. On Easter Sunday, it was light in Zurich past 8 PM and the downtown area was mobbed with families enjoying the city, the lake, and the holiday.

If eBikes bother you, grit your teeth. Since car ownership is lower, there is a lot of city usage of eBikes that also make their way to the trails. Lisa and Freddy live below the very popular Uetliburg recreation area which you can access by train every half hour from the HB (recommend riding to 2 stations below the summit and walking up, or the reverse) and the spaghetti bowl of trails are full of eBikes.

Highlights

Meals: While the best meal of our trip was undoubtedly Freddy’s fondue (better than we can prepare at home with credit to both Freddy and the quality of cheese in Switzerland), our best restaurant meal was at the VegiStube in Zermatt. Can you believe there is a vegetarian restaurant in Zermatt? Actually, half the room in the basement of the Pollux Hotel is a different restaurant – they can fill only half a vegetarian restaurant in a famous Swiss ski town.

Best Train Ride: The Mont Blanc Express from Martigny to Vallorcine is a must-ride. It’s hard to believe they were able to build it to begin with, much less in 1906. It’s either in a tunnel, on a bridge, or seemingly suspended over nothing on a steep hillside. Views are not for the feint of heart.

Best Ski Lift: Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, to Klein Matterhorn

https://www.matterhornparadise.ch/en/Experience/Peaks/Matterhorn-glacier-paradise

Thankfully included with your Ikon Pass, this credit to Swiss engineering takes skiers from 9600 to 12000 feet. Each car sports four rows of heated seats and a sound system, and you can pay extra to ride in the crystal cars. It’s the lift you need to take to access Cervinia on the Italian side of the Matterhorn (not included with your Ikon Pass.) From Matterhorn Glacier Express, we took a 7-mile, 6200’ descent (take that, Northstar!) to the Furi station where the snow petered out (still requiring a cable car ride down to the town and denying us more vertical.) Even if you don’t want to ski in Zermatt, buy a ski pass, so you can ride the Gornergrat, the Matterhorn Express, and Matterhorn Glacier Paradise.

Where is this lift taking us? To the little pointy top!

Most Expensive Meal: 76 CHF for two bowls of artichoke soup in Champex. Because of bad weather and avalanche danger in Verbier, we took the regional train to Orsieres and then hiked up 2500 feet of elevation in 2 miles to Champex Lac, which was a dead quiet ski town, even though the lift was still running (with little visibility that day.) Because there was a mural of skate skiers on the outside wall, we wandered into Club Alpin thinking it was a Nordic ski store, but it turned out to be a 5-star hotel with a spa and a Gault & Millau rated restaurant: https://www.auclubalpin.ch/en

We were committed before realizing it was so upscale, so we ordered off the “hiker snack” menu. Those two bowls of artichoke soup came with three courses of amuses bouche: mini cheese balls (the best part of the meal), a surprisingly good cabbage item, and two mini desserts, one of which was creme brulee, each presented by two servers with fanfare. We asked our server if it is always this quiet in Champex and she replied, “You should have seen this place two weeks ago, absolutely packed.” They have a beautiful lake side patio, so when in Champex…

Sparsely populated day with low visibility in Champex Lac

Oddest Tourist Attraction: Bond World at the Schilthorn in Murren

We picked Murren for a ski day because of our zeal to ride train and cable cars (Murren requiring a train to Lauterbrunnen then a cable car to bump up elevation to another three station train line), but little did we realize we were heading to the site of the skiing scenes in the James Bond classic On Her Majesty’s Secret Service:

They play it up big time, considering the movie was released in 1969 and very few of today’s tourists were alive then, but on the other hand, there were at least as many cable car riders wearing sneakers as there were fellow-retirees skiing on a Monday and it delivers a fabulous view of the Eiger, Monsch, and Jungfrau. I resisted the opportunity to buy a Bond Girl t-shirt, but we did take pictures. When we skied out of the building (a steep groomer), two Asian tourists asked if they could take a video of us skiing – it’s so unusual to see a skier at a ski resort?

Me with James at Piz Gloria taking in the Jungrau

James in the WC at Piz Birg – Murren is all in on the theme

Best Postcard Picture Spot – Interlaken

Our hotel was near the Interlaken Ost station, where the trains to Grindelwald and Wengen depart, but the bulk of the restaurants are near the Interlaken West station, which is on the Thunersee. Every night, we walked to dinner along a bike path by the river enjoying postcard views of the Jungrau (and many parasailors.) Interlaken Ost station is next to a large, modern youth hostel and across the street from a Coop, so budget travel opportunities abound.

The Jungfrau from Interlaken at sunset

Written by Hunter Hartshorne, Photos by Hunter, Timmy, Lisa, and Freddy

Editor’s note: Hunter and Timmy came to visit us for 9 days during April. We really enjoyed hosting and having US friends visit. I encouraged Hunter to write a guest post for the AMDE blog, and he obliged. I hope this entices more friends to visit (and write guest posts!). I also hope Hunter doesn’t mind that I made some editorial remarks and added photos!

Pre-traverse

I flew into Zuri (how the locals pronounce it) and had two nights in town. Timmy arrived in the evening of the first day. We went for a run from the house and explored the trails up to Uetliberg. If you bring a few franks, you can have a beer on top before rolling back down the hill. Took the 7 into town and walked around gathering some supplies. The next day, we packed up and trained to Engelberg. Our plan was to ski a day at Titlis and then drop off the backside and stay at the Grassenbiswik. This was the first glimpse of the terrain we would come to know intimately over the next week. Needless to say Timmy and I were slightly intimidated. We skied all day and decided to forgo the hut due to the very solar-affected aspect we had to ski in order to get to the hut. We trained to Andermatt and stayed at Hotel Bergidyll. This train ride is incredibly beautiful. The room was reasonably priced and the tapas in the hotel restaurant were tasty, albeit overpriced. If you plan to stay in this area for a few days I would check out the Basecamp hostel, they have a two night minimum but it’s very inexpensive and looks very nice. We walked around town and had a beer at Pinte which we were informed has a club in the basement with no closing time Thursday through the weekend. Unfortunately it was Wednesday. 

Day 1 Realp -> Albert Heim 

From Andermatt the train to Realp was 10 minutes, leaving us in a valley with a group of 8 or so French speaking skiers which was promising. Following the group with skis on our packs, Timmy and I hiked up the road switchbacking its way up out of the valley. Our destination was the Albert Heim hut 3,400ft of vert and 4.2 miles away. After about 600ft of climbing we were able to switch to skinning. We split from the group, who decided to go up and over the pass. We took the road to Tiefenbach and then the summer trail up the drainage up to the hut. We made good time, and this route seemed to be the better choice as we beat the other group to the hut by over an hour arriving around 1 pm. Dinner wasn’t till 6:30 and we quickly got to spritz’n and lounging in the sun on the porch, activities that pleasantly dominated our afternoons for the whole traverse. We met several other parties also doing the Urner who we would continue to bump into for the next few days. Lisa and Fred joined us after work squeaking in as dinner was being laid out. Four courses starting with a mediocre mushroom soup and ending with an apple tart. Note that all hut dinners are served as follows: soup, salad, main course, and of course dessert.

Day 2 Albert Heim -> Voralphütte 

Left to right: (1) Freddy ascending the last few vert before our descent to the Voralphütte (2) Timmy enjoying a Redbull break in the middle of a never-ending second climb. There are crosses everywhere in these parts! (3) Hunter about to make is 156th kick turn up a sorry stretch of south facing snow. (4) Lisa thinking she can slog through knee deep mush with no pants on. It was a mistake. (5) Timmy cruising to the top of Lochberg.

After filling up a liter and a half of tea and pocketing a butter and jam sandwich we got on our way. This was to be our biggest day with 6,400ft of climbing over 10.5 miles with two large climbs. From the hut we dropped down slightly and began the first climb up to Lochberg, our first summit of the trip. We made good time following the stream of skiers zigzagging up the firm track and booting up the last small pitch to the summit around 10 am. We dropped off the back of Lochberg and we’re greeted with a long descent down to the Göscheneralpsee Dam. Snow was fairly punchy up high and turned to mush low down. After a snack and some sunbathing at the dam we started booting up the summer trail, we still had around 3000ft of vert to do. We were able to switch to skinning after a bit of booting and snaked our way up a narrow swath of snow with a kick turn every five steps for well over 600ft up. Passing the Bergseehütte we hugged the underside of the ridge bellow towering walls working our way up shaded from the sun. A short boot took us over the ridge. The long dissenting traverse to the Voralphutte was slow and sticky. I gathered enough speed to catch some especially slow snow and take a good tumble. We reached the hut, worked and sweaty. Giving the porch viewers a show, Fred and I took a much needed dip in the river below the hut. Dinner was superb starting with a delicious bread soup and ending with pudding. 

Day 3 Voralphütte -> Tierberglihütte

Left to right: (1) Sunset at the Tierberglihütte (2) Apricot tart being devoured. (3) Beer resupply by helicopter (4) Toeside Eddy on the move! (5) Team at the top of the Sustenhorn (6) Timmy and Lisa thriving in the back.

After filling up on tea and muesli we got moving. With 5k of climbing to do over 7 miles the objective at hand felt like a relief from the previous day. We followed a benched gully up to a Chelenalphorn a bump on the shoulder of the Sustenhorn. Traversing around and hopping over the ridge we made our way up to the summit. Greeted by grand views, we looked back on the terrain we traversed through and down on the Tierberglihütte where we’re spending the night. The turns from the summit were firm but fun, at the bench we split ways Fred and I skiing lower to get a few more turns lower down before meeting Timmy and Lisa back at the hut. The Apres scene at the Tierberglihütte was hopping with beer on tap and apricot tarts in ample supply. After downing a few large beers and still hours before dinner Fred and I hatched a plan for a BN lap on the 1k pitch in direct view of the hut porch. With light packs and a stout buzz we made good time up. We were greeted with soft turns on the down, some of the best of the trip. We returned to the hut without fanfare, no one seemed to have noticed. Dinner started with a chicken soup and ended with a pastry roll. 

Day 4 Tierberglihütte-> Engelberg

Left to Right: (1) Two splitties survived some very hardpack conditions (2) Cruising up from Sustenpass (3) Jovial Joe about to ski a 6k foot descent (4) Under her Majesty Titlis

Originally we were planning to stay another night at the Sustlihütte and ski out the following day but decided to link the days and ski out early with Fred and Lisa. To get to Engelberg we had 4.600 ft of climbing over 12.5 miles and 6k of descent. We started with a long firm descent to the Hotel Steingletscher at the base of the valley where we had some tea and coffee before starting the climb up to Fünffingerstock. After some steep icy skinning we submitted Fünffingerstock around noon, still time to catch the last bus of the day back to Engelberg. The turns off the summit were surprisingly soft. With skins back on for the last time we had a short climb up to the Grassenbiwak. From there we had a long descent down into the valley. As we dropped lower spring snow made for great skiing until the snow ran out and we had to take to the summer trail. We caught the bus to the Engelberg Abbey and gorged ourselves on cheese and fresh bread made by some monks that pray to a big wheel of Gruyere in the sky. From there we grabbed a few train beers and made our way back to Zuri. 

Turns out skiing over here across the pond is closer to a booze and culinary cruise through the mountains than skimo sufferfest. Going to be dreaming about apricot tart and aperol spritz next time Conor convinces me to go winter camping in the Basin. Big thanks to Lisa and Fred for hosting Timmy and I!

Left to Right: (1) Gang walking out of the Engelberg Valley to the bus (2+3) inhaling cheese and beer at the Engelberg Abbey

Rankings:

Best Aperol spritz: Albert Heim 

Most elaborate shit conveyer system: Tierberglihütte (Note that all but one hut had composting toilets)

Best Après scene: Tierberglihütte

Best soup: Voralphütte bread soup 

Worst soup: Albert Heim “mushroom” soup 

Best tea: Albert Heim 

Worst smelling boot room: Albert Heim 

Hardest shredding staff: Voralphütte (decision solely based on goggle tan)

Most throat hacks: Timmy 

Best cowboy hat: Fred 

Advice for other visitors: 

Visited for 9 days, the major objective was a slight variation on the Urner Haute route, a ski traverse from Realp to Engelberg with a few unplanned days on either end. Upon arriving I bought a 8 day SBB unlimited train pass for $270 at the SBB office in the airport which made for convenient travel and ended up being slightly cheaper than buying individual tickets but this was only cheaper because we went to Millán for a night at the back end of the trip. If you know your travel destinations go to the SBB office at the airport or HB and have them price it out for you they’re quite helpful, you can also buy ski tickets for Titlis cheaper than at the resort. The SBB offices also do currency exchange if you have cash. 

Our friend Will Boyer was coming to town, so we had to pull out all the stops to show him that there are other cool places in the world other than Reno, Nevada!

With Job being job, I bid farewell to Freddy and Will on Wednesday and Thursday as they departed to Engelberg. They enjoyed a fun day inbounds before rappelling off Titlis and staying at the Grassen Biwak (cheapest room in town lol). The next day, they skied some glory corn on Funffingerstock before heading back and making the last connection back to Zurich. It’s great to see the Fat Ski Prince of Reno recrowned after an incident with a rock earlier this season!

On Friday, I took over the planning reins. I wanted to ski a line called El Canel Del Emperador – The Emperor’s Channel. Quite a noble name, it’s a couloir that is flanked by sheer cliffs of Dolomite-looking rock. It has two chokes about a ski length wide, cutting through the rocky north face of Chaiserstuel for 500 meters. To add to this, the suggested route to access it requires 3 pitches of hanging rappels! I have had this objective simmering since early season, waiting for the right conditions.. We’d had high pressure for over a week, and the avalanche forecast was favorable.

Will is a psych machine, tall with a hearty laugh, a man with the sauciest Instagram captions, and was happy to join for something I was so stoked about! We left early, taking the train toward Engelberg, getting off the train at the Wolfenschiessen stop, then hopping on the PostBus (transport for rural areas) up to Fell (by Oberrickenbach). Our next connection was a ten person cable car up to the small family run Bannalp ski resort. When we got off the tram, I was certainly surprised by the snowpack. Yes it hadn’t snowed in two weeks, but it was mid-March! The patchy ski resort in front of us looked like vestiges of glory that you ski with a Coors in your hand in May. A testament to the very warm and dry season the Alps have been experiencing.

We slogged up the crusty old snow until the blazing sun turned the south face we were skinning up to mush. Though unpleasant, it was short, only 700 meters to the summit of Chaiserstuel. We had a grand lunch of homemade sandwiches and Swiss chocolate, while using the Swisstopo peakfinder tool. From the top of Chaiserstuel, we were able to see Rosstock (in the Riemenstalden Valley which I talked about a few posts back), Titlis, and the Eiger.

We made our way to the first rappel point. The plan was for Freddy to set up the drone, while Will and I were to set the rappel, so we could get sick shots of us descending. Of course any plan so vain was doomed to fail.. To get to the anchor, you need to cross 20 meters of frozen grassy snow over a cliff. Will took the highline, but was extremely insecure while carrying his skis. I watched with trepidation, thinking of Bambi on ice except with a 100 foot cliff below. He had to retreat back to where I was. Now I was nervous and anxious, and for those who know me, this means I move slowly. I put my crampons on and followed the frozen steps towards the anchor until my crampon came off! Oh dear, I tried to stay calm knowing my risk is lower than the alarm bells in my head would lead me to believe. Adjust your crampons BEFORE leaving folks! I fixed the crampon and got to the anchor. During these tense 15 minutes, Freddy had abandoned his drone shot, pulled the ropes off my and Will’s backpacks, set up the anchor for us, and maybe shook his head a few times at us.

The first rappel was mellow, until I showed up at the tiny anchor ledge, where Freddy and I huddled like sardines. Below was a sheer cliff made of loose frozen rocks. Oh the places you go! We sent Will down the crux first. This was my first time on an overhanging rappel, and what I found most remarkable was the amount of ab strength I needed to summon to keep myself and my heavy pack and skis (which were on my pack) upright. Thank you Mark, my pilates instructor, for all the powerhouse training! Phew! We made it down, took off the harnesses, and the hardest part of the day was complete.

We transitioned to booting up the ascent couloir, which would be a cool, albeit short descent in and of itself. But alas, that was a passing thought once we made it to the real entrance. El Canel starts steep, with a rather intimidating cornice. After attempting to break the cornice with no luck, we felt good that it was not moving that day. Will dropped first, effortlessly slarving down the 40+ degree start. The couloir took a 90 degree turn, and he was out of sight.

I dropped (Freddy was filming now that the two baby deer were happily back in their element), scraping down the chalky snow. Once in the gut, I looked up, and felt completely engulfed by the tall vertical walls of the couloir, the only way out to go was down. The snow got better and better as it had been protected from North winds and was filled by slough from above. Though I wish I could say I turned the whole thing, I totally side-slipped through the chokes, using it as a break since my legs were burning! I finally popped out, and there were high fives all around. How sick it is to ski something that you’re hyped on with buddies who are also hyped!

To make the most of a great day, we decided to make the endeavor a point to point. So we skinned East and over the ridge, skiing down to Gitschenen, another tiny ski resort/village tucked away in the Isenthal Valley. We made it four minutes before another tiny tram took us down to the road (as I mentioned..low snow). Miraculously again, we walked off the tram and the Postbus picked us up 3 minutes later. Only in Switzerland!! So thankful for incredible public transit. The Postbus took us down the scariest road I think I have ever been on: a one lane road with 180 degree turns perched on a cliff in a normal sized bus. The Postbus has a unique horn noise that I cannot describe, but you can listen to it here. I certainly don’t want to be an oncoming vehicle! This gave us incredible views of Lake Lucerne.

It dropped us off at the Altdorf train station, and two hours later we were home to meet Katura! To top of this great day, we had Fondue for dinner! Thank you Will and Katura for visiting us (and for all the hot photography)! We love having visitors, and it was lovely to host Reno’s finest for a few days.

Back to back Saturdays in late January, I went touring in the Riemenstalden Valley. Leading up to the first weekend, I gave my friend Leslie a call in the hopes she and her partner Felipe would tour with me during a two week dryspell. Freddy could not be convinced and instead went skating. Leslie suggested Riemenstalden for two reasons: it’s proximity to both of us (she lives in Andermatt) and it had the deepest snowdepth in Switzerland. After taking our AIARE 2 together, we’re all for deeply burying weak layers until they are not reactive!

To get to the Riemenstalden Valley from Zurich, you take the train to Zug, then transfer to a slow train that shuttles towns between Zug and Altdorf. I got off at Sisikon, and Leslie and Felipe drove us up a one lane farmer road. The second time Freddy and I went (carless) and took the Post Auto Van operated by a man named J Gisler (I know that from the name plate that “wünscht Ihnen eine gute Fahrt” – see folks I can read basic German sentences!). This was a bit tricky as there is one scheduled trip in the morning and evening. It takes 2 hours from our doorstep.

When you get to the town of Riemenstalden, there is a cable car that takes you from the valley floor at 1200 meters up to 1700 meters at the cost of 5 CHF. You can also purchase alpine cheese made from the cows that graze in this valley.  It’s rather mild and unassuming – a good pairing for a really sharp or stinky but certainly not the main attraction..I digress..The cable car is a no frills metal box that sits four in plastic chairs. You apparently call the farmer who owns it and he’ll operate it for you in about 20 minutes. Unfortunately both times I was there (arriving at 8:30 am on a Saturday morning) it was mobbed with people! Like a line of 30 people waiting for their shuttle bump. Both times, we opted to skin up rather than wait an hour.

This brings up another point I should convey – it was crowded! Even though there is a ton of skiable terrain up high, stuff got tracked out pretty fast. This is due to the two reasons that drew me to the area in the first place (stacked snowpack and accessibility), but it also has a ton of ~30 degree terrain (hence why we were there on a level 3 day). 

Left: Lots of traffic in the Riemenstalden Valley! Right: A modest Cross on top of Siwfass, looking South

The first weekend with Leslie and Felipe, it had snowed a bit and the winds were much lighter than predicted. We ate lunch at a summer barn that had a bench, basking in the south facing sun. The upper section had lumpy/pitchy terrain, which made the skinning through it feel a bit convoluted. We skied north from the top of Siwfass, which felt extra sweet because we were alone while a quarter mile down the ridge on Hagelstock, there was a band of 20 people transitioning. I think the reason for the discrepancy is due to Hagelstock being on skitourenguru.ch and Siwfass is not.  We dropped down a NE face where you could still get trackless pow. The snow felt like fundip: sugary and structureless. It was rather enjoyable, so we did it again. The exit was brutal – an ice luge that you had to follow because both sides were closed off wilderness areas. 

Above: the North and East sides of Diepen – the crown looked over a meter deep.

Remember the Fundip I skied the first weekend? In the week in between, it had dumped a meter of snow then rained up to 1500 meters. We were not surprised that the danger rating had increased to level 3 or 4 in much of the Swiss Alps. Fred and I decided to go back to the Riemenstalden and stay out of avalanche terrain. During this storm cycle, 9 people died in Austria and 5 in Switzerland due to avalanches. About halfway up, we saw a huge avalanche on a peak named Diepen that had a crown wrapping from SE to North. We skied NE on Hagelstock, west on Spilauer Stock, and the NW gut of Ross Stock (this is the main attraction from the cable car and SAC hut). This was my first time skiing over 2000 meters this year, and I was freaking worked! Turning around would have been futile as J Gisler in his Post Auto van was going to show up at 4:15, so we had no choice but to ski until then!

Left: Toeside Eddy pushing Lisa uphill, looking Southwest Right: Exhaustion takes over at the Aldorf Train Station

To conclude, I am giving the Riemenstalden Valley a 4 star yelp review.

The Pros:

• Cable car bump to where the snow is good
• Lots of non-avalanche terrain that’s still fun to ski
• Alp views from East to South to West
• Train/bussable
• Tends to get more snow
• Cute vibes of a small mountain village – I mean look at this website built in 2002!!

The Cons:

• Crowded!
• An unpleasant exit – rocks will kiss your bases (ask Freddy who did it on a snowboard!)
• Short shots – nothing more than ~400 meters
• Not super fallline-y

In an attempt to prove that we do more than ski, here’s a post about Zurich. We live in Wollishofen, which is a residential neighborhood on Zurich’s Silver coast. This refers to the Northeast facing, cold side of the lake. The Southwest facing side of the lake is called the Golden Coast. There are some days that I look longingly at the afternoon sun on the other side of the lake after we have already descended into shade, but it normally doesn’t bother me. The weather sucks everywhere; there’s nowhere in Zurich that compares to California Sunshine. Wollishofen is nestled between Zurichsee and the Sihl River, which does not run into the Zurichsee, but forms a confluence with the Limmat river, which joins the Rhine somewhere down river. We live on Albisstrasse; let me show you around!

Transit Stations

Butzenstrasse is our local stop. In the direction of Zurich, you can take the 70, 184, or 185 bus to the Wollishofen Train Station. You can also take the 7 tram, which takes you to Zurich Enge and Zurich HB. Enge is my stop for work, and HB (stands for Haubtbahnhoff) is the main train station where not only can you take a train to anywhere, there is also shopping. In the other direction, the buses take you to Adliswil or Kilchberg. All these routes are part of Zurich’s transit network called the VBZ or Zuri Linie.

Wollishofen Train Station is our closest SBB train station, which is a stop along the corridor between Zurich and Zug. This is how we primarily get into the mountains.

The Grocery Store

Coop is across the street from our apartment, and because of its proximity, that is where we go. I am now a loyal Supercard owner and made my primary language French to make me feel trilingual. A lot of the grocery stores here are 2 stories with people movers with an angle of a magic carpet for carts. Speaking of carts, you need to insert a coin into the cart to detach it from the others, which you get back at the end.

The grocery store has been a place that makes me feel like I’m integrating. In November, every grocery trip was a Herculean task to decode what object of food we were trying to buy with Google Translate camera at the ready, remembering to weigh and sticker your produce before getting to checkout (if you forget you get shamed), having your American credit card be shamefully rejected when tapping and having to use your chip and signing your receipt while the store clerk makes it clear that you are asking a lot. Now, I’m a veteran. I pay for groceries with TWINT (UBS’s online banking app) and I can successfully locate most things that I am looking for without staring hopelessly at a sea of yogurt praying that I don’t buy a dairy free variety again!

The two highlights of the grocery store are the bread and cheese section. These are marvels putting even a Whole Foods to shame. There is a backroom where the Cheesemonger resides and will cut you a piece of a full wheel. There’s the bloomy rind section, blue section, fondue and raclette, and the young cheeses.

The other grocery chains are Migros and Aldi, which are also close by as well as the specialty cheese shop (Chäs und Brot) and the Butcher. In general, food is really expensive here, but the quality of the produce is high.

Trail access

There are great neighborhood trails for running and walking. Entlisbergwald is a little forest with nice gravel trails overlooking the Sihl river. There are packs of toddlers in onesie puffy outfits strolling around in pairs in the morning for Forest School. There is an excellent running/bike path that follows the Sihl from downtown to Sihlbrugg for 20k. You can also cross the Sihl on a walker’s path and get some serious vert climbing to the top of Uetliberg. Additionally, you can go down to Zurichsee and run along the pedestrian path on the lake. I thought I was really going to miss Tahoe Donner Trail System, but we really spoiled here too!

Waste

Zurich’s waste and recycling program is complex and thorough, and makes you feel good that waste is disposed of properly! Trash bags are really expensive (1.70 CHF/35 L bag), this certainly incentivizes us to throw away less and stuff these to the brim. We share a dumpster with a few apartment buildings on the street. 

Recycling is still a bit perplexing. Paper and cardboard are picked up every other Monday from outside our apartment. Paper must be tied with string. I have heard stories that if you do this wrong you will be fined, so I listen to the rules!

You bring plastic bottles, other PET plastic, white/green/brown glass, metal, nespresso containers, engine oils, and lightbulbs to the Coop where you separate it to its correct container. There are some plastics, like for salad greens or cookie containers, that fall into an unknown category. So I put them in with the dairy plastics hoping one day someone will validate or chastise me so I can officially know.

Once a month, the Cargo tram comes to the neighborhood, where you can throw away bulk items that don’t fall in any category, like styrofoam, crappy furniture, engine parts, used clothes, anything up to 100 kg. Usable items like clothes go to charities. But you have to bring it via foot or bike! Also monthly, the e-tram comes to pick up any old electronics. They literally park an empty train car at the end of the 7 line and people get in line to fill her up! 

Tram Point

Albisstrasse is starting to feel like home, and I’m really excited for more folks to visit. I made a map of Zurich with points of interest. The Albisstrasse layer is our local neighborhood!

I would like to form a routine on when and how I access backcountry information to inform where I tour in the Alps. In Truckee, I think I had a decent routine of reading the avalanche forecast every morning, then on Wednesday/Thursday/Friday, I would scour our group caltopo, guidebooks, check slack if there were any ideas there, and call/text people to get their opinion. On the day of, I had my Gaia map downloaded and was ready for the tour. Now in Zurich, I have not skied enough to form a routine, but I would like to share the resources I have been playing with in the hopes that discussing these tools will help me formulate which ones I like and are important, and give you a head start when you visit! Note that most of these tools have great mobile apps, which is how I primarily access them.

Avalanche Bulletins

In Switzerland, I use WhiteRisk App, which is operated by the SLF (Institut für Schnee und Lawinenforschung). The SLF is a well funded research group based in Davos under ETH (the technical university in Zurich) that studies snow, avalanches, humans recreating in avalanche terrain, mountain and arctic ecosystems, and effects of climate change.

I use their app and read their twice daily avalanche report on the train, normally for the region that I plan to ski that weekend. I could also do it the other way around and start by reading the weather and snowpack first to see where it snowed the most in a given storm. There are some observations on their site, but they don’t publish public observations like Sierra Avalanche Center did. It’s good reading for a quick tram ride.

Here’s some other info they provide:

• Snow depth maps + snow pit data
• Data published on snow measurement sites
• On their app, they have an inclinometer and some other free tools to help with decision making (I haven’t used these)
• They have a paid version called White Risk Tour that helps you plan your tours taking into account the danger rating. From promo video, it seems similar to skitourenguru, so I haven’t felt inclined to pay.

Meteo France Avalanche Bulletin

When we went to Chamonix, we relied on the French Avalanche bulletin. I liked the trending avalanche stability, which helped me think about how snow is settling (or not!). They have other good resources like, previous 5 days of snow accumulation and avalanche forecast, wind, snow depth, and a few observations. Be sure to have google translate at the ready! 

Weather

SLF/Whiterisk

I read the weather/snowpack update everyday, and they have a short range forecast for the country. It gives me a high level sense of how much snow in each region, windy, and sun. I’m a simple gal and mostly use this.

Windy

It makes me understand where storms are coming from. I like the overlay of snow in the next three days, then moving the location dot around my screen to see where it’s projected to snow the most. Once I decide on a point, and for practice, let’s say Engelberg, I can look at the temp, wind, rain in the forecast in three hour increments. I use the ECMWF model – thank you Peter (read the Weather Machine if you haven’t!). I also love the airgram to see where the clouds are. This was helpful when the fog descended upon Zurich for weeks. I knew how high I needed to go to get some vitamin D. 

MeteoSwiss

I don’t use it very much, but I like that it forecasts the freezing line in each region of Switzerland (I bet Windy does that and I haven’t figured it out). It’s also easier to find weather in Zurich because that’s featured prominently. 

Mapping

Skitourenguru

This is a helpful site with a large collection of ski tours in Switzerland and Austria. It gives you a series of routes based on your needs like how far from home, the difficulty, and most interesting, the danger level. Then you can click into a tour and it gives you elevation profile, a danger rating between 0-3 (0-1 Green, 1-2 Yellow, 2-3 Red), and an ascent time. On the map (it’s SwissTopo which I will get to), the route changes color depending on the risk at that point. It circles on the map if it is a face that avalanches frequently ascent time, if there has been an avalanche fatality, even where to drop skis for a summit scramble. You might be asking how they make the risk assessment. Their risk indicator takes into account elevation, current avalanche report from SLF, forest coverage, and the Quantitative Reduction Method (TBH only got through the abstract, but I think it analyzes avalanche accidents and how recreationalists use the terrain to predict high risk areas.) Note that I only use the web version – I don’t think there’s a mobile app. I use this when planning a tour.

SwissTopo

SwissTopo has got 400 people on staff continually surveying and updating the national map. Every street, building, tram, etc is accurately represented. I mean every farmer’s barn high up on a hillside. When Freddy and I were hiking the Via Alpina from Altdorf to Engelberg, we saw a lone surveyor walking down from a summer village. Once you get over how detail-oriented the base map is, you will then be impressed by the different layers for each sport: hiking, cycling, snowsports, and aviation. The snowsports layer has ski routes, slope angle shading, and public transport stops. You can also download offline maps and draw tours all for free! I really love this product and use it for some planning and a lot while I am doing the activity. It has replaced Gaia for me, though I keep Gaia around because there are other countries.

Left – SwissTopo: Blue lines are ski tours, red line is trams, black blocks are buildings. Right: Fatmap when you click on a ski tour.

Fatmap

I use Fatmap to look for route ideas (they seem to have different routes, like multi-day stuff that skitourenguru doesn’t). Then when I am looking at specific routes, I use it to look at the terrain. I have a hard time using it for a specific slope, but I think it helps me look at an area/region as a whole to get a sense of the terrain. I’ve been using it before and during ski tours here, but sometimes the app is really slow. 

Inbounds lift status

Bergfex connects with ski resort data to tell you what lifts are open, what the ticket price is, new snow totals, ski maps, and webcams for each ski resort in Europe. I use the webcams a lot to see what conditions are in an area even if I’m planning to tour.

How to get to the Trailhead

SBB will take you anywhere you want to go in this country. They have a great app that gives straightforward directions, maps, and integration with payment. We’ve been taking trains and buses to get to all trailheads, and I’ve only gotten lost once!

As always, there’s more to learn, and I’m excited for all the new tools/apps I’ve tried since moving here. BTW, here is Fred’s Swiss CalTopo if you are interested 🙂 it’s bare now, but we’ll ski more and add more stuff!

Grüezi Mitenand! Ich bin Lisa. Meine hausaufgaben für Dienstag ist schreiben meine Familien-Stammbaum.

Mein Vorname ist Lisa. Mein Familienname ist Lacampagne. Ich bin ein Einzelkind, also ich habe keine Geschwister. Ich bin sieben und zwanzig Jahre alt. 

Meine Eltern ist Kathy und Rich. Sie sind nicht geschieden, aber nicht verheiratet. Mein Vater wohnt in Los Altos. Das ist mein Geburtsort. Meine Mutter wohnt in Truckee. Truckee und Los Altos liegen in California. California liegt in den USA. Rich ist ein Program Manager. Er arbeit bei Google in Mountain View. Kathy ist Rentner.

Rich hat drei Geschwister, eine Schwester und zwei Brüder. Meine Tante, Suzanne, hat Ehemann, Mike. Sie haben eine Tochter, meine Cousine Julia. Sie wohnt in Portland, Oregon, und sie ist Studentin. Mein Onkel Loren wohnt in Missouri, und er hat drei kinder, Lorenzo, Tori, und Tommy. Mein Onkel John wohnt in Clear Lake, California, und er hat einen Sohn, Mateo. Meine Grossmutter ist gestorben. Der Geburtsort von der Grossvater von mein Vater ist Pau, France, also “Lacampagne”!

Kathy hat eine Schwester, Carol, und ein Schwager, Randy. Sie haben zwei Töchter, Katja und Natalie. Der Geburtsort von Katja und Natalie is Zurich. Sie sind Schweizerin und Americanerin. Carol und Randy haben eine Schwiegertochter und einen Schwiegersohn. Natalie wohnt in Washington DC. Katja wohnt in San Diego, California, und sie ist ingenieurin. Die Mutter von meine Mutter ist Peggy, und sie ist tot. Mein Grossvater hat eine Ehefrau, also meine GrossMutter. Ich heisse sie “Papa und Ata.” Sie haben drei Enkelin.

Ich bin verheiratet. Mein Ehemann ist Freddy. Er macht mich glücklich, aber er kennt Meghan Markle nicht. Er ist Ingenieur, aber er ist im Moment leider arbeitslos. Er sucht Arbeit. Wir lernen Deutsche. 

Freddy hat drei Geschwister, ein Bruder und zwei Schwester. Seine Schwester alt (Sophie) hat einen Ehemann, Lewis. Ich habe zwei Schwager und zwei schwägerin. Meine Schwiegermutter und mein Schwiegervater sind Sarah und Leo. Sie wohnen in den Adirondacks. Den Adirondacks liegen in New York. Sie haben einen Hund, Fergie. 

Freddy und ich haben keine kinder. Wir wohnen in Wollishofen.