IT’S SKIING TIME!!!!! Before I left, I had decided that one thing I definitely wanted to do was to go skiing in Switzerland. I brought my ski clothes and planned to rent skis when I got there. I decided to go to Verbier because (1) it was easily accessible by train and (2) due to general lack of snow this year in Switzerland, the conditions at other resorts with lower elevation were not that great. I had set my alarm for 6am but was awake off and on all night, I think from both excitement and nervousness about getting there correctly. I was relieved when I showed up at the train station around 7am and saw other people with skis! They know where they’re going! I took the 7:05 train from Morges to Martigny, where most of the train got off and transferred to a smaller train to go to Le Chable. From here, we went across the train tracks to the ticket station, and there you bought your lift ticket. The gondola extended from Le Chable all the way through the town of Verbier up to the first area for skiing. A nice older man gave me something and explained it to me in French (which I didn’t understand) but turned out to be a 50% coupon! So, I paid 34CHF for my ticket. Yee ha! I rode up the gondola with a few other people. I was further from the door with another guy. When we got to Verbier, the others let him out but didn’t get out themselves. I quickly realized that they were continuing onto the ski area so I hustled out of there pretty quickly. I had reservations for skis and it took me a little while to find the rental store, but it wasn’t too bad once I asked someone for directions. The rental people couldn’t find my reservation, so they just set me up there. I got a pair of 163cm Dynastar skis and size 24.5 boots (both are 1 size smaller than what I currently wear, but I was pretty sure they were properly sized for me).
So, properly geared up, I headed up the gondola. I studied the map looking for a beginner run that I could try out the new skis. It took me a while to find one at all, but then I found one at the top of a 2nd lift after the gondola – a really interesting lift that takes a right turn partway through. So, I head up. At the turn, it looks like everyone is getting off. Hmmm. What’s going on? I get off and look at the map. It turns out that the lift takes people up from 2 different points. Crap. Now I need to do an intermediate run at the beginning (i.e. equivalent to expert run in Minnesota). And it’s icy. Well, there’s no time like the present to see what the skis feel like! Actually, the skis worked pretty well. They felt similar to my skis, but probably a little better. And other than some occasional numbness in my feet, the boots fit pretty well, too.
I spent a few runs in the area kind of by the main lift – some of them in good condition, some of them already a bit skied off (at 11am). So I decided to start heading across the hill to see what I could find. I was VERY careful to make sure there was an intermediate run everywhere I went. I didn’t want to end up somewhere I didn’t think I could get out of. I found I didn’t have trouble with the intermediate runs, but some were easier than others (no surprise). I thought some of the middle runs were really nice and not too crowded, so I spent a decent amount of the day there. 
Verbier is completely above the tree line, which I had never done before. What that means is that the trails are largely marked by the grooming patterns. If it’s not groomed & has moguls, then it’s off-piste. I had heard that the best part of Verbier was the off-piste skiing. Now I understand why – there are off-piste areas EVERYWHERE. Including some around big rocks where I have no idea how the people actually skied in those places ...I thought this was the craziest thing ... a number of the lifts have a conveyor belt that you use to get on! There's a little gate that tells you when to move into the loading area, and you push yourself off, and then the conveyor belt brings you to the middle where you get on.
There are ski areas in 4 valleys around Verbier that are all on the same ski ticket. The crossover point into the next valley said “ski touring, experienced users only”. Then I heard a couple girls say in English, “you can ride the gondola down”. Thank God. (don’t worry, I wouldn’t have gone if I had had to ski down). It wasn’t quite like it, but it reminded me of Heavenly’s Gunbarrel trail (double-black diamond mogul hill on the bottom part of the hill that most people, including me, ride over). I rode the gondola which an older man (English?) and someone I assumed was his ski instructor. By now, it’s 1pm, and I’m getting hungry for lunch. I previously stopped for a water break and had to pay 4.50 CHF for a ~16oz bottle of water. Ouch. Should have brought my own. The ski instructor mentioned that Siviez, at the bottom of the hill, had good food (usually the higher you are, the more of a rip-off it is). So, I decided to go there for lunch. I had a ham and cheese sandwich on a baguette and the waitress gave me 2 glasses of water. That hit the spot! But, the skiing wasn’t good there, so after 1 run in the area, I went back up the mountain.
By about 3:30, I could tell that I was getting tired – I started at 10am. I decided to start heading back to the main lift. It was good that I started when I did, since the last few runs to the gondola were nasty. They were really icy and really crowded. Not a good combination. I fell at the end of one run, then decided to take a break so I could get ready for skiing back. I thought the gondola was around here somewhere, but where is it?? After sitting for a couple minutes, I realize I’m right next to it! Oh, that makes me happy – I don’t think I have the legs to do many more runs like the one I just did. I fell because I lost my balance, something that I would have recovered from earlier in the day. I had been thinking about quitting, but that sealed it for me.
Overall, I enjoyed skiing at Verbier. I think I saw most of the hill with decent skiing that I felt confident I could handle. The conditions were ok but not great (only a few runs were nasty-icy by Minnesota standards). The convenience factor (without a car) was definitely a plus. If I were in Switzerland again, I would go back to Verbier. It’s really not for beginner skiers, especially right now because most of the beginner runs are in the lower elevations. Not sure whether I will go back next weekend, but I’m glad I went.
I returned my skis, wandered around the town of Verbier, and got a really good ham and cheese crepe at “The Milk Bar”. The name intrigued me ... I couldn’t resist. Unfortunately, the crepe mainly awakened my appetite, but I managed to make it home without starving (nothing at the train station looked appetizing and I had an emergency granola bar just in case). There was a group of English-speaking people next to me on the train. Eventually, they were talking about falling on your coccyx while snowboarding, so I told them about Ken’s Azz Padz. ;-) I got home a little after 8pm, had a nice big snack of cheese, crackers, tea, and a clementine, took a shower, and started to catch up on my blog. ;-)
