The Rest of the Story

After skiing down the next slope which was an intermediate, I remembered that I did know how to ski but I was still shaken. Up another lift and we were at the top of the Lauberhorn, the famous World Cup GS. I wasn't interested in skiing it because I could see that one more hill and I was at my original goal, Kliene Scheidegg where I was supposed to relax and read a book while Mark got his fill of famous ski race runs. It was now 2:30 and my little breakfast was long gone. I could tell Mark was undecided as to what to do so I grabbed a quick bite of cheese brot and a rivella and ran to buy a 112 CF ticket on the Jungfraujoch railway, the highest train in the world, the top of Europe. mark needed to have some time to ski the Wengen downhill etc. Off I went still higher up into the mountains only this time I was on a very steep train track.


I got to the top and it seemed empty. It was so weird. Everywhere I went, I was alone except I started noticing that a large group of Asians where following me. There was construction and I would end up in dark hallways and room full of building materials. No signage or what was there was incorrect. I did get up the the Sphinx and again my fear of heights took over and I could not get close to the edge to take pictures. I paced back and forth in the middle and finally got the courage to go to get two quick pictures and the make my way back to the bahnhoff station. I had a hard time finding it and there wasn't anyone around to ask. I finally found it and it was the last train down.


Mark and I made specific plans about where to meet quieting my fear of being lost in the Alps. When I got off of the train, it was getting dark and I could see the snow cats starting on some of the slopes. We had a very long way to get back to the car in Grindelwald! I did not want to ski down, I was still emotional about my encounter on the Eiger. But I knew Mark would want to ski down. He was not at the meeting place and a moment of panic passed by. I went to find my skis to see if his were there too. They were not but my skis were stuck in the ground with a note on the bindings. It said, "Lorna I will meet you at the train station in Grindelwald Mark". I thought it was romantic and thoughtful of him knowing how I would be so worried. The thought of taking the train down the mountain excited me. It is the most beautiful 40 minute train ride and I didn' have to ski down all that way.


The train got to Grindlewald but I did not know there were two stops and I could not tell which one to get off at. we had ridden the gondola up so I wasn't sure. I thought the Grund station was the one but Mark had said the Grindelwald in the note. I tried to ask a guy but he was sure I wanted the next stop. I jumped back on and as soon as the train started to turn the corner and go uphill, I was nervous. But the I thought maybe Mark was surprising me with a dinner at the restaurant we had eaten at several years ago in Grindlewald. I got off the train with my backpack, boots, skis and poles and looked around, no Mark. I didn't know what to do and it was almost dark. I heard the train start up and at the last second me and my gear jumped back on.


The train employee said "you have to get off," the first person to speak to me in English before hearing me speak. The train was moving, so I just stayed on. There was only one other little family on the train with me. We pulled into the Grund station and there was Mark behind the turn style waving at me. It was now 6:45 pm. It had been a very long day but we found each other and I was safe and hungry so we drove to Interlaken to find the Grand Lindner Hotel where we stayed years ago. We asked for the same table that we loved right next to the river connecting the Brienz with Lake Thun. We had our romantic dinner and it was wonderful. We were the only ones in ski clothes in that fancy place but we didn't even care. We were together and happy with each other. We drove back to and my European insomnia kicked in and I was up for many hours.


I love traveling with Mark and the more we are together, the more we want to be together, but today I do not want to ski. I need a break. He went to repair some timing systems and is still not back. Another day of not being on the first lift. I did hear him telling Barbara that we had quite the adventure yesterday. I am so glad he thinks that! Now he will always refer to my "favorite run" under the Eiger with a certain fondness even though it was his recurring nightmare.

Pictures of the Jungfrau Area

Fear, Panic, Terror and a Complete Loss of Confidence

We woke up to a clear, sunny day! Mark had to do some business so we didn't get going to Interlaken as early as we had planned. Mark really likes to be on the first lift of the day before the other people start. We got in line for the gondola at Grindelwald and it was very long. I knew that every minute Mark was thinking about how many perfect runs he was missing. We finally got up to get on the gondola and the gate wouldn't open for me. I tried and tried while the worker kept telling me things in German. I finally realized he wanted to see my pass and I handed it to him and it was a pass to Gstaad. I yelled to Mark to give me the right pass and got on. It was a 35-45 minute ride up the mountain. I started to worry about getting down again. I have fears and most of the time I can deal with them but every know and then, they get away from me and out of control. I decided to wait at the top and let Mark take a few fast runs. It was already 11:00. We then started down to another lift to take us up higher. I have to say the views are spectacular and I didn't want to miss them. Getting to the next lift was terrible as it had warmed up and the snow had turned to slush and there were so many skiers on the hill that it was a real traffic jam. I was nervous as one skier after another cut me off or almost hit me. We got down to the next lift and Mark decided he wanted to go on a different one. I should have stuck to the original plan, but I followed him to a 6 person high speed chair. It was confusing to load because there was no plan and you got on sideways. I was watching carefully so I could get on the next one when Mark yelled to get on the one in front of it. I skied as fast as I could and dropped my goggles and missed the chair. I yelled at Mark as he sped up the hill. of course no one knew what I was saying. I missed several chairs before I got on one as the 6th person. I was mad and another of my fears reared its ugly head. Before we left, I wanted to get two global cell phones in case we ever got separated at a ski resort. I get lost easily and have no sense of direction and I know Mark likes to ski fast and he thinks I know where he is. We didn't get them and my iPhone does not work here.


Of course he was waiting at the top and we started down. I was looking down from the top of the steepest, longest, straightest run I have ever seen. It was the only way down! I was afraid, I started to panic, I didn't know what I was going to do.


Mark knew I was way over my head and told me to start side slipping. It was so scary, but slowly I went a few feet and stopped and looked down (bad idea). I did it for awhile, but I got more and more scared. Mark was trying to be patient when this was what he had been waiting to ski. I was very slow and getting tired. He decided to do something worse,at least in my mind. He started to ski away from the groomed into the crud. It was still the same steep long mountain but now I was following him into what seemed like the abyss. I was shaking all over and the tears were streaming down under my goggles, now I was terrified. I followed him for a long ways perpendicular to the mountain. Oh and we were right below The Eiger. Steep craggy mountains on all side of me and here I am way away from the ski run. He then wanted me to turn around and ski back towards the run. I froze. I was embarrassed about my complete loss of ability to do anything and so sad that I was letting him down in such an extreme way. I sat on the side of that very steep side and cried. I had to do it though. I finally made my shaking body move and flipped my skis around and I did not fall to my death. But we still had a long ways to go. Back across the wasteland towards the impossibly steep run we very slowly traversed. Finally we made it back to the run at about half way down (his plan all along). Again I froze and could not move. I started side slipping again and would go a few feet and stop. I was so mad at myself, I hated myself and what I was doing to Mark, but that did not change my courage to ski down. I stopped and stood there on the side of the run for quite awhile. I had just about convinced myself to just go for it when just below me an out of control skier fell and skis, poles and body tumbled down a long ways. NOT GOOD! I was paralyzed again. Mark was still waiting at the middle hoping for a ski run.


A nice British man skied up to me and asked if I was OK. I said "I have lost my confidence." He said, "follow me down." I said "no thank you" and he skied off. I was even more mad at myself but started to slide slip a few inches at a time. By this point I knew I could ski down but my body would not do it until I was near the very bottom. I was a blithering ball of emotion, but I was down in one piece. And guess what was at the bottom? Yes, another long lift taking me further up into the mountains from which I would at some point need to go down. I started to sing "What goes up, must come down" as we were riding up another big mountain. Oh and that whole run ordeal took over an hour, maybe a lot more than an hour.


Rest of the story tomorrow!

Photos of the Area

If I have posted any of these before, please forgive. It is hard to blog on an iPad. I will reorganize all of it when I get home.


Today was cloudy so our plans to ski above Interlaken and go to the Jungfrau will have to wait for tomorrow. Instead we drove around and went shopping. After an hour in Gstaad where everything costs four times as much as Mark thinks it should, we ended up at a ski store/gas station named "Overlap" trying on boots. Hans was wonderful and diagnosed my problems using his vast knowledge and some high tech machinery. I found out why my feet always hurt. I am walking on two pin size pressure points on each foot, with the rest of my foot taking none of my body weight. Add a very high instep and the veins on the top of my feet too exposed, and there you have it, painfull walking, running and skiing. He made me a foot bed that should distribute my wieght over my whole foot. He also set me up with some Fisher boots. We went for a few quick ski runs to test the new boots and took them back for fine tuning. Finally someone who believes me when I say my feet hurt most of the time. I will have to delete some bad habits that I have trying to compensate. A new way of skiing is in my future. I could never ski with both skis straight while on a cat track or long runout without turning because going straight hurt so much. Hopefully those days are over. On our first day here Johny told me "you ski so stiff, loosen up, relax!" Here's to more comfort and better skiing!

Ski Day #2

We got up and off to the slopes again today. My legs felt OK so I thought I would manage, but I was wrong. I went down two pretty long slopes and was already tired. Then we went up a long T-bar and it hurt so much that I was done for the day but we were already way up high in the Alps and we were going up further! We just kept going on long lifts and I started to worry about getting down at some point. I rode up a little cable car to the very top and had some hot chocolate at the lodge on top. Mark and Barbara kept skiing and skiing. Then we started the long decent and I made it down with quite a few stops. Little 5-year-old Simon was so much faster and loved to go off-piste to find every little jump he could. It reminded me of Steve and Mitchell when they were little boys skiing together. Every bit of the pain was worth it though, because I got to see the most amazing vistas and steep craggy Alps that I would have missed if I had stayed in the car.









Later in the afternoon, Mark wanted to try out another mountain and this time I sat at a little outdoor cafe at the base and read a book while eating cheese and salami and drinking more hot chocolate. The views were to die for and Mark raced down the super steep runs and I could pick him out every time.










While he was skiing he saw his timing system being used by two different ski teams. He skied up to a coach and told him who he was and the coach said "I am Mike VonGrunigen". Out of 57 lifts in on several mountain and Mark finds him!


We then drove up to see the resort on the glacier and the had cheese fondue at a little barn on one of the mountains. Another night going to bed too full!

A Swiss Dinner

We enjoyed a Swiss dinner with Barbara and Johny last night. After skiing too long, I was tired and we all went to bed right after dinner again. We need to stop this practice for sure.

Skiing the Long, Long Alpin Runs

We got up to a clear blue morning in the absolutely gorgeous Alps. As I said before, all the pictures of the Greek Islands look better than seeing them live. It is just the opposite here, no picture could ever begin to show the magnitude of beauty you see right outside of Johny's bedroom window.
After a breakfast of yogurt and toast, we drove across the street and took the lift up the first hill. It was glorious and surprisingly vacant of Swiss skiers. We loved it instantly. We didn't bring our camera so we don't have pictures from the top looking into several deep canyons and up the steep craggy Alps with 360-degree vistas from every angle.































We decided to catch a quick snack before meeting Johny at 12:30. They had a picture of a donut looking thing with vanilla sauce and fruit and I thought it looked good so we ordered two. When the giant plates came, we started to laugh. We had two donut, scone, pancake, bread things each one larger than a full size dinner plate. It was called an Alpinring. It was amazingly good but neither of us finished ours and they cost 42.00 Swiss francs (around $50 usd) and along with the 3.50 franc liter of tap water that was some expensive snack. Needless to say that was lunch for today.


We met Johny on the other side of the valley for the second part of our ski-all-the-Alps-in-one-day tour (at least that is what it felt like to me). The gondolas, chair lifts and T-bars are so long and there are 57 of them in the Gstaad ski area. Every time I thought we were close to the top of the lift, there appeared another mountain. I am good for around ten steeper runs in Utah and I stopped counting here in Switzerland because the runs seem so much longer. We followed Johny who is the owner of the ski school and on the board of the ski runs/lifts etc. and seems to be known by everyone he sees. He was patient with me, but told me I need to smile because there are cameras on the sides of the runs. I must have had my intense concentration face on. I got tired jello legs pretty fast and then my turns quickly deteriorated. When I thought I couldn't ski any more, I just looked around at the incredible scenery and I was rejuvenated.


Please for give my spelling having no spell check and reading too many German signs is not good.


When we got back to Johny's house around 4:30, we talked to his son Simon who is five. I asked him a few questions and then he said "blah, blah, blah, blah". We started laughing as that is what we sound like to him. Truly that is what we heard all day!