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Posts from the road

Western Ontario – Part Two

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

August was HOT in Windsor. It’s hard to tell from the Ambassador Bridge (linking Windsor and Detroit, Michigan) photo at the top of this post, but the afternoons were almost comically sizzling. Once the Windsor tournament had ended, we went on a little road trip in the southernmost part of Ontario.

On the riverfront in Amherstburg, Ontario

Our first stop was Amherstburg. The historic downtown core was very quaint, and the local merchants were having a sidewalk sale to jump-start the pandemic economy. I found a rare music book at a tiny record shop, before we rushed on to the shores of Lake Erie.

La Casa de Las Arepas, in Leamington

We decided to look for a place to eat in Leamington. This is farming country, with a particular emphasis on tomatoes. A lot of Canadian ketchup comes from here! Given that, we didn’t expect to see a very diverse collection of restaurants. But we were wrong. Canada has a shortage of farm workers, so a lot of temporary foreign workers from Central and South America live here during the warmer months. As a result, a very interesting collection of businesses has sprung up in towns like Leamington. We chose a no-frills Venezuelan restaurant that specialized in arepas, a pre-Hispanic food sometimes described as a “stuffed corn cake”. It was really messy, but also very good (especially with the mysterious unnamed hot sauce that appeared on the table).

“Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese” at the Joker’s Crown in Ingersoll.

The next day, we gave ourselves a lot of time to get from Windsor to Woodstock. We stayed in the nearby town of Ingersoll. Rather than authentic Venezuelan cuisine, my dinner that night consisted of “Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese”. Despite being a typical food of absolutely nowhere, I have to admit that I enjoyed it. The “buffalo” sauce had a nice burn and was suitably offset by the mild macaroni and cheese.

The Elm Hurst Inn, in Ingersoll, Ontario. We stayed here while competing in nearby Woodstock.

After a budget motel in Windsor, we splurged on a very nice hotel called the Elm Hurst Inn. Was it necessary? Maybe not. But it was a nice treat, especially as the temperatures remained ridiculously hot. And besides being a very appealing inn, it has a claim to fame: this property was where a 7,300-pound cheese was made in 1866! The mammoth cheese travelled the world, visiting Sarasota (Florida), London (U.K.), and Paris (France). The inn occupies a mansion built in 1872.

Somehow, we found ourselves at Otterville Park (Otterville, Ontario)

Our tournament schedule allowed us an afternoon off, so of course we went on a little road trip to explore the area. Our first stop was Otterville, which apparently was a stop on the “Underground Railroad” in the 19th century. It is a very quiet community today, but has a very scenic park/baseball diamond set in the middle of a forest. We saw no otters.

I wish I knew the story behind the “Johnny Guitar” house in Delhi, Ontario

We then stopped briefly in a small town called Delhi. The “Johnny Guitar” house (see above) continues to puzzle me. If you know the story, please post something in the “Comments” section. After Delhi, it was on to Tillsonburg. I only knew it as the subject of a Stompin’ Tom Connors song about the thankless job of picking tobacco. But Tillsonburg the tobacco town would continue the Latin American theme…stay tuned for the details in the next (and final) instalment of my Western Ontario trilogy!

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Back on the K&P Trail…AND A WINTER TRAVEL PLAN!

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(Cole Lake, Ontario, Canada)

As the leaves have suddenly become very colourful, we decided to resume our ongoing hike of the K&P Trail between Kingston and Sharbot Lake. Today’s segment started at the (former) village of Cole Lake, which is just north of Godfrey.

One of the roads that crosses the K&P Trail north of Cole Lake

It’s been a while since I’ve posted about the trail (here’s one from 2016, and here’s one from 2014), which follows a rail line that used to run between Kingston and Renfrew. As we complete more of it, we have to drive farther and farther to hike a section that we haven’t done before. Even though the skies were overcast today, I brought my camera to capture the fall colours….if not the blue skies. While we encountered a handful of people on the trail, it was *very* quiet. Almost too quiet: more than once, we were startled by a sudden noise.

View from the K&P Trail, north of Cole Lake

After walking the trail, we took an indirect route home. We passed through Bellrock, where I found a couple of very imposing swans beside the historic Bellrock mill. We also passed through places such as Chippewa (which I had somehow never seen before), Enterprise, Moscow, and Yarker.

K&P Trail near Cole Lake

In these COVID-19 times, travel plans remain almost impossible to execute. However, I recently made arrangements to rent a winterized cottage near Haliburton, Ontario, for a few days this winter We’ve never done that kind of a holiday before: my winter travel usually consists of a ski trip or a big city cultural (usually food!) getaway.

Heading north on the K&P Trail

Renting a cottage within a resort is kind of the ultimate COVID-19 holiday. Help is never far away, if needed, but you also don’t have to worry about crowded indoor spaces. And we are not limited to the cottage: there is a host of outdoor activities both onsite and within a short drive of the resort.

View from the K&P Trail, north of Cole Lake

The big adventure is going to be a half-day of dogsledding! But we also hope to skate on the lake outside the cottage, cross-country ski at the trails across the road, and do some snowshoeing in the Haliburton Highlands…outdoor winter activities that pose a very low health risk even if no COVID-19 vaccine is yet available. There’s even a small downhill skiing area nearby, but I think I’ll focus on other activities for this particular trip.

One of the swans at the Bellrock Mill (Bellrock, Ontario)

In the meantime, we will continue to “train” for our upcoming holiday by regular extended walks in the local area. By the way, Tom the Wild Turkey is *still* living a couple of blocks away: I hope he made it past Thanksgiving without any close calls.

Another swan at the Bellrock Mill (Bellrock, Ontario)

Even when we walk locally, we can still talk about prior trips. I may eventually post some of those ruminations on this blog. Our walks are also a time to think about what will be important when we are able to travel again in the future. So much has changed since 2014, when I started this blog. Not just politically, but also in our motivations for travel. I also hope certain over-touristed places will emerge with a more sustainable model for future travel.

Entering Moscow from the north (Moscow, Ontario)

Hoping to read about Prague? I will return to my 1999 Bavaria and Bohemia trip in my next post!

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Quinte Road Trip

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(Belleville/Trenton/Picton, Ontario, Canada)

Going on a road trip for my birthday…it’s the kind of thing that I always took for granted. This year, however, the situation was just a little different. I first had to ask myself if this was the right thing to do.

Enchiladas Verdes (with Horchata), from Chilangos (Belleville, Ontario)

I compared the COVID-19 numbers for Kingston and my proposed Quinte region destinations of Belleville, Trenton, and Prince Edward County. There was very little, if any, active infection in any of those places. That was essential, because I wouldn’t want to be exporting or importing anything. After loading up on masks and beverages, we headed down Highway 2 to Belleville. Or was it Mexico, en route to the Netherlands?

Chilangos (Belleville, Ontario)

For lunch, we ate on the back patio of Chilangos, a Mexican restaurant that’s been open for a couple of years. Much to my delight, they now offered horchata. It’s a milky rice-based beverage with vanilla and cinnamon, and it’s really good when the weather is warm. It was the perfect accompaniment to my spicy enchiladas.

Trenton Delicatessen (Trenton, Ontario)

After some shopping in Belleville, we moved on to Trenton. Right now, the main attraction for me there is the Trenton Delicatessen. It is a treasure trove of European specialties…especially Dutch ones. I stocked up on kroketten, atjar tjampoer, interesting varieties of true Dutch gouda, and salty black licorice (dropjes), to name a few. Although I have never spent more than a couple of weeks at a time in the Netherlands, all of these foods remain special for me. Some were introduced to me as a child at home, while others I really got to know when visiting relatives across the sea.

View from the waterfront park in Wellington, Ontario

From Trenton, it is a very short drive to Prince Edward County…also known simply as “the County”. It is “almost” an island jutting out into Lake Ontario. While I remember it as a primarily agricultural area with a famous beach (the Sandbanks), it has really gentrified in recent years. It’s now filled with wineries, cideries, and B&Bs.

Wellington, Ontario

Wellington, in particular, seemed to be totally transformed. There were sprawling new homes on the outskirts, and signs for artisanal lemonade in the newly bustling downtown. We saw many cars with Quebec license plates, even though Wellington (see photo at the top of this post) is about 4 hours from the Quebec border. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, I doubt that many visitors to the County lived more than an hour away.

Home of Crimson Cider (Picton, Ontario)

After leaving Wellington, I thought it would be cool to bring home some cider from the “County”. I had no plan; I just envisioned stopping at some quaint little cidery in the middle of nowhere. Sure enough, we found Crimson Cider just before arriving in Picton. I had never heard of it before but, after a quick outdoor tasting, we had a bottle to bring home.

Glenora, Ontario (taken from the Glenora Ferry)

Rather than rush home via the bridge at Deseronto, we decided to take the ferry from Glenora to Adolphustown. The ferry (it only takes about 10 minutes) is free, as it is considered part of the provincial highway system. After another 30 minutes of driving, we were home just in time for dinner. Overall, it wasn’t an epic trip. But I think we appreciated it far more than other pre-pandemic local trips. If the conditions are right, we hope to embark on another area road trip before too long.

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Geneva, Switzerland

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(Geneva, Switzerland)

I had less than 24 hours in Geneva before returning to Canada: just enough to re-familiarize myself with this famous but not-actually-very-big city at the southwestern tip of Switzerland.

Rue de l’Hôtel-de-Ville, in Geneva

Geneva is primarily a “government” town, as the European base of the United Nations and many other international agencies. Just like Ottawa and other capitals, it can be prohibitively expensive…but also relatively uncrowded on weekends. I was able to take advantage of a half-price offer and stay in a very nice hotel that would otherwise be way out of my price range. It overlooked the Rhone River – the photo at the very top of this post was taken from my window! And they even threw in a free transit pass!

Fruit vendor in Geneva’s old town

As other aspects of downtown Geneva remained quite expensive, I headed to Carouge, a “village” southwest of downtown that allegedly had an Italian feel. It did indeed feel like a small but prosperous Italian town, so I treated myself to a delicious gelato outdoors on the Place du Marché…even though it was still early March.

Place du Temple, in the village of Carouge (now part of Geneva, Switzerland)

Nearby, I spotted Geneva’s largest hockey arena, which is home to the strong Geneva Servette hockey club. They would have been in the Swiss National League playoffs that evening, so I checked if there might be any tickets available. Alas, as a precautionary measure, the playoffs had been postponed due to the COVID-19 situation that was beginning to take a serious foothold in Italy (but had not yet had any real impact on Switzerland).

Place de Longemalle, Geneva, Switzerland

This was the second cancellation I encountered. I had hoped to take a guided tour of the United Nations complex, but it too had just been closed as a precautionary measure. These were the only indications that very difficult times might lie ahead.

Rue de la Fontaine, Geneva

I spent much of my time exploring the city on foot. It is clearly a very prosperous place, and it sometimes felt like a French-speaking Zurich…just a bit smaller and scaled-down. If I found myself too far from my hotel, I would just hop on a tram.

Place du Bourg-de-Four, Geneva, Switzerland

Having just spent two weeks in the mountains, I decided that I didn’t want to eat “local” for my last meal in Europe. Noticing a significant number of Ethiopian restaurants, and not having this kind of cuisine back home in Kingston, I decided to visit the Nyala Barka restaurant. It took me a while to get there, as my “tourist map” unfortunately took quite a few liberties with things like distance and direction (which are somewhat important for a map).

Reformation Wall in Bastions Park, Geneva, Switzerland

Anyway, I eventually arrived and enjoyed a very tasty “vegetarian platter” at Nyala Barka. As always, I enjoyed eating with my hands and using the underlying injera bread to scoop up the food. I was the first customer of the evening, as locals seem to follow the France model and have their dinners considerably later than in German-speaking Switzerland. I didn’t mind: I needed to properly pack and get a good night’s sleep before my long journey back to Canada.

My dinner at the Restaurant Nyala Barka (Geneva, Switzerland)

[Shortly after I returned home, the COVID-19 pandemic exploded globally and the world became a much different place. I ultimately decided to post this entry more or less “as written” two weeks ago.]

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France 2020 – the final chapter

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(Morzine, France)

Usually, the sixth day of skiing in a resort involves revisiting the highlights of the previous five days of skiing. However, due to the massive size of the Portes du Soleil region, we found ourselves in a completely new area on our last day.

A brilliant day above Les Crosets, Switzerland

Before this trip, I had never heard of Châtel, France. But it hosts a fairly extensive set of slopes radiating out in all directions from the town itself. The snow was excellent and we even made it into Switzerland again briefly: one of the lifts starts in France and ends in Switzerland. When you ski down, however, you soon find yourself back in France.

Turn left for everything, above Champoussin (Switzerland)

Of course, drama is the theme of this year’s trip…so it was only fitting that we had some more of it during our last day of skiing. This time, a power outage knocked out 4 lifts which we had just taken…and these were 4 lifts that we needed to get back to Morzine! We had to take 2 “navettes” in order to get around the blockage: on the second one, there must have been 100 people on the bus. We were wedged in like rush-hour commuters, with people falling onto each other whenever the bus went around a bend (which was a lot…these are the Alps!). Everybody was in a panic because they were afraid that they wouldn’t make it back before the rest of the lifts closed too.

Goulash in a bread bowl, at Champoussin (Switzerland)

Anyway, it worked out in the end and we had a very nice lunch at Le Blattin. This is a mountain hut high above Châtel that epitomized “cozy”. I would love to share some pictures of it, but my camera got soaked in the previous day’s rain and wasn’t working. Click here to see a picture that somebody else took.

Near Champoussin, Switzerland

In fact, I couldn’t take any pictures until the very end of the day. As the terrain and “vibe” was similar, I’m including some more pictures from Portes du Soleil Day 4 instead.

Near the Swiss border at Avoriaz (France), some skiers contemplate their next move

I continued skiing until 5:15 p.m. on the last day, and then caught a bus back to Morzine from the hamlet of Ardent. As the day slipped away, I passed the usual milestones: the last mountain lunch, the last lift, the last piste, the last turn…until I finally had to pop out of my bindings and admit that the skiing portion of my holiday was over.

Just inside the Swiss border, near Pointe des Mossettes

The Portes du Soleil region is massive. I didn’t get to the areas that were not lift-connected, and I didn’t really get to Mont-Chery, the slopes north and east of Châtel, the slopes north of Morgins, the slopes south of Avoriaz, or some of the slopes above Champery. That might look like a lot, but it pales in comparison to what we did actually see.

Les Lindarets, France, the “Village des Chèvres”

Overall, Portes du Soleil gets a passing grade, with bonus marks for the extended lift hours and the unique international aspect of the slopes. If I return here some day, I think I will base myself in one of the Swiss villages and focus on the Châtel and Swiss slopes. They were less busy and also felt more “authentic”, especially on the Swiss side. There was little or no purpose-built mass development, as we saw in Avoriaz (France). It was mayhem passing through the Avoriaz slopes during the late afternoon “rush hour”!

While the skiing part of my trip is now complete, I still have a brief stay in Geneva coming up. Stay tuned!

Posts from the road

Alpine highs and lows

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(Morzine, France)

Our fourth and fifth days of skiing in Morzine could not have been more different. Day 4 was our second attempt to ski from France to Switzerland. Unlike our first attempt, we did not lose any gear along the way…and the weather was brilliant. At the border on Pointe des Mossettes, we could actually see a sign welcoming us to Switzerland.  What a difference two days can make!

Admiring the scenery between Pointe des Mossettes and Morgins, Switzerland

We then took a long meandering piste, traversing both exposed Alpine slopes and cozy cliffside forests, all the way down to the Swiss village of Morgins. With a vertical drop of nearly 1000 m, but a very gentle slope, the piste seemed to go on forever. We didn’t mind: the mountains seemed much more rugged and awe-inspiring on the Swiss side of the border. 

I took this photo at the end of the piste in Morgins, Switzerland

The slopes at Morgins, Champoussin, and Les Crosets were also virtually deserted. It was almost perfect: fresh snow, temperatures right around 0’C, blazing sun…we were happy to stay for lunch in Champoussin and plan our next move.

The “Dents du Midi” rise above Champoussin, Switzerland

We decided to take a closer look at the “Swiss Wall” (see photo at the very top of this post). This is a notorious piste, probably the steepest and most difficult marked piste in Europe (if not the world). Heavily mogulled, it also has a slope of 90% in places. It didn’t look too bad when I faced it, but when I looked down on it from the chair lift…that old survival gene kicked in. This would be a test of nerves, not elegance. Ultimately, I didn’t think 3:30 p.m., after a heavy goulash lunch, was the best time to attempt the most difficult piste I’ve ever seen. After taking a few pictures, we retreated from the Swiss Wall and re-entered France. We returned to Morzine quite tired but very happy with our international ski safari.

The Swiss Wall, seen from below

The 5th day was another story. It rained for 24 hours straight. And not just a light drizzle: most of that 24-hour period could be fairly described as “pouring”. I took no pictures, because it would have been pointless. We did go skiing, trying to escape the incessant rain in Morzine. While the rain did indeed turn to snow at about 1700 m elevation, it was accompanied by howling winds and whiteout conditions. And then the lifts started closing. We took a rare mid-morning break, and an extended lunch, in an attempt to dry out a bit.

Just above Morgins, Switzerland

The day ended with my mitts literally disintegrating in my bathroom sink. Everything was drenched, and I have no idea what will dry out enough to be usable tomorrow. My mitts were so structurally compromised that I went out and bought new ones just before the shops closed. Not my proudest consumer moment, but I really had no choice if I wanted to participate in the final day of skiing.

Approaching Les Crosets, Switzerland

For obvious reasons, all of today’s pictures are from the much more photogenic 4th day of skiing in France and Switzerland.

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Strange events on the slopes in Les Portes Du Soleil

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(Morzine, France)

I just completed two of the strangest days of skiing I’ve ever had. They are forever linked by a massive blizzard…the 4th one I’ve experienced in a six-day period.

Ludicrous snowfall in Les Lindarets, France

On Monday, our goal was to ski to (and in) Switzerland. This involved several lifts and pistes, passing through the high alpine resort of Avoriaz, before finally disembarking from the Mossette chairlift above the Swiss village of Les Crosets. It seemed simple enough, and it didn’t take too much more than an hour.

Several hours later, the blizzard continues on the pistes near Les Lindarets, France

Alas, we had some challenges. One skier’s backpack somehow became unzipped while on the Mossette lift, and he lost both his spare jacket and his spare gloves in the desolate border region far below. After getting off the lift, we immediately returned to France from Switzerland. A simple plan to meet again (after a search for the missing items) went laughably wrong, as the Mossette lift was then closed due to sudden high winds and blizzard-like conditions. We had to take 3 lifts to get back to where we once were, and the visibility was rapidly deteriorating.

Top of the slopes on “La Rosta”

Never mind the appealing novelty of skiing in Switzerland for a few hours…we couldn’t see anything above the treeline, and we ran the risk that the rest of the cross-border lifts would also close and leave us stranded. We were forced to retreat to lower altitudes, away from the Swiss border, and close to the French village of Ardent. The pistes were drowning in wet snow. I actually love those kinds of conditions, but it is very hard work to slice through such voluminous and soggy snow. We had lunch in a very picturesque hamlet above Ardent called Les Lindarets, also known as the “Village des Chèvres” (“village of goats”). We had to ski down the main “street” to select an appropriate restaurant.

Me and my friend, the skiing “Milka” cow

After lunch (see photo of Les Lindarets above), there must have been an additional foot of snow. It was impossible to figure out where our skis where, as so much snow had fallen on them. It was pouring snow, forming outrageous patterns on our helmets and jackets. With temperatures hovering around 0’C, the snow soon turned to water on our ski outfits. I’ve never been so wet after skiing in such an intense blizzard.

Another view of the “Milka” cow, at the “La Rosta” peak near Les Gets, France

The next day, we awoke to an obscene amount of new snow. While some pistes were groomed, many weren’t. So we encountered dramatic off-piste conditions, except that we were still mostly skiing on-piste. Skiing through such deep snow can be exhausting. You can’t just slide or coast: you need to constantly keep your ski tips up to avoid face-planting, and you essentially need to “jump” from turn to turn to avoid getting stuck (or, again, doing a face-plant). It’s great fun, but you cannot let your guard down for even a second. And many of the pistes above Les Gets are very long.

We had lunch at this mountain restaurant, just above Les Gets

As noon approached, we had our most challenging runs of the day. The Myrtilles piste on Pointe de la Turche was ungroomed and had about 3-4 feet of new, loose snow on top of it. It also was rated as a black piste…in a country where very, very few pistes attract the black (meaning “very difficult”) rating. It was steep and unpredictable, even without 3-4 feet of new, loose snow on top of the existing base. See the “cover” photo at the top of this post for a photo taken near the top. Looking at it now, I can’t believe we went down twice. Once again: we were completely exhausted, but with a sense of real accomplishment.

And this is what I had for lunch: Tartiflette (cheese, potatoes, cream, bacon)

After such a draining experience, it came as no surprise that a skiing purple cow was waiting for us at the top of the neighbouring La Rosta peak. I posed for a photo (during which cow repeatedly and loudly mooed), and was rewarded with a handful of “Milka” chocolates. Apparently, Milka’s mascot is a purple cow. And this cow skis, albeit not that well. It has a very big head, which may impact “her” skiing ability. Still, I am impressed that a cow can ski at all. I then got my daily alpine cheese fix with a delicious “tartiflette” for lunch.

Our hotel in Morzine, France

The last skiing shock of the day came at the absurdly late hour of 5:29 p.m., when we were able to board the local gondola and ski one final time down to Morzine. I’ve never been on such a late daytime lift…and we had started the day before 9:00 a.m. We had the piste to ourselves: we could watch the sun begin to set while we were still on the slopes.

I don’t think anything can surprise me now. But we still have three more days of skiing…who knows what still lies ahead?

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Moving on to the slopes in Morzine, France

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(Morzine, France)

While I enjoyed the tranquility of Les Diablerets, it was time to move on to Morzine, France. It’s not far: maybe only 60 km if you could walk. But you can’t. And, in the winter, most of the mountain passes are closed to traffic. As a result, our train and shuttle bus journey took nearly 6 hours (with an hour stopover in Geneva).

Rösti with goat cheese, at the Auberge de la Poste in Les Diablerets, Switzerland 

There are worse ways to spend half a day. We began with a very scenic ride on the quaint mountain railroad between Les Diablerets and Aigle. We then followed the entire north shore of Lake Geneva, with its great views of the French Alps, to get to Geneva itself. Finally, we circled back on the south side of Lake Geneva and turned onto the claustrophobic narrow valley that leads to Morzine.

The castle at Aigle, Switzerland (a.k.a. le château d’Aigle)

Our first impression of Morzine was not very good. The rain was pouring down and there were quite a few brown patches visible on the slopes immediately above the town. It looked like a lot of skiers were ending their day early. It sure didn’t look like a whole lot of fun. Especially when I had to do some laundry in a dimly lit and odd-smelling laundromat.

Morzine, France, as seen from the top of the Pointe de Nyon piste

Of course, rain at the lower elevations often means snow at the higher ones. And the relentless rain evolved into brilliant sunshine by the morning. There was even some fresh snow! The photo at the top of this post was taken at the start of our very first run (from the top of the Pleney lift).

Lake Geneva in the distance, as seen from the top of Chamossiere

Morzine is just one of the 13 villages that make up the “Portes du Soleil” ski region shared by Switzerland and France. You can ski across the border at a number of locations. It is one of the two largest ski regions in the world: there are about 200 lifts, and more than 650 km of pistes!

Essentially the same view, but photobombed by a Dutch skier

Our first day was devoted to the pistes near Morzine. My favourites were those on Chamossiere and Pointe de Nyon, where there was still a significant amount of loose snow. By the end of the day, the weather had changed to a blizzard…but, once again, that’s not a bad thing if it clears up by the morning.

Everybody has their cameras out at Chamossiere

With no lift lines to speak of (on a weekend!) and a huge range of skiing options, Morzine and the Portes du Soleil are steadily improving on that iffy first impression. Stay tuned to see the final verdict, as we venture further afield!

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Skiing in Les Diablerets – an emotional rollercoaster

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(Les Diablerets, Switzerland)

Skiing here is in 4 distinct areas. There is “Glacier 3000”, which is sits on a glacier at about 3000 m above sea level. One of the pistes is 8 km long. The other three areas are connected by lifts: Les Diablerets, VIllars, and Gryon. It’s fun to ski from one resort to the next…you just have to make sure you get back before the lifts close. It’s very expensive to return to your base, as these towns are very far apart by road or rail. The mountains are in the way!

A summer village nearly covered in snow, between Les Diablerets and Villars

On our first day, the good news was that there was an ongoing blizzard depositing huge amounts of snow on the pistes. The bad news was that there was an ongoing blizzard; the sun was absent, and visibility was hit and miss. The more exposed areas above the treeline had some icy patches, as the wind was blowing the snow away. As a result, we spent most of our time below the treeline, and enjoyed the skiing very much despite the occasionally challenging conditions.

Skiing at Villars (from Petit Chamossaire)

After lunch high above Gryon, we began following the route that would take us back to Villars and then Les Diablerets. Alas, the lift connection that brought us to the Gryon slopes had just closed due to high winds. We had to take a gondola down to Gryon itself, where hopefully we could catch a bus to Villars, and then ski back to Les Diablerets (via several lifts). However, so many people were stranded by the closed lift that we couldn’t take the bus.

Les Diablerets, seen from the slopes

We then walked to a train station, and took an alpine train to Villars. But it took so long that we would not make it back to Les Diablerets before the lifts closed. We were despondent and were facing the prospect of a 3 hour journey by bus and train (at our expense) back to Les Diablerets. And then we saw the “snow angel” (seriously…he wore a sign that said this).

Skiers on Grand Chamossaire

The Swiss are known for quality products and services. The “snow angel” told us that a bus had been arranged to take us (and 21 other stranded skiers) at no cost to us. And because it might take 45 minutes for the bus to arrive for us, the ski area bought us all drinks at a nearby pub! Given the prices in Switzerland, this was quite a generous offer! As we finished our drinks, the bus arrived, and we all enjoyed a stunningly dramatic drive from Villars to Les Diablerets…in just under an hour. We were even on time for dinner.

We can see Lake Geneva from Grand Chamossaire!

This was enough of a rollercoaster for one day, but the second day had nearly as much drama.

Another photo from the slopes above Villars

The sun was shining and it looked like a beautiful day for skiing. We caught the first bus from Les Diablerets to Col du Pillon – where the lifts to take us up to Glacier 3000 begin. Alas, there was more bad news. As they had received 150 cm (!!) of snow, the lifts were late and they could not prepare the pistes. You could only ski if you had an avalanche transceiver and other highly specialized alpine gear. So we had to return back to Les Diablerets,

We had lunch at this restaurant above Les Diablerets

We finally started our ski day about an hour later than we had hoped, and we were feeling kind of sorry for ourselves. But it turned out to be a spectacular day on the slopes. There was little wind, the sun was out, there was plenty of powder on the slopes…it really wasn’t necessary to ski off-piste.

It is green down below in Aigle, but very white above Villars

While it was very crowded in places, as the conditions had been poor for quite some time before we arrived here, we managed to avoid the queues by taking the “less glamorous” drag lifts (pomas, t-bars) rather than chairlifts, gondolas, and cable cars. This strategy worked in Lake Louise, and it seemed to work here as well.

Downtown Les Diablerets, after our day on the slopes ended

The photos in this post are all from our second day of skiing…there was too much blowing snow to take pictures on the first day! Coming up next: Skiing in France!

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Les Diablerets, Switzerland

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(Les Diablerets, Switzerland)

After a very long journey, I have finally arrived in this winter’s first ski destination: Les Diablerets, Switzerland. It is by no means the largest Swiss resort, but it is relatively close to Morzine (France) and Les Portes du Soleil, where I will be skiing all of next week. As I only have time for a couple of days of Swiss skiing, it wasn’t necessary to ski in a huge resort.

Canadian treats in Les Diablerets!

Les Diablerets is located on the eastern fringe of French-speaking Switzerland, just a little bit west of my German-speaking “Heimatort” of Lenk. I went skiing at the nearby glacier in August (!) of 1987, so I wanted to get a better idea of the area (most of it) that is not actually open in the summer. In fact, with climate change and increased awareness of environmental impacts, I am not even sure that skiing is still offered here in the summer.

Figuring out where to go next: the main junction at Vers l’Eglise, Switzerland

It has been a mild winter here: on the rail trip from Geneva to Aigle, there was no snow at all. From the rustic mountain train that travels between Aigle and Les Diablerets, snow only began to appear as I arrived in Les Diablerets. Not every piste is open right now.

Main street in Vers l’Eglise, Switzerland

As I write this, on the day before we first hit the slopes, the snow is finally starting to arrive. We received about 25 cm of snow today, with more expected in the days to come. In fact, I suspect we won’t see too much of the sun for the first part of this international ski odyssey. But that’s OK – it’s hard to enjoy the sunny slopes if there is no snow on the slopes!

L’eglise, in Vers l’Eglise, Switzerland

The village reminds me of Lenk too, or perhaps Andermatt, before Andermatt underwent a massive expansion. There isn’t much of a corporate presence, and somehow (in a good way) it feels like the town is still in the past century. Somehow, it is a little strange to use my laptop.

The very lonely and very small train station at Sur Le Buis, Switzerland

I’ve been scanning menus and have come to the conclusion that you had better be a cheese lover here. Cheese is everywhere…and bread, potatoes and ham are ubiquitous too. Again, not too different from my observations in Lenk a couple of years ago. And from what I understand, I may see more of the same in Morzine next week. It may be in a different country, but the history here goes back much further than the relatively “new” borders between France and Switzerland.

Here comes the train! The train from Aigle to Les Diablerets, just past Sur Le Buis

I am staying in the Auberge de la Poste (see photo at the top of this post) – one of those rustic old chalets that passers-by like to photograph. It’s right in the middle of town, and I think it will suit our purposes perfectly.

This is what my hike was like – between Vers l’Eglise and Les Diablerets, Switzerland

Today’s photographs were all taken while walking from Les Diablerets to the nearby hamlet of Sur Le Buis. While there is no sun to speak of, and a few of the photos were taken in blizzard-like conditions, I think you can get an idea of this area is all about. By the time you read this, I will hopefully be on the slopes!