Also the place has a train-lift or berg-bahn which takes you from the train station to the middle of the mountain. It is really cool, and much nicer than a gondola. Plenty of room to relax and change.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Why People Move to Switzerland
I was supposed to go to Davos, but I missed my train at 6am, and so deciding not to waste such an early morning, I hopped a train to Bern saw a cool poster and went to Zermatt. Absolutely fantastic decision. The skiing was tremendous. The place is mind blowingly large and lies on an international border (italy-swiss) so you can ski back and forth freely. I didnt have my passport so I was a little worried, but it would be pretty ridiculous to get checked half-way through a run or on a chair lift.
Also the place has a train-lift or berg-bahn which takes you from the train station to the middle of the mountain. It is really cool, and much nicer than a gondola. Plenty of room to relax and change.
Also the place has a train-lift or berg-bahn which takes you from the train station to the middle of the mountain. It is really cool, and much nicer than a gondola. Plenty of room to relax and change.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Kuehtai
On sunday we skied at Kuehtai. A nice resort west of Innsbruck. The resort wasnt nearly as high, but had even more snow and was perfectly clear and sunny. Right of the bat it was fantastic. We did quite a bit of off-piste adventuring. Off-piste was never really my thing, and I had a couple of rough patches (quite literally with rocks scratching my pretty skis), but we had a few godly runs on untouched deep powder. It killed the thighs, and required hiking, but was absolutely worth it.
Food here was great, but nothing compared to the glacier. Now I feel like I have 'really' skied in europe and can relax this week just basking in my success.
Food here was great, but nothing compared to the glacier. Now I feel like I have 'really' skied in europe and can relax this week just basking in my success.
Kühtai Skiing
Widget powered by EveryTrail: GPS GeotaggingSaturday, January 24, 2009
Stubaier Glacier
On saturday we went skiing at Stubaier near Innsbruck. The resort was nice and quite high (the highest point was over 10k feet). The elevation's effect was much larger than I would have thought. I was out of breath several times from simply hiking to the lift or even skiing. Hopefully this can pop my EPO up enough to be a killer cyclist at Atomiade. The day started out a little too overcast, but got better rapidly. By lunch time the sun was completely out and nearly cloudfree. Lunch itself was fantastic. Not only was it rather reasonbly priced (8.60eu for Tirolian Groestl). This consisted of potatoes, bacon, beef, and a few veggies and spices cooked in a pan with a fried egg thrown on top. It was absolutely delicious, and provide more than enough energy to rip up the slopes the rest of the day. Including the final run-out back to the parking lot. This was a '10km' (my gps watch said more like 5 but who knows) run that was minimally prepared. I felt like an adventurer doing it.
Skiing at Stubaier Glacier
Widget powered by EveryTrail: GPS GeotaggingFriday, January 23, 2009
Off to Innsbruck / Week Recap
This week served to be much more productive at work. I was able to start re-writing everything to work in one tight, neat, organized interface.
I also was able to start getting back into a better workout routine. Starting with my first indoor LSG training. Which despite the promised 'fun', started out in a not so fun manner. The warmup and even the mat-work was great and certainly beneficial, but after that we played what I can only call Chutes and Ladders from hell. The board resembled more or less the c-a-l board, but on each spot was a number between 1-6 and these number corresponded to what fun activity that spot demanded. The activities were jump rope 90x (I couldnt jump rope when I was younger and it has only gotten worse with time, much worse), crawl and jump through a military style course 3x (maybe this is fun for little people, but my body doesnt do that at all), run across a balance beam 3x (another activity i cant do at all, and there was always a traffic jam behind me), and a few others that were not so torturing.
After that we played Zielball or something like that, and it was basically dodgeball with some weird rule modifications that I was not able to get my head around.
The night was redeemed when we played basketball, a sport I enjoy in theory, but given everyone in the states is so much better than myself at it, I have never been able to really enjoy playing it. However playing here, especially with a running group was great. I certainly was not the best player (I am truly terrible), but I was certainly top-half.
On thursday I went to dinner and a movie with Deniz and Adrianna (the other PhD students who started Sept 1 with me). We say Slumdog Millionare which was fantastic. It was the most excited I have been in a movie in awhile. I was really drawn in. I wish it was a true story, but oh well.
As for this weekend I am heading to Innsbruck with Jesus (a guy I met in the running group who works for Alstom) For what should be a great time skiing and enjoying apres-ski. The weather right now is rainy in swiss, so hopefully austria can do better.
I also was able to start getting back into a better workout routine. Starting with my first indoor LSG training. Which despite the promised 'fun', started out in a not so fun manner. The warmup and even the mat-work was great and certainly beneficial, but after that we played what I can only call Chutes and Ladders from hell. The board resembled more or less the c-a-l board, but on each spot was a number between 1-6 and these number corresponded to what fun activity that spot demanded. The activities were jump rope 90x (I couldnt jump rope when I was younger and it has only gotten worse with time, much worse), crawl and jump through a military style course 3x (maybe this is fun for little people, but my body doesnt do that at all), run across a balance beam 3x (another activity i cant do at all, and there was always a traffic jam behind me), and a few others that were not so torturing.
After that we played Zielball or something like that, and it was basically dodgeball with some weird rule modifications that I was not able to get my head around.
The night was redeemed when we played basketball, a sport I enjoy in theory, but given everyone in the states is so much better than myself at it, I have never been able to really enjoy playing it. However playing here, especially with a running group was great. I certainly was not the best player (I am truly terrible), but I was certainly top-half.
On thursday I went to dinner and a movie with Deniz and Adrianna (the other PhD students who started Sept 1 with me). We say Slumdog Millionare which was fantastic. It was the most excited I have been in a movie in awhile. I was really drawn in. I wish it was a true story, but oh well.
As for this weekend I am heading to Innsbruck with Jesus (a guy I met in the running group who works for Alstom) For what should be a great time skiing and enjoying apres-ski. The weather right now is rainy in swiss, so hopefully austria can do better.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Flumserberg Skiing
In order to be sure I would never have to answer 'I dont know' to the question how is the skiing in europe, I went to flumserberg this weekend with the meetup group. I sadly forgot my camera in all the rush, but I did have my gps so you can see what was done here
The day was good, a bit overcast and windy, but the snow was good, and nowhere near as busy as Meadows or even Ski-bowl. There were no lift lines anywhere.
It served as a nice sunday activity and was only an hour or so from zurich. It is probably not the best skiing around, but it is close and not too expensive (except food which is outrageous).
My first week back at work was a little bit slow. I had a poster presentation and a quick powerpoint for my lausanne boss. After that it took awhile to get back into the swing of things. I have realized how quickly I forget things. I got a few swimming trips in, and a nice run. Hopefully next week will be more full-speed
The day was good, a bit overcast and windy, but the snow was good, and nowhere near as busy as Meadows or even Ski-bowl. There were no lift lines anywhere.
It served as a nice sunday activity and was only an hour or so from zurich. It is probably not the best skiing around, but it is close and not too expensive (except food which is outrageous).
My first week back at work was a little bit slow. I had a poster presentation and a quick powerpoint for my lausanne boss. After that it took awhile to get back into the swing of things. I have realized how quickly I forget things. I got a few swimming trips in, and a nice run. Hopefully next week will be more full-speed
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