Fantastiznje

Just back from Switzerland where we spent a delightful week skiing with friends. We arrived on New Year's day in a horrible drizzle. But the next day, the snows came. The Swiss call it "der grosse Schnee", as it were some kind of mythical beast which is awaited in a mixture of awe and excitement. And snowing it did: some 50cm in 36 hours of uninterrupted precipitation.

That gave us ample time to prepare ourselves for the slopes. I did my first trials on skis in the little meadow adjacent to the chalet. I truly expected to have to start all over again, but lo and behold, I picked up where I had left it 27 years ago and went downhill relaxed and full of confidence. It was such a pleasant, nearly miraculous rediscovery of a skill that I thought I had lost long ago. It really made my week.

Accompanied by our friend photographer Hans Bol and his wife Joli, Witold and I spent two full days exploring the vast ski arena above Klosters, throwing ourselves with great gusto down the easier blue and somewhat more difficult red slopes.

Ann and Emma had no previous experience on skis and took lessons. By Friday they were going down the training slope quite gracefully. Ann thought it quite a feat for a 41-year old! On the Friday afternoon, Witold and I took Emma with us on some of the real slopes. Not as easy as it seemed for our little Emma! But she managed very well after a difficult start. All in all a great week, which really helped to recover from the hard work in 2006. Fully refreshed, we are ready for 2007.

The picture above was taken on the Friday afternoon on a little gondola that was hauling us up. Left is Emma, on the righthand side is Witold and I am in between. With the D80.