10/02: Super St. Bernard...not just a big swiss dog.
St. Bernard is a small area on the border of Switzerland and Italy where the famous big dogs with the barrel under their collar were originally trained in snow and avalanche rescue, so images of this famous dog that i grew up seeing in cartoons are everywhere here...
Also here is one of the greatest little ski stations in Switzerland...Super St. Bernard. A single gondola that accesses 1200m of vertical top to bottom on two sides of a beautiful peak and ridgeline. There were about 35 cars in the parking lot, lift tickets were $30, and if there was one skier in front of us getting on the gondola i was thrown into a fit of rage...it was just empty.
Going up the gondola for the first time, we scoped a few chutes that dropped from the ridge to our right, looking like firm but good snow was filled into themm we were excited to travers over to the ridge and check it out. So we took what we thought was the traverse to the chutes, rounding the nose of the mountain, under the gondola, when to our surprise we were gliding straight toward an old tunnel through the mountain to the other side of the ridge. The tunnel was so cool...they shovel snow into it so that you can ski right through, and because it is difficult to keep your speed up on a snowboard, the tunnel is lined with ropes at waist height so that boarders can pull themselves through without the hastle of unbuckling their bindings...very thoughtful of them. The tunnel was so cool i had to stop and take some photos, and because of the immense vacancy on the mountain, i had the freedom to take my time and get it right.
Upon exit of the tunnel we found that the backside was made up of a beautiful bowl that was unfortunately wind blown and packed out to a very deceiving powdery-looking hard packed snow...so we made our way down slowly, carving precise turns in the firm snow and gaining as much speed as possible on the groomed piste at the bottom in order to make the long cat tracked traverse at the bottom back to the front side as walk-free as possible. We chose not to go back to the back side again, lesson learned.
On our second ride up the gondola, we paid good attention to the chutes, but nearing the top, we paid more attention to the access traverse that we would have to navigate in order to get there...which was this crazy traverse above an old and dilapidated bridge of sorts. Upon first pass over the traverse, which was on about a 35 degree slope, i boot packed my way across, kicking solid foot holds into the hillside above the skiers traverse as there was no way it would be possible to keep up enough speed to get across the traverse on a snowboard. Very cautious, tired from the last 3 pow days at Verbier, and weary of the snow conditions, i was not about to slide down and over some rocks just to access some chutes that were probably filled in with marginal snow...
So we made it across to the ridge traverse and made our way over to our first chosen, and untracked, chute, where the snow was actually better than marginal, but nothing like the pow we had at Verbier...good turns nonetheless.
The next 4 hours were spent picking chutes out on the gondola ride up and then finding them on the ridgeline and killing them, one by one. About the 5th round up the gondola i spotted one skinny little chute that looked just about as wide as my snowboard at the widest point and about 30m long. I found the top of it and upon jockeying into the top, dodging some exposed rocks and shimmying into the chute, i found an immaculate wind blown chute with really cool snow formations, as the wind has whipped the snow into a sort of ridge that wound its way back and forth between the rocks up the chute. The little snow ridge made for a really cool drop through the chute, going from toe side to heel side and slipping this ridge, gaining speed, and holding control as the rocks were flying by at ever increasing speed until finally i was out in the open and free to really leverage the speed i had gained into wide open carving turns...the adrenaline was pumping and i was stoked. One of the best chutes i have ever done to date, so fun.
About 2 o'clock we decided that we had had enough of the chutes and that we would opt for the international adventure that Super St. Bernard boasts...a 10km run from Switzerland down into Italy over the "other" backside of the mountain... We found out that for $15 a bus picks you up at 5pm at a little restaurant down in a litte Italian town and in just 30 minutes, via a tunnel through the mountain, we would arrive back at our car in the Super St. Bernard parking lot. So we bought tickets for the bus and took the gondola one last time.
At the top we found a set of stairs that took us up to the top of the col, or pass, and we looked down into a descending valley of awesome beauty and magnitude. They told us that it takes most people an hour and a half to descend the valley to the little town, we figured it would take us about a half hour...it took us 20 minutes...so we had plenty of time for a panini and a beer at the Le Croix Blanche, the small restaurant in the little town.
The little town, who's name escapes me, was a bit of a cultural melting pot. All the street names were in French but it had an inescapable Italian feel to it, with really small streets, barely wide enough to fit a car. Really cool art on the sides of some of the homes. And the familiar, yet unfamiliar Italian (since it sounds so much like spanish, but isn't) spoken in the restaurant with the French name...go figure.
The panini was deliciously plain; bread, cheese and salami...Europeans are not into condiments...you have to pay for ketchup, mustard, mayo, etc., at almost every eatery we visited. And the beer was equally delicious and appreciated after the long day of riding without stopping. The bus ride back to Switzerland went remarkably fast, due in part to the awesome 10km tunnel through the mountain and also in part to our having passed out due to fatigue right after taking our seats...
Upon reaching the car, Marilyn spoke with Jerome and he suggested that we all meet at Porte du Soleil, a Swiss ski station where we can snowshoe up the piste to a chalet for an "all you can eat" pasta dinner for 20 swiss francs and then night ski down with headlamps. At the time this sounded fantastic, so off we went for the rendezvous with Jerome.
We met down in the valley, Jerome was running a little late because of traffic...and we all piled into his car and headed up the mountain to the base of Porte du Soleil. We geared up and headed out. This was my first time in snowshoes and i was quickly over-heating and tripping all over myself. It was fun to be a beginner again and even funnier to use ski poles...
We climbed 500m of vertical which took us about 45 minutes. We were constantly being passed by skiers and hikers coming down the mountain, having finished their dinner already. The consistency of people coming down the hill slowly chipped away at my previous notion that we were headed up to a very intimate experience... Upon reaching the top, the mid mountain chalet of the resort, Jerome has beat us up to the top and came out sheepishly to announce that it was 9:20 and that they had stopped serving pasta at 9:00...ouch, i was starving and we were now forced to eat chips, candy bars and dessert...anything that was packaged or prepared in advance...bummer.
So we made it pretty quick and got outta there. Finding the highlight of the night to be snowboarding down with a headlamp. Similar to night time mountain biking with a head lamp, night snowboarding at a slow pace feels as if you are moving at Mach 4, with only a small space of light ahead of me to see, everything was moving so fast that it was so exciting. 10 minutes down the mountain and we were back at the car, safe, sound, but still starving...back to Lausanne to Marilyn's apartment for midnight spaghetti that has never tasted so good.
Also here is one of the greatest little ski stations in Switzerland...Super St. Bernard. A single gondola that accesses 1200m of vertical top to bottom on two sides of a beautiful peak and ridgeline. There were about 35 cars in the parking lot, lift tickets were $30, and if there was one skier in front of us getting on the gondola i was thrown into a fit of rage...it was just empty.
Going up the gondola for the first time, we scoped a few chutes that dropped from the ridge to our right, looking like firm but good snow was filled into themm we were excited to travers over to the ridge and check it out. So we took what we thought was the traverse to the chutes, rounding the nose of the mountain, under the gondola, when to our surprise we were gliding straight toward an old tunnel through the mountain to the other side of the ridge. The tunnel was so cool...they shovel snow into it so that you can ski right through, and because it is difficult to keep your speed up on a snowboard, the tunnel is lined with ropes at waist height so that boarders can pull themselves through without the hastle of unbuckling their bindings...very thoughtful of them. The tunnel was so cool i had to stop and take some photos, and because of the immense vacancy on the mountain, i had the freedom to take my time and get it right.
Upon exit of the tunnel we found that the backside was made up of a beautiful bowl that was unfortunately wind blown and packed out to a very deceiving powdery-looking hard packed snow...so we made our way down slowly, carving precise turns in the firm snow and gaining as much speed as possible on the groomed piste at the bottom in order to make the long cat tracked traverse at the bottom back to the front side as walk-free as possible. We chose not to go back to the back side again, lesson learned.
On our second ride up the gondola, we paid good attention to the chutes, but nearing the top, we paid more attention to the access traverse that we would have to navigate in order to get there...which was this crazy traverse above an old and dilapidated bridge of sorts. Upon first pass over the traverse, which was on about a 35 degree slope, i boot packed my way across, kicking solid foot holds into the hillside above the skiers traverse as there was no way it would be possible to keep up enough speed to get across the traverse on a snowboard. Very cautious, tired from the last 3 pow days at Verbier, and weary of the snow conditions, i was not about to slide down and over some rocks just to access some chutes that were probably filled in with marginal snow...
So we made it across to the ridge traverse and made our way over to our first chosen, and untracked, chute, where the snow was actually better than marginal, but nothing like the pow we had at Verbier...good turns nonetheless.
The next 4 hours were spent picking chutes out on the gondola ride up and then finding them on the ridgeline and killing them, one by one. About the 5th round up the gondola i spotted one skinny little chute that looked just about as wide as my snowboard at the widest point and about 30m long. I found the top of it and upon jockeying into the top, dodging some exposed rocks and shimmying into the chute, i found an immaculate wind blown chute with really cool snow formations, as the wind has whipped the snow into a sort of ridge that wound its way back and forth between the rocks up the chute. The little snow ridge made for a really cool drop through the chute, going from toe side to heel side and slipping this ridge, gaining speed, and holding control as the rocks were flying by at ever increasing speed until finally i was out in the open and free to really leverage the speed i had gained into wide open carving turns...the adrenaline was pumping and i was stoked. One of the best chutes i have ever done to date, so fun.
About 2 o'clock we decided that we had had enough of the chutes and that we would opt for the international adventure that Super St. Bernard boasts...a 10km run from Switzerland down into Italy over the "other" backside of the mountain... We found out that for $15 a bus picks you up at 5pm at a little restaurant down in a litte Italian town and in just 30 minutes, via a tunnel through the mountain, we would arrive back at our car in the Super St. Bernard parking lot. So we bought tickets for the bus and took the gondola one last time.
At the top we found a set of stairs that took us up to the top of the col, or pass, and we looked down into a descending valley of awesome beauty and magnitude. They told us that it takes most people an hour and a half to descend the valley to the little town, we figured it would take us about a half hour...it took us 20 minutes...so we had plenty of time for a panini and a beer at the Le Croix Blanche, the small restaurant in the little town.
The little town, who's name escapes me, was a bit of a cultural melting pot. All the street names were in French but it had an inescapable Italian feel to it, with really small streets, barely wide enough to fit a car. Really cool art on the sides of some of the homes. And the familiar, yet unfamiliar Italian (since it sounds so much like spanish, but isn't) spoken in the restaurant with the French name...go figure.
The panini was deliciously plain; bread, cheese and salami...Europeans are not into condiments...you have to pay for ketchup, mustard, mayo, etc., at almost every eatery we visited. And the beer was equally delicious and appreciated after the long day of riding without stopping. The bus ride back to Switzerland went remarkably fast, due in part to the awesome 10km tunnel through the mountain and also in part to our having passed out due to fatigue right after taking our seats...
Upon reaching the car, Marilyn spoke with Jerome and he suggested that we all meet at Porte du Soleil, a Swiss ski station where we can snowshoe up the piste to a chalet for an "all you can eat" pasta dinner for 20 swiss francs and then night ski down with headlamps. At the time this sounded fantastic, so off we went for the rendezvous with Jerome.
We met down in the valley, Jerome was running a little late because of traffic...and we all piled into his car and headed up the mountain to the base of Porte du Soleil. We geared up and headed out. This was my first time in snowshoes and i was quickly over-heating and tripping all over myself. It was fun to be a beginner again and even funnier to use ski poles...
We climbed 500m of vertical which took us about 45 minutes. We were constantly being passed by skiers and hikers coming down the mountain, having finished their dinner already. The consistency of people coming down the hill slowly chipped away at my previous notion that we were headed up to a very intimate experience... Upon reaching the top, the mid mountain chalet of the resort, Jerome has beat us up to the top and came out sheepishly to announce that it was 9:20 and that they had stopped serving pasta at 9:00...ouch, i was starving and we were now forced to eat chips, candy bars and dessert...anything that was packaged or prepared in advance...bummer.
So we made it pretty quick and got outta there. Finding the highlight of the night to be snowboarding down with a headlamp. Similar to night time mountain biking with a head lamp, night snowboarding at a slow pace feels as if you are moving at Mach 4, with only a small space of light ahead of me to see, everything was moving so fast that it was so exciting. 10 minutes down the mountain and we were back at the car, safe, sound, but still starving...back to Lausanne to Marilyn's apartment for midnight spaghetti that has never tasted so good.
