Snow Polo

In Klosters right now they are having a snow polo match. This is quite an international event, and also quite pricey apparently since each team needs to bring at least 12 horses!

On Friday night I went to watch a game after work. There was lots of snow coming down and there weren't many people outside watching.

We weren't at the VIP tent but there was still lots of space to stand around and watch. I was wearing a lot of warm clothes so I was fine standing out side the entire time. The snow arena, where the walls were made of snow, was lit around the outside and in the center there was a huge balloon light that kept falling down because of all the snow falling down.

The game was very exciting, usually I'm not a fan of watching sports but as M says "ponies". There was lots of fast charging, quick direction changes, lead changes and even a few spills on the slippery ground.

We caught the train back (a little bit late because of the weather) and slept most of the way. It's been a busy week, Raclette dinner, rock band practice and night sledding at Rhinerhorn.

On Saturday I went sledding again at Rhinerhorn but it wasn't very good because of the huge bumps on the track after a day of people sledding down.

Nidlenloch Cave Trip

On the weekend eight of us went to visit the Nidlenloch Cave up by Solothun. This is a cave that is open to the public and the first part you can visit without a guide. The entire cave network is about 7.5km but we only did maybe 100m or so. Moving around was hard work and with the pack I was carrying and my natural grace I felt like a clubfooted hippo. But first, getting there!

Four of us caught the train to Oberdorf, which is significant because this is 10 minutes from the dinosaur footprints that we visited in the spring. Anyway, this time we continued up the Jura, walking on the snow which was rather icy (and also much much less compared to Davos which currently has about two meters).

It was a lovely walk through the woods on a beautiful day and we had a great view down to the lake (sometimes visible through the clouds). The hike was about 600m up and maybe 3 or 4 km and there were lots of people on the trails.

When we reached the summit there was a restaurant that everyone was meeting at. Four more people came from Geneva by car. However, it was the hikers who were carrying all the food, cheese and fondue pots! A heavy load!

At the restaurant we gave them a time when we would be back, paid a small fee, bought some maps and got directions to the entrance of the cave. We also changed in a room down below - they even have a shower for people who go in the cave.

We walked up a steep slope of snow up to the base of a cliff where the cave entrance was located.

There was a good track in the snow so it was fairly easy to follow. The entrance of the cave was a tiny crack in the rock and didn't look like it would lead to much of anything.

We had the key to the entrance from the restaurant and unlocked the gate and slowly started to enter the cave.

I waited outside wondering why it was rather slow getting in but when my turn came up I quickly realized the challenges! The most difficult part of the entire trip was probably the entrance. It was below zero at the entrance and full of ice and also rather steep and slippery! There were chains and ropes to help you descend but very quickly it was very dark and you couldn't see where you were stepping. We all had headlamps but we were going down backwards. You definitely had the feeling of hanging on for dear life! At least I did anyway, at one point there was a rope and not chains and it was very icy and slippery. We had people spaced out to help guide the rest on the way down into the cave.

We grouped at the bottom of the descent and continued on our way. However, it was still pretty cold and there were icicles hanging from the ceilings and walls and the ground was piles of rocks and puddles of ice. I slipped and came down hard on my hand which turned into a nice bruise. It also made moving around more difficult since it hurt to push off with my left hand.

Sometimes the roof of the cave was quite low and you had to crouch and squeeze through parts, but other times it was open enough that you could see the entire party descending in front, their headlamps lighting up just around them.

One point was called dry lake (I think, it was in German) which was low and flat and rather tricky to go through with packs. We had cheese fondue and two cacquelon, wine, water, extra lights and batteries, it was not a light and quick tour! Once were past the entrance area it grew warmer in the cave, around 8C.

There was one point where it was a bit of a squeeze. I never had the feeling of forcing myself through the hole, but we had to take our packs off and push them in front of us. I had zero grace for this part (well, ok, pretty much no grace for any of it).

However, no one had a claustrophobia problem in the tight spot which was a good thing. The tunnel part was maybe 2 or 3m long.

At the end of it we continued on until we came to a bit of a drop. I didn't fancy going down, not with a hand that I couldn't trust and it was also getting late. I did spot a tiny bat sleeping in a tiny cup in the cave wall.

At this point our party split. It wasn't too much of a danger, there were four in each group and the cave didn't really have any branches, at least, not in the beginning part where we were. Four of us went back to cook the fondue and four more continued on but they didn't get very far.

Cooking the fondue was interesting, we found a little side alcove where we set up and got the two pots heating. Normally when you cook fondue you heat it on the stove and then move it to the tiny alcohol burner which basically keeps it warm. However, we only had the burners and it looked like we wouldn't finish in time because the cheese took so long to melt. However, we lit a second alcohol burner with no lid and set it under the metal cacquelon and then we had a rather large alcohol fire and the fondue melted much faster! Almost too fast, we had to keep it off the flames towards the end as it boiled away. However, we were all cold and hungry enough that the cheese didn't even stay in the pot long enough for form much of that nice burnt crispy bit that you fight over at the bottom! After we finished the first fondue we poured the second one into our super pot set-up and quickly polished that one off too.

Then in the light of the headlamps we picked all the bread crumbs off the floor and continued out of the cave. We moved more quickly as we left because it was mostly up. The icy bit at he front was a bit easier and then out into the sunshine for the end of a beautiful day.

I caught a car ride down to Solothun and then the train back to Davos and I was just a bit muddy on the train.

Sledding in Davos

I haven't been sledding in Switzerland since 2009 when I went with Andrea to Grindelwald. At the Aldi (a discount grocery store/random stuff) they were selling sleds for 40CHF so on impulse we bought them. They aren't the fanciest, but they are a good start to try sledding again.

It was suggested by the locals from SIAF that we need to grind down the screws on the metal runners on the bottom and also grease the runners with (trying to remember the word) some kind of pig fat (not ski wax). At least that's the way it was done for sled races as a kid.

So we got out the new dremel tool and ground down the screw heads before taking them out on the slopes.

The previous day of skiing had been fantastic, lots of fresh powder and fresh snow falling throughout the day. The snowfall continue on the next day as we headed to the sled run.

This isn't like any sled run in Canada, in fact, I doubt it would even be allowed in Canada. It was 3.5km long and wound it's way down beside and even under the ski track. There was lots of fresh snow so several times we had to walk. As our technique improved we had to walk less.

And the woods were gorgeous! With the snow falling and the quiet of the forest, I loved winters in Canada (but could only make the best of them in Vancouver), Davos is certainly a winter wonderland. Anyway, here is a set of pictures of me sledding down one of the rather steep sections. I bailed at the end though.

You could certainly build up a lot of speed on these runs! At the end of the morning I was tired from digging myself out of the snow and holding position on the sled, not as tiring as skiing but still a lot of effort!

Pig Races and New Years!

On New Years day it was skiing in Davos (early morning start). The weather was decent but overcast. At one point the clouds cleared in the distance and there was a nice view down the valley.
 

Then we skied down the long run down to Klosters to watch the pig races. Every year they have a bunch of piglets that are brought down and race down a little racetrack to see who will be the lucky pig of the year.

The farmer brought his piglets in a truck and they were collected at one end of the track. The piglets had all been trained to follow the sound of the bell.

At the start of the race they followed the bell and walked (they weren't fast runners even with food at the end).

 They would crawl through the snow tunnel and over the snow bumps.

They were the cleanest pigs I had ever seen, even their hooves were unsullied pink.

There was free gluhweine (hot spiced red wine), roasted chestnuts and lots of people including a live band trying bravely to rouse the crowd. However, we didn't stay for long - too tired from the day of skiing so I didn't find out who was the lucky pig of the year.