White Turf

This past weekend I was in St. Moritz to watch White Turf. This is a series of horse races on the frozen lake, last year it was cancelled since the lake didn't freeze thick enough.

The day was really cold, it started at -20, but I had so many layers of clothing I was too hot for most of the day. It was a beautiful sunny day which probably helped us keep warm.

The races were pretty exciting (but rather short). There were several races in the traditional sense with riders. But there were also sulky style races with skis instead of wheels.

Then there was the skijoring, where the horse pulled a skier behind them in the race.

Later there was another version of skijoring, where there was an experienced horseman/horsewoman riding the horse and a skier on the back. In this race one of the skiers apparently fell off at the beginning of the race and the rider completed the race without the second person.

I was also at the starting gate for one of the races and caught the horses immediately coming out.

In addition to the horse races, there was food and expensive cars on display. There was an ice sculpture in the shape of a mermaid with oysters in an ice shell on her back. There was also an ice bar.

And two people walking with a hawk on display.

I knew to expect women walking around with huge fur coats on display.

But I wondered what the men have which goes with. Turns out it was very large camera lenses. Some people even had sleds to carry all their equipment.

I had my new discount SLR with me for the trip and one guy with multiple large cameras hanging off him walked by me and said with a chuckle "that's how we all start". I have to say, if I had to choose between the fur coat and the huge honking lens it would be photos all the way. What the hell do you do with a fur coat anyway? Besides look fuggly or attract rich men with large camera lenses.