Skiing in Saanenmöser (3/6/1982)

Tuesday, March 2, 1982

After work I went to get fitted for skis at the Scassa sport shop in Nidau with Jan & Kirby. We met their friend Heidi who was able to get us cheaper prices for renting equipment, 20 CHF/$10 for the weekend. We tried on ski boots and our heights were roughly measured for ski length. Jan and I wear the same size boots, but she was to get longer skis because she is more experienced. Kirby had trouble finding the right-size boots. They asked what our weights were in order to properly adjust the tension for the bindings release. They also measured the width of our knees when we crouched, but I don’t know why. They didn’t have to measure us for ski poles, although Jan got a pair of modern poles with a strange grip that didn’t have straps. I guess they didn’t worry about her losing her poles! Heidi, who already had helped us so much, volunteered to pick up the ski equipment for us on Friday and return it on Monday!

Rental tag

I received a letter from Hosson, with her original letter in Arabic before it was translated!

Letter in Arabic

Official Föhn weather has begun, where the warm wind blows in to give us a clear day, only to be followed by a bad weather day. The Swiss claim it gives them headaches, and don’t like the bad weather that follows. Yet to me, there is always “bad” weather, so the Föhn at least brings some clear sunny days!

Saturday, March 6, 1982

At 7:30 I went down to Jan & Kirby’s, and at 7:45 Heidi arrived in her GM car which she is selling. She works for GM Suisse, and gets a new car annually. She buys at a discount, then sells at the price she paid. Four sets of skis were racked on top of the car and we set off. Stopped at a drugstore so Kirby could buy nicotine gum; good for him!

It was questionable what kind of day this would turn out to be, with the sun cutting through a thick haze only on occasion. We ran into a couple traffic jams of ski-laden cars. The tops of the mountains were enveloped in clouds when we entered the Simmental, and there was no snow in the valley. But as we climbed higher, we saw more and more snow, and more and more blue sky. Went through Zweisimmen and Saanenmöser, then turned off on a snow-covered road to a huge parking lot at the foot of an aerial cable car. Put on the ski boots, picked up the skis, went to the restrooms, and bought our day passes for 29 CHF/$15.I couldn’t use my half-price pass for this Gondolabahn! We were given a plastic card on a string to hang around our necks.

Ski pass front

Ski pass back

The first time I stretched the card forward to put in the machine, I let go and it snapped back in my face! Oh, that green string was actually an elastic cord! There were metal railings guiding us to the turnstiles where inserting the card let us through, all very orderly. There were separate turnstiles for those going to the Mittel and the Berg stations. But after the turnstiles, it was one crowded rush for the gondolas. All the gondolas went to both stations, and the gondolas are automatic, like the téléphérique in Grenoble, France. It opened and closed automatically, but not tightly because it was snowing inside the cabin. Two seats faced forward and two backward, and Jan & Kirby, who aren’t thrilled by such rides, were the ones to get the great views downhill! There was so much snow that at one point the gondolas dragged a channel through a snowdrift. We continued up through evergreens with snow frosting. At the mid-station, the doors automatically opened and then closed as the gondola turned a slight corner to continue up the mountain. The trip was about 15-20 minutes and we arrived about 10:15. We snapped, buckled, or whatever to put on our skis and Heidi led us past what appeared to be a cliff, with skiers disappearing over the edge.  We went under a chairlift that was taking those disappeared skiers farther up the mountain. Our destination was the slope next to a pummel/disc seat lift. It was a steep slope to negotiate and it was no place for a real beginner! But Heidi was working with Kirby, and halfway down Jan said the two of us should go ahead together. Well, I was not much further than snow-plow skiing myself, but we did. At the bottom of the hill, it was time for the dreaded pummel lift! I never succeeded on it in Italy. I put my card in the turnstile, lined myself up, grabbed a disc, fumbled with it a bit and finally got it between my legs, then held on for dear life, stiff as a board, as I tried to stay relaxed! Somehow, I made it up near the top. Just before going over the final hillock, I had the bright idea to remove the disc from between my legs and just let it pull me the final few yards. However, I stopped dead! I let go of the disc and “skated” off to the side.

Jan and I skied down to join Heidi and Kirby. The snow was a nice, relatively soft powder, yet it seemed you skied faster in it. I had always skied on crusty heavier snow before. Kirby was being coached down the so-called easy slope which was making me fix and hold my ski poles stiffly, and snow-plow like crazy. Kirby wanted a break, so Heidi and I skied to the bottom and took the dreaded pummel lift. This time I waited until I was on the hillock to remove my disc and ended up stopped on top of the hillock. I had to jiggle a lot to get going down the other side! Heidi and I skied down to meet Jan and Kirby.

Saanenmöser view

Gondolabahn

Skiing

Heidi stayed to help Kirby, and Jan and I skied to the bottom. My feet were aching like crazy (too much fixing or holding the muscles stiff!) and sat to rest while Jan went up the pummel lift. Resting didn’t help my feet, so I went ahead up the pummel lift, this time making it over the hillock before removing the disc. I skied all the way down before finding Heidi, Jan and Kirby. We all took the pummel lift, and Kirby did really well, while I continued to be scared of falling off. At the top, after Kirby was extricated from a snowdrift, he decided to head for the restaurant. The three girls did one more run to the very bottom. There were a few steep sections and some narrow curves, but also some very nice sections. We decided the best spot for beginners was at the mid-station to the bottom. We had to remove our skis to get back on the gondola. At 13:00 we found Kirby at the restaurant and went to join the long line at the cafeteria. I had “fresh” spaghetti Bolognese and a drink for 9.90 CHF/$5. We were joined at our table by an English-speaking family, but Jan corrected us by saying they were Canadian. After lunch, I went to the restroom and my knee gave out on the stairs down. By the time I climbed back up the stairs, the knee was fine. I had looked in the restroom mirror to see that my cheeks were bright pink. It wasn’t really sunny, just bright outside, so between ultraviolet and wind, I got some color.

We couldn’t convince Kirby to go down to the mid-station to ski, as he was too tired and his feet were sore from ill-fitting boots. Heidi went off to ski the cliffs, and Jan and I skied down the usual slope. It was snowing rather briskly and we were blinded at times. The wind seemed to have cleared off some crusty patches and created snow drifts. I started stopping to let faster skiers pass. At one point I panicked and sat between my skis to stop from going over the edge of the trail. Jan waited patiently for me, and after the mid-station I tried some parallel skiing. Arrived at 15:30 at the very bottom, the gondolas were not operating. We had a long wait until they started up again. Noticed that one gondola was bigger than the others and contained a bed; an ambulance gondola? Finally at 16:10 we were on our way up again. We had planned on skiing down from the mid-station a couple times, but because of the lost time we decided to go up and meet Kirby. However, we saw him in a gondola going down and he was waving at someone! We continued to the top, but stayed in the gondola to go back down to the mid-station to ski the rest of the way and arrive at the agreed meeting time of 16:45. Got in the car to start the drive home, following several ski buses down the valley. On the highway towards Bern, we saw a spectacular sunset with gold-edged clouds.

We headed towards Fribourg and stopped in the town of Wohlen to go to a restaurant built in an old farmhouse, Gasthof zum Kreuz/Inn of the Cross, a building that was half barn and half house. The parking lot was crowded and most people seemed very well-dressed. We felt a little funny in our ski outfits, but ended up in the lobby bar to eat. There appeared to be a special event, and so we did not get to see the old wood-paneled restaurant. When I went to the restroom in the basement there was a sign indicating the water level of the 1969 flood.

Heidi, Jan and Kirby had salads and I had a piece of bread. They had a fish dish while I had the Geschnetzeltes Kalbfleish mit Rösti/sliced veal with Swiss potato pancake. I had some of the marone/chestnuts from Jan and Kirby’s dish. Kirby had half of my Geschnetzeltes and I had half of his batter fried fish (Egli/perch). The cream sauce for the veal had a lot of wine in it, so I didn’t really appreciate it, but everything else was great. My share of the bill was 20.50 CHF/$10.

Wohlen is located on the Wohlensee/Wohlen Lake that looks like a river. We were driving home in the dark and when Heidi learned none of the three of us had been to Aarberg, she took a detour to drive across the covered wooden bridge into the main square with all the old buildings and church lighted up, creating a beautiful scene. Continued to Biel and Heidi dropped us off at the hospital and she took the bother of the skis with her. Thank you, Heidi!