Zinal, Arolla, Cinque Terra, Hoch Fugen/Hintertux, Munich Mar/Apr 2018

I'm afraid that I don't have a big block of time to put together the entire TR in one sitting. So accept my apologies in advance for a broken up TR that I'll post up as I can. Also, I took a lot of pictures and had some taken by others that I quite liked so it's pretty photo heavy.

I'd skied in Europe a fair bit in the past, taught skiing a season at Bad Kleinkirchheim, however for a 3 week trip this baby delivered on all cylinders. Not only was the snow fantastic, the company amazing and the avalanche hazard quite manageable - I got to hit 3 ski areas I'd never skied at, visited a zone in Italy I've wanted to hit for a while - and got to spend some quality time with one of my favorite dogs in the whole wide world, Tomba. Tomba is a black lab/cane corso 120lbs (photos later), of big black love.

After getting to Munich, picking up the rental car, driving to the step daughter's place (photos later) having beer and schnitzel I cuddled up with Tomba for a restful 12 hour nap. Next morning I headed to Sion.

I hit Sion because I randomly ran into a guy I used to speed ski with back in 89 - 92. It was at a Canada Day party about 30km west of Calgary, and when I mentioned that I had a buddy who was going to Arolla every year, Laurent said that he had a place down the valley from there and if I ever came out that way to hit him up and he'd show me some skiing. Just so happened this year I had a bit of extra time so.....

Part 1 Sion/Zinal

Got into Sion about 7 hours after leaving Munich. Pretty leisurely drive and kept speeds below 140km due to a slight shimmy/pull in the steering wheel occasionally. No big deal, just a wee bit irritating. Sort of like when the ball joints were going in my '67 Barracuda (damn wish I still had that car...), not enough to put you in the ditch unless of course you were out Sharples way at 3am having consumed way too much as a teenager at the dance in Carbon, heading back to my buddies farm and having to get pulled out by the neighbor and his tractor twice in a kilometre. But I digress.

The sun was close to setting so Laurent and Lynn suggested we check out a couple of Castles a short walk from their place. Knights Templar castles to boot. A lovely little hike that got us in the proper headspace for cheese fondue, champagne and a few decades of catching up.

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As the light faded, we hiked around to another vantage point. Typical Euro/mountain town super narrow streets with serious steepness. Has got to produce a better quality of driver, and some may argue, hiker/climber. If nothing else there was a smaller percentage of really big folks. The Swiss are a fit folk. Also most do military service very year, know how to fire weapons, and have numerous military installations in the cliffs of the mountains throughout the country. Note to self, do not invade Switzerland.

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This fountain has been providing the goods for about 800 years. People still drink from it. You slide your bucket along the rails, filler up and pull her back. The city hall (perhaps) is behind the fountain. Been a City Hall for um, 912 years. I think.

i'll start with holy shit that's cool and go from there as i finish reading

Laurent suggested we ski Zinal. He mentioned a bunch of other places that were harder to pronounce, some I'd heard of before. He mentioned that Zinal was generally not as busy as some of the other places in the area and that he had skied very good snow a few days previous there.

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"This is one of my local ski hills", says Laurent. "Fuck" I say.
The bootpack we take later is visible just above and to the right of my head (blue helmeted one).

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Ski quality right out of the gate was fabulous. Steepness also adequate for my needs.

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Time for a little boot pack. Would have been a very short skin, however mister lazy pants (me) wanted to ski the hill set up, and I didn't haul 3 sets of skis and a snowboard in my ski bag for nothing (ok one set was for Vivian). I was astounded by the amount of terrain not getting skied. I'm sorry Euro friends, but it really does seem to me that powder stashes last longer at a good number of your hills. Don't be mad, don't be sad, just be. Kidding, be happy for christ's sake. It's OK if everybody but you is skiing groomers, really.

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That's Laurent, skiing off into the distance, no where near where I wanted him to ski for the magazine cover shot.

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Lynne listened a bit better. Oh well, I wasn't on assignment for Outside Magazine, or Backcountry, or Powder. Like ever. What's wrong with me, is it me. No, no it's not, it's them. Fuck you big outdoor adventure magazine publishing suits, I'll keep freelancing then.

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We played around in this steeper zone for a bit. Four days after a dump and there's still many a stash to be found.

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My guides/hosts Laurent and Lynne went to the bell showing me all of their stashes and plotting future trips. Laurent has a buddy who guides La Grave and it's on his hit list. I'm in.

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How could I not post a photo of the Matterhorn (see my pointy finger).

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Fun fact. The round rocks on the foundation (looking like table tops) were actually to keep rats from getting into your house or barn. Apparently they have a hard time with the 5.14C moves.

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And so I leave Sion, and the amazing Zinal heading up valley to Arolla. That's where we'll pick it up next time, with the "Gary is too fucking lazy to post his big TR in one installment" show. See you soon.

Nice, can't wait for the rest

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using TGR Forums mobile app

More, please.

Wooot!!

w000tarae, w000tittus. Herens and Annivers have been on my radar too long.

I'm in :)

Arolla Day One

So a quick 1 hour drive got me from Sion to Arolla. Stayed at the same apartment (Les Marmottes B) as last year, though this year it was truly ski in/ski out. From door to lift about a 3 minute ski, quite civil really. After a great day of re-acquainting with a number of the folks I met here last year, hitting up my favorite little hut for wine and raclette and all in all having a blast in a zone I really love it was time to go backcountry.

One of the many phenomenal things about Arolla is that in the Spring you can decide to go on a tour at 3pm. The buddies get "go play" passes from their wives, they pawn off the kids, and after taking a couple of platter lifts, and hiking for an hour or 2, you're at the top of something. A half hour later you're drinking wine and sauteing onions. Perfect scenario really, and so it was that Andreas, Til and I slayed our first couloir of the trip.

We got on last lift at about 3:45 and headed up, deciding to ski a coolie that Andreas had been looking at for a number of years. I fell in love with it the previous year, however a much skinnier snow pack then made it an unobtainable objective.

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Suitably steep, and Andreas decides to test his skinning (and alpine yoga/mountaineering skills).

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The crux move as I try to haul up a lifetime of pizza, burgers and red wine to the top...

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Andreas is astounded. "He has done it" he exclaims in a german accent devoid of much german.

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A little more hiking to get to the desirable entrance point.

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Til drops in. Snow conditions were very good indeed up here. We were chasing the sun around most of the day to find some solar heating but we thought skiing this northish face would provide good snow. Right we were... at least here.

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Andreas dropping in.

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Til now in the coulior proper. And, it was properly heinous skiing. Fun, hell yeah! Type 2... um yep. Jump turned the whole damn thing because it was re-frozen hard mank.

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Me hacking my way down.

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Our way up was in black. Down in orange. Andreas has skied here every year for the past 7 years and has looked at it every time up the top platter. Nice to have bagged one with my buddy (and my new buddy Til).

A quality offering as always Gary. You are awesome!


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Angle Parking

A quality offering as always Gary. You are awesome!


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

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Shut up! No - you are!! haha.

Thanks man, keep on slaying it up north. See you soon.

moar...moar

GfromT, that looks amazing...way to get after it!

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So today is more of a "sorry honey I have to go ski with my mates and can you watch the kids, I really really love you" day for my buddies. My spawn and step spawn are quite a bit past the stage of child minding, so I'm like "whatever bros, ja dast ist gud". Off we go, a couloir hunting again. Beauty day, eh.

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Scenic. Well, it is Switzerland...

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Holly poses for the contrail shot. Great guy and snowboarder. Me and him and Benny had an amazing afternoon boarding together later in the trip. I was really amazing on the board. Somehow I never got all the shots they took of me, I must have been that good. Since the space invaders at BBI18 my boarding has gotten much better, however you won't get to see that because those fuckers never gave me the photos. Fuck you Holly. Prick.

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Seb has skied here all his life. It's pretty great skiing with him when you haven't skied like a millionth of what this place has to offer. Good dude, Seb. Doesn't take photos so hard to be mad at him for not giving you his outstanding photos of yourself. Solid Seb, solid.

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The end is near

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I am ganstah, yo. Why? Because you were not here with me, beotch

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Timo and Andreas at the top (Holly peeking in, fucker). Both quality skiers, and ripper boarders. Timo likes 90/10's. I also very much like 90/10's. I've known Andreas for over 25 years, however Timo is my best friend sometimes. When you get to the top of this pitch, which is about a 1.5 hour skin, you then get a 5500 or 6000 ft run to a different village. On the way down you ski 2 couloirs, a couple of big faces, some trees, through a summer village of like 600 year old houses (I could be making this up, but also perhaps not) and end up in a lovely little village cafe bar. Why in the living hell would you not want to come and ski here.

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Andreas doing what Euros do.

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So at the top of the first pitch I see Seb go and he hugs skiers left and basically sideslips, sometimes right over the rappel rope that's there. I'm like, WTF?? Andreas goes next, takes the same line, sideslips, and at the bottom of the pitch (in a moderately high wind) yells up something that I hear as "awesome bro, giver". I think it's kind of weird cause he never says that. Anyway I figure their line is stupid, there's perfectly good snow on skiers right, it's untracked and damn it - I only side slip if I'm afraid of turning...

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2nd turn is just fine. Yee haw!!

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Oh shit.

2cms of snow over rocks.... double ejection, self arrest... veerrrrry lucky no injury. very lucky ski does not sail off the opposite side down 1500' never to be seen again... very lucky. Ho well.

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The first pitch

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Andreas

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Max & Holly

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Holly

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Timo

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A 500 year old house. Arolla is located down the valley you are looking up, perhaps a 10 km drive.

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The boys are startled. A guided group is sighted across valley. We make haste to exit before them to win the race and claim the prize.

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You ski down the shoulder, through the trees, right to the bar.

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But, the cafe bar is closed. Does it matter? No, Timo carries bottled beer and packs 90/10's. A good man that Timo.

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A blockage of traffic on the way home. Someone is loading a broken loader onto a lowbed. Andreas suggests this could be Dede. "No shit" I say, "the man, DEDE"??!! Because I KNOW that Arolla is Dede's home, and I know that Dede runs snow plow here...

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We look closely out the window.... is it indeed Dede??

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INDEEDEE DO! It is Dede. I shake THE MAN's hand. And I'm honored to be in the presence of greatness. And he's pleasant and speaks decent English and he's interested in where I come from. And I just about shit.

So who is Dede? Well, if you've seen this movie you may remember Dede. If you haven't:

https://www.redbull.tv/film/AP-1PMT7S62N1W11/la-liste

Do yourself a very big favour. Watch this. If you don't, know that this guy had the first decent of the Matterhorn North Face. Along with a shit tonne of others including: North face of Cevrin and the North face of Pigne d'Arolla. He's a true blue living legend, and I'm going to ski with him next year.

https://www.freeride-experience.com/hors-pistes/

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Oh, he's even got his own comic strip.

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You can see it here. At the base of Arolla. In the Yurt.

Very fine cheap wine, an excellent hot dog. And, it's new this year.

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What's better than a little apres ski with a few friends... A big ass schnapps pounding guzzle fest with old friends and new. And so ended Day 2.

Sweet!! Nicely done Gary. Stellar!

Thanks buddy. Come on over with me one of these times buddy. It's an absolute fucking blast.

Fuck, I wish. Seems a bit ambitious for my humble little trips though. Stunning architecture and mountains

Awesome trip Gary! Not sure how I missed earlier.

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Originally Posted by garyfromterrace

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Scenic. Well, it is Switzerland...

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Gorgeous

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Originally Posted by garyfromterrace

"This is one of my local ski hills", says Laurent. "Fuck" I say.

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I read that in exactly your Canadian accent when I got to it.

And is that Gary airing something??

Stunner photos, stellar script. Well wrought d00d. moar moaaaar.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by abraham

Awesome trip Gary! Not sure how I missed earlier.



Gorgeous



I read that in exactly your Canadian accent when I got to it.

And is that Gary airing something??

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i was going to highlight that first pic, too. super happy for you, g, and honored i got to ride with you. on a board even!

Epic Gary. Epic

Quote:

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Originally Posted by abraham

Awesome trip Gary! Not sure how I missed earlier.



Gorgeous



I read that in exactly your Canadian accent when I got to it.

And is that Gary airing something??

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Thanks mate. So yeah I actually did air this, landed it and was very pleased with myself. Sadly Lynne didn't know that with my phone you just keep hitting the shutter button to take multiple shots. Oh well, it sort of put me in an airy mood for the trip and... later... there's a pretty decent one that Vivian took. Guess you'll have to keep checking in Abe, old friend :

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Originally Posted by Buster Highmen

Stunner photos, stellar script. Well wrought d00d. moar moaaaar.

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Well thank you Buster! High praise from the master of the TGR treatise.

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Originally Posted by wyeaster

i was going to highlight that first pic, too. super happy for you, g, and honored i got to ride with you. on a board even!

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Hey man great to ride with you! That day started a cascading series of events that ended with me having one of the best seasons on the board in years.
Thanks!

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Originally Posted by LeeLau

Epic Gary. Epic

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Well thank you Lee. Looked like your season was slightly better than mediocre :fm:

Stelllar. We got an Arolla map randomly years ago from a friend, and ever since I've wanted to go there. Now I see why.

Arolla Day 3

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Andreas used to race one of these thingies, so he's got the euro-carve figured out.

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I, on the other hand never raced gates on a plank, nor have ever really rode proper hard boots (only touring boots in walk mode). So this is my canuck-o-carve.

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The building (upper middle right) plays a role later on in the day...

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Til doing some spinnie shit. And landing it of course. I had a blast riding a bunch of little tree shots on the board with Til. My board didn't get off the ground much...

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Found some lovely little pockets.

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The weather deteriorated quick and vis up high was gone so Andreas suggests we go ski a coulior. I'm in, nothing like rocks on either side of you for definition. Off into the clag we go. Shall I also mention that we leave at about 3:45pm. I love this place.

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The happy wanderers get to the top of something. The something was a beautiful chute that none of the group had skied before, but that they'd been looking at for a while and skied in the area of it quite a bit so they were confident in finding the entrance.

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Timo drops in.

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Til drops in.

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Til gets the secondary shot too just because. The skiing was very very good.

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Bye Til.

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Hi Andreas

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Bye Andreas

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I leapfrog down and pull the camera man card to get a lovely line down the bottom third. Then hole up at the bottom in a safeish spot in time to catch Timo on the bottom pitch.

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Yeah Timo, come to daddy you little 90/10er.

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The yurt mentioned previously makes a very good hot dog!

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The wonderful run is straight up from the right edge of the hot dog wiener.

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And so ended Day 3 at Arolla. Absolutely stoked to have been with all of the lads on their first time down this little fella. When I chatted the lift maint guy up on the last afternoon of the trip and mentioned that this was one of our coolers he was pretty amped for us.

Arolla storm day looks good. Moar...moar.

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Originally Posted by Buster Highmen

Arolla storm day looks good. Moar...moar.

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Thanks Buster! As requested...

Arolla Days 4 & 5

Started to get in a nice groove as the days consist of getting up, riding, socializing, eating, sleeping and repeating. Just like the good old days of ski bumming. 'Cept now you can afford better booze.

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The only conveyance at Arolla is platter lifts. This is about halfway up the first lift. I've always maintained that no better training for beginners and kids alike is to ride up surface lifts. You get to practice skills both riding up and down, and the legs can't help but get strong fast. Great to see my buddies kids riding these things all day (like 2 to 10 year olds), going to be a good crop of German ski groms coming up through the ranks here. Riding a board up 3000 vert of platter is a bit of work, but hey - sure beats walking.

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Today I got to explore an area of the hill that I'd only been a couple of times previously. From the top platter you hike climbers right about 41 seconds and get to the top of a little rise that rises above hundreds of acres of skiing (think as big as the backside of Lake Louise's Summit area) in an area I believe is called Les Fontanesses. Fairly frequent closures of this area due to avalanche hazard makes riding it a fortunate occasion.

Here "young" Benny (because of course there is an "old" Benny who is probably 20 years younger than I..., which is, of course less painful than "young" Benny's 30 year differential..) rips up the pow. The place was basically untracked and was open only for our riding pleasure (well and of course the other 6 skiers & borders we shared it with - guessing 4 of those other riders were of our group). And that's how it is here. You have the hill to yourself, and your friends (and kids). Why do my buddies keep coming back here year after year? That's why. And the snow. And locals. OK the wine and raclette are really good too. And the accessible couliors. OK, there's probably more, but you get the idea.

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Young Benny in flight. Awesome riding with these guys, absolutely brought my game up. Oh the photos that these guys have of me! I bet they're great! To bad I haven't seen them eh Holly? Bastard.

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Here's Holly slashing down a nice little face. Yeah, you're welcome Holly...

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Holly looking for redemption by being a Euro-schmuck. Well played buddy. All is forgiven.

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With all the ripper boarders in the group, the young groms want to be like Dad and his bros (and sistahs). They rip quite adequately on sticks, but as you know (or should know) there are just some conditions that are big fun on a board. And, hey, why not switch it up once in a while. Andreas councils the young shred betties in training and enlightens them in the single plank ways.

And thus ended a most amazing day 4. A day spent on the board with little evidence of my boarding prowess. Holly pays penance and is redeemed through good board guiding and smoke lighting,

Arolla Day 5

The day dawns superb. Vivian and Tomba arrive. Laurent and Lynn come from Sion for a ski visit.

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Laurent cruises on some untracked.

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Lynne in the same zone. Did I mention that things don't get tracked out here quickly.... yeah, I thought so.

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Mrs garyfromterrace (at least I hope she says yes) makes an appearance in good stead.

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Hey, it's me. In the air no less! I really did want to come back up and hit it off the nose. Of course, as things happen while on Euro vacation, the wine and raclette get in the way....

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...And, of course hanging with Tomba takes precedence some times. Heyo Tomba!! Enjoying mid-afternoon apres ski with my favorite doggie, Vivian, Laurent and Lynne. The name of this perfect little watering hole is Buvette De La Chotte. The proprietor is a beautiful Swiss lady who will only speak French to you. I will now help you score points with her. Here's what you say:
"Bonjour, je voudrais un très grand verre de vin blanc, rösti avec du jambon et du fromage et une raclette. J'aime Arolla, veux-tu m'épouser s'il te plaît."

Small cautionary note. I believe her boyfriend is a swiss mountain guide. Be fleet of foot my friend.

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The reason for not taking hospital air... You can call bullshit, it's OK.

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Tomba was recovering from some knee work so no ski touring this trip ( we did have a nice tour here last year). But hey, at least I get a great afternoon nap time with my buddy.

OK, after a spirited crazy work session I return with the next installment. We leave Arolla full of happy ski stoke and ready for a taste of Italy. I'm so very happy to be hanging with Tomba again (oh and also Vivian, Charlotte and Olly) and visiting Italy once again. I absolutely love Italy because they love food. It doesn't hurt that it's also a painfully beautiful place of the planet. Though Cinque Terra had never been a place I had thought of much, Vivian and Charlotte had insisted that it was worth seeing, and photos I'd seen of the place suggested the same.

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Tomba approves of the accommodations. Villa Bardi is amazing. Agro-tourism, it's a thing. A good thing

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The view from the gorgeous patio/deck.

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We go for a walk. It's a bit blustery, but we have the village to ourselves. And there's PALM TREES! Wow, we are in the tropics (says the Canadian lad). I get excited when I see palm trees, I don't see them much, sorry eh.

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Tomba reviews the grounds of the Villa. The scent of chicken is strong. "Human, I am ready to feast on poultry. May I proceed?" He inquires.

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Vivian and Tomba inspect the new bridge. It replaced the old bridge in the 1700's. I love Europe. Oh, and arches.

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The next day we set out for some hiking in the hills. And eating.

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Our first view of some spectacular scenery.

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But first we must eat and drink. We're in Italy for christ's sake.

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Me with wine, bread and several varieties of anchovies. I ordered another plate. Oh, praise Allah they were good.

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The up starts.

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Tomba investigates an older house. When I see a place like this I can't help thinking what life must have been like for the folks who lived here. No roads. Hiking to get food, water, wine. But man the views. Still, couldn't have been easy back in the day.

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Vivian and Charlotte frame the destination.

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My first wine vine study.

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The down starts.

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Tomba is pleased.

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Some bouldering on the narrowest little rock stairs I have had the pleasure of viewing.

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I believe I may have a thing for narrow little rock stairs.

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And, narrow little streets too.

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But enough of this drivel. It is Eatily. More food pictures!!

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After the hiking, it was time for the seafood plate. More anchovies, tuna, squid, octopus. Heavenly.

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So we also ordered the fried seafood plate as well.

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Washed down with some local spirits. The perfect Cinque Terra day.

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Is capped off with an amazing sunset.

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Tomba is getting a bit on (he's 10), and he recently had knee surgery so following a pretty solid hiking day we both decided that a mellow Gary/Tomba day was in order. Flat ground village walking, some swimming in the ocean and the nearby river, some wine and fine food (OK no wine for Tomba, but no limits for his human) were on the agenda for my buddy and I.

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Tomba insisted I take this photo. I think he's quite stunning in this pose.

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No decent doggie outing is complete without finding a buddy! Even though the big guy was feeling the day before he still went out for a little beach frolic with this little guy. And Tomba even treated me to his patented "humping motion long after the dismount" move that has made many a young maiden blush. Thank you Tomba, I am truly in love with this dog and his antics.

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But all this swimming and humping deserves a break so wine and Trofie is consumed. My first time trying Trofie, bloody amazing really. A lovey tomato basil pesto dish with fresh parm... oh yes.

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More food. Olly and Charlotte are also happy, though they did suggest that our call (Tomba and I that is) to hang in the village was a very good one on this day. Apparently the crowds on the trails they had picked were atrocious. Tomba is a smart dog.

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I am pleased with the largest amount of fresh truffles I have ever consumed. Placed lovingly on a wonderfully cooked steak and a positively divine bottle of wine.

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When I suggested that the life here must have been hard, I believe that this photo (of a photo) pretty much illustrates that fact. A strong and swarthy people those Residenti di Cinque Terre.

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Tomba also was quite impressed with Italy, Cinque Terra and in particular the Villa Bardi. For here, only for the pleasure of canine guests, is a wonderful benefit.

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Built in, porcelain doggie water bowls. Sweet!

Great write up and pics. Thanks.


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Hochfugen, Rattenberg, Hintertux

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Impressed right of the gate with Hochfugen. We park our car in a multilevel parkade, change into ski gear on completely dry concrete, walk 3 perhaps 4 minutes tops. And we’re buying lift tickets and getting on a gondi. Yes, Hochfugen I like your style.


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A good number of our party wanted to ski groomers, so I obliged for 2 runs (OK 1.5) and then bid the crew adieu and went off on my own, well for most of the day anyway. I did this one and then convinced Vivian to come down it as well. No one else did the run all day. Me twice, Viv, once. That was the traffic on it. Yes, Hochfugen yes.

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I found this little jewel mid afternoon and did about 8 laps on in. Left Middle gut, and the avi fence line were all mine, all afternoon.

The next day was a tourist day off to Rattenberg we went.

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We spent some of the day wandering around glass shops, watching some glass blowing, admiring some pretty impressive glass art. I bought some shooter glasses from an etching shop and watched some glasses get quite nicely etched. Rattenberg is not only a famous glass artisan mecca, but it also boasts (well perhaps that’s over-stating their enthusiasm a bit) that it’s Austria’s smallest town. Which begs the question – wouldn’t Austria’s smallest town be uninhabited? Hmmm. Or if there was a certain population that distinguishes a village from a town (say 500..), wouldn’t there be a bunch of ties??
These are the things that keep me up all night.

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While the rest of the crew continued perusing the glassware, I headed off on a little solo jaunt. Always been a museum aficionado, so I took off to check a little hole in the wall museum for a coupla euros. No idea what I was to see there. What I got was a most amazing little museum documenting the cutting, sliding down the hill on sled packed with lumber, getting to the river, floating them down rapids, hand logging show.
These crazy cats loaded up huge sleds (like the kind you drive with the handles) with 2 or 3 big ass trees. Gotta be thousands of pounds. Then they pilot the sleds (think big ass runners) down steep ass terrain. Saw video of this from, I don’t know a hundred years ago. Absolutely all by hand (perhaps some horse, though I do not remember seeing any equestrian help). They were some tough hombres. The museum also had some remarkable bronze age shit.

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Anyway, it was then off to the Castle. Rattenberg castle was the Bavarian duchy’s’ most important fortification in the Lower Inn Valley. (Plagiarised from Google BTW). We spent a goodly portion of time roaming around and admiring the view. The also put on theatre here in the middle of the grounds. Would be a very cool place to see a play indeed.

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I love archways, absolutely dig them. This one was a good one for me. A quad, yep four of those little puppies lined up for my happiness alone.

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After a day off I was itching to get some more skiing in. Hochfugen was an awesome hill (thank mags for the recommendation), and I'd heard also from mags that Hintertux was great on a sunny day (lots of alpine). Very true, but also true that the place has shit tons of pretty advanced terrain that doesn't seem to get hammered by skiers. In fact don't let the Euros fool you, it really is not that busy all the time. OK perhaps I have horseshoes up my ass.

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Vivian (above) and I sessioned one area at least 7 runs. The light was great, the snow was amazing and it was reasonably steep. And no one, I mean no fucking one else was skiing this area. Weird.

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My last ski hill meal of the trip. Fried potatoes, lovely sausage, beer. Fuel of the Kaiser I bet.

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Do I lie about the no people? I do not. Vivian enjoys a home run, the gondi that I took a picture through is below us.

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Ended the amazing Hintertux day with a wonderful traditional meal prepared by Olllie's dad. And many schnapps. Vivian and I will be back. Doesn't hurt that mrsgaryfromterrace's inlaws have a place 20 minutes from Hochfugen and 40 from Hintertux.

A trip and a life well wrought, G.

Bravo I say, bravo.

Thanks for sharing G. Looks like a great trip.

And once again congrats.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Buster Highmen

A trip and a life well wrought, G.

Bravo I say, bravo.

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Thank you Mr Highman!! Hope to do more of both (tripping and wroughting) :fm:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PNWbrit

Thanks for sharing G. Looks like a great trip.

And once again congrats.

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Cheers Brit! And thanks buddy. Only took 79 tries to find the right one :eek:

A mere 3 months after the initial installment I can wrap this baby up.

The last coupla days were spent in Munich. The weather was perfect and the company better. Upon arrival it was beer garden time. Then a great time attending Ollie's B day party with a bunch of Ollie and Charlotte's (our Munich hosts) friends. A truly global lot those kids. Turkey, Austria, England, Germany, US including a handful of Canucks from all over our land.

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The giant ceiling mirror made for an interesting angle.

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I've mentioned that I've a thing for arches previously, however I must come clean that I also have a crush on columns. This was I nice one I thought.

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Gargoyles are cool.

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So while Vivian flies home and the kids go to work I head out Museuming. My first stop is the Museum of Egyptian art and this sculpture - Present Continuous. Created by the Dutch artist Henk Visch (in 1950). I immediately think of vomiting up beer and clamato off the Burfield double chair circa 1993. It probably freaked out the riders on the chairs behind us (all day) but I digress. I think about the deeper meaning. Does it connect man to earth via the blood that courses through most life on planet Earth? Is it symbolic of a man overloading mentally and spewing the excess in an infinite stream? I do know this - the nicknames that locals have nicknamed the sculpture include: Barfi, Ass, and Head Shot. Still, I like.

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Following a good dose of Egypt, I headed to a medieval armour and weapon display. I've always admired a good suit of armour and some deadly ancient weapons and this place delivered. The Bayerisches Nationalmuseum was well worth the price of admission (which may have been free because it was Tuesday or something... Anyway, off to be awed.

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If you didn't know this - chain mail is really really heavy.

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I was floored when I discovered this. A speed skiing helmut from the 1500's. Little did I know the ancients were into KL! But more surprises were to come...

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A damn catchers face mask. Circa 1600 (I think), but anyway it totally blows the American's claim of inventing baseball! Ha, yanks. It was obviously invented in Bavaria in the 1600's.

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This shot also includes the instruction manual for the weapon. Lovingly carved in some rare wood (perhaps) is an ancient carving of the "spearie eye poke". A go to move I would suggest for most knights.

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The swords were primo. Would have liked to swing one round a little. I fenced for a short time and would like to feel how balanced these blades were.

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The crossbow would have been a pretty imposing weapon to pretty much um, anyone, back in the day.

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These models of the solar system from the 1,700's (guessing) were very impressive. So impressive in fact, that I felt like an absolute dumb ass. So here was a working model that's fairly accurate (making this up) and that there is not a snowball's chance that me, a human living in the age of technology, could make one of these from scratch. Not a fucking chance.

Hats off forefathers.

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Old maps are another of my many loves. This was a spectacular specimen. It's fun living in places that are blank on the map. I probably spent 20 minutes looking at this puppy.

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On the way home I scoped out this comfy looking chair. For about $5k CAD. hmmm

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This is the second time I've caught a good surf session. I'd like to try this sometime. Hope I have the balls for it when the time comes.

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The big guy had a nice sleep with me and in the morning as I was packing I glanced over and Tomba was pretty sad. Me too

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It was rather fitting that my last meal, and breakfast no less, was weisswurst, weisbeir, and a pretzel. All trips that I've done to Europe have been an absolute blast. It's never let me down for skiing, boarding, backcountry, eating, socializing, culture, diverse geography, weather, reacquainting with old friends. Sometimes though it's been only 8 out of 10 that were off the charts good. I would suggest that the sum of this trip and it's diverse locales made it a solid 10/10.

Anyway, go to Europe sometime eh.

Excellent stuff, Gary!