V and Z....days 2 and 3 of 07-08

Last weekend ended with me coming home from Germany on Turkey day...lucky enough I had Friday off to sort some things out. I dropped KK off at the office and then headed to get my winter tires on, food shop, get some poles, and just chill on Friday. That night we adventured to the new outlets and hooked up with some gear. KK and I now have a one-in-one out policy, so we came home and had to put a bag together for donation. We hooked up with some cool gear and I got a nice new jacket from Marc Ecko Cut and Sewn.
Saturday rolled around and it was off to ski. We were meeting J and Verbier for a little piste riding. The weather was very cloudy at the bottome, but turned out to be a great day...here is the evidence..the crew:

First lift:

KK:


J:


Views:


The day eneded with a beer with some another friend PeterK and a decision to stay in the Valais and ski Saturday....this was the adventure.
As KK and I left Verbier we formulated a plan to check out Orvonnaz. After a quick stop to get some local wine at the "caves" in the Valais we headed up the 29 switch-bakc road up to village. This was not very successful. Most of the hotels were closed and the hot springs were packed. After a few minutes we decided we would head back down and check out Sion. We got to Sion, which is a very cute town, but for some reason we couldn't find a hotel even somewhat close to downtown...these Swiss ;-)Strike two...so with a few options left I knew Crans Montana would have hotels...maybe ;-) We arrived in the town and I used my best French to find two of the open hotels in town. I guess it us just early season and everything is still closed. We stopped at the open hotel and they were full....except on HUGE apartment. Sick of driving we decided..screw it. This place was huge..and I mean huge. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitched, backyard, living room....but most important it was some where to sleep. So after a nap that last a little too long we found the town was closed except the Chinese restauarant literally in the same building. Chinese in CH it was:

Overall the hotel was fine and in the am we decided to head to Zinal. This place is not very well know and I hope it satys that way! The day was great and so was the snow and views:






G:

The day ended with a walk through town collecting brochure of the cute hotels and thinking on how great this place will be in January....tops on my new list ;-) Last but not least....KK heard there was going to be Finnish...yes like in Finland...X-Mas singing at a Lutheran church in the Old Town. So after arriving back from Z we checked it out...and yes it was in Finnish.

It was cool through...crazy kids, crazy Fins, and a nice vibe. We returned home not ready to go back to work on Monday but feeling blessed for the great life we share together. As always more to come this week. L, G

Rerun...Engelberg!

Someone bumped this thread on TGR today saying it was one of the best trip reports of last season and I agree...the pics are some of the best!
CLICK HERE

and it continues...CH rocks!

So this is a quick post because the man is keeping me down and sending me back to DE, but this past week was a blast. It started with Paul as a guest of casa G+K. Paul is in transition from one flat to another so he needed somewhere to chill for 3 days at the beginning of the week. It was cool having him as a guest, very easy and chill. Friday rolled around and Al was goin to be in town to pick up a friend at the airport, so he stayed with us. We went out Friday night with Pedro to an Ethiopian place off Rue Du Lausanne..very cool. Saturday came and we headed to the airport to drop off Al and the arrival of Ripz back from the States. He was ready to go skiing so we headed back to his place to get some gear. After a great breakfast by Jen (thanks for the wonderful homemade biscuits) we headed to Leysin. Over the past week it snowed almost 3 feet in some places on the hill so the conditions were killer. Here are the pics!
Jay getting ready and recouping from the jetlag:

First laps:



Al:

Jay:

J and K:


Moi:

Views:

We ended the day with a beer and headed back to the flat....not before Jen hooked us up with some homemade dip (thanks again!)
Sunday we got up early and went for a run. After the run we headed to LaClusaz for a little lunch and shopping...along the way took some cool pics:


Overall a great weekend in CH. I feel the best I have in a long time....and loving it. Much love to the family and friends...I look forward to skiing with you in Leysin this X-mas. -G

Winter has arrived....

So after the arrival of KK the snow also arrived! She must be good luck because the season looks to be off to a good start (knock on wood, cross finger, etc) Austria had been getting hammered over the past 3 weeks with 2 storms dumping over 4 meters in some places. Luckily this week the snow from Austria pushed down into CH and FR. As the weather report looked like it would be very windy and snowy in the mtns (meaning no vis)we decided to chill in Geneva this weekend.
Friday KK and I went to Universal Cafe and had a nice dinner and then met up with some friends in the old town. The next morning we met up with Paul and did a little training for the Escalade. We ran about 8+KM and then headed to the marche for a little B-fast. After some errands (I did a good job with the French) we decided it would be a good day to go to Chamonix to look for some new boots especially for KK.
As we headed up the A40 to Cham the weather was looking ripe for snow...cold, rainy, dark. As we headed up the access road towards the town the rain drops turned to SNOW!! Wooohooo! Nothing hard but the first sighting this year (if you don't count our sick storm in September..see previous posts) Before I left I used the mag-nation to find the best places to get boots in Cham. Footworks came highly reccomended so we head the the Midi tram and found the promise-land of boot fitting
We arrived at Footworks and met Seb. He told us that he had time (lucky because this place is appointment only in the winter) So with my boots being only few years old I thought it was time to hook up KK. Seb told us that it would take about 2 hours for the proper fitting and it did....step one..find the right boot:

...with little munchkin having such tiny feet it was the Dalbello that was the boot of choice. I was stoked because I knew how sick of a boot this was. Now the footbeds:

Everything is custom at Footworks even the liners that were heat molded. About 2 hours later the finished super-KK-customer-pro-model! (and yes I am very, very, jealous):

After the fitting we did a little walking around town...it was still snowing and it is just unbelievable that we live 45 minutes from this place: (and yes these are NOT photoshopped..real color):


We got home at around 7ish and decided for a chill night in. Had a little wine and food, played Cribbage, and had a nice night.
Sunday rolled around and we decided that we would invite the boys over for some brunch. The PM before we decided that quiche was on the menu. After waking up at around 8ish I headed into the kitchen for some masterful chef action. I have to admit this was not the best effort but above average. Brunch consisted of homemade individual leek quiches, petite salad with blue cheese and tomatoes, salami, homemade paprika potatoes, cafe, Momosas, and toast. Paul, Diana, and Pedro showed up ontime, thanks Pedro, and we enjoyed a nice brunch with friends. I forgot to get the camera out but here is the prep:


After brunch our plans were still TBD but after some discussion we headed up the Jura. I thought we may take a little hike/slide/something in the fresh snow that had landed over the past 2 days. I also took my skis just incase there was a little jibbing to be had. It was very foggy in town so we could not see what was going on with the weather on the Jura. Once we arrived it was extremely foggy and very wet snow. Considering there was no vis and pretty windy it was time to go jibbing. I found a little rock and enough space to get some speed. After 5 minutes of prep it was on....getting ready:

Stretching;


First attempt:


...not bad..I was having a tough time getting speed but I did about 7 runs in...this is one of the better ones:



..camera girl:

It was a chill afternoon activity. We jetted back into town, hooked up with some cookie ingidents, and are now baking. Another great weekend in CH of just goofing off. I look forward to the snow and more memories with KK this "hiver". G

The arrival.......

So it has been a few weeks since the last post but there was good reason...KK was finally arriving in CH. Saturday rolled around after a chill Friday night of light cleaning and sorting. After 11 hours of travelling her plane dropped her off at the wonderful GVA..luggage and all:

After a 15 minute ride back to the flat we dropped the bags and hooked up with Pedro and Diana for a welcome cocktail. Feeling a little tired we departed at around 12 and tried to sleep...OK I slept and KK was up and down all night. Sunday was a down day of just relaxing and KK getting acclimated to the time.
It was back to work for me on Monday and Tuesday so KK did the Carouge thing and just settled in. Wednesday I took the day off so we could get the flat a little more suited for 2 people. Bought some tables, accents, etc and relaxed in CH...and it was the 31st so it was pumpkin time:...scrap:

Cut:

Give beer:

Rock out!

Thursday KK went to orientation and her first day in the office. I heard it was a blast ;-) ...luckily the weekend was just around the corner. Friday night a small caravan was dropped in my living room...KK's gear arrived. After a little shock and a beer we unpacked....actually everything fits, with a little help from the new storage unit, and we are 90% of the way there....and of course there is always room for one more set of skis..the new planks!:

After the sorting we got some sushi and had a nice night in Geneve.
Saturday morning turned out to be nice weather wise so we headed for a little run 6KM and then to the Marche for a little B-fast. As always there was something cool happening in Carouge...a sheep festival...BAAHHHHH!

The sheep were cool, but we decided we would head for a day in Lausanne:


After some walking and little lunch at the Blue Lizard (cool bar) we headed back to Geneva because we were meeting Pedro, Paul, and T for some fondue and a few drinks:


don;t ask me...good impersonation:

After our pot of cheese we headed to an event put on my Artesens with music and art. It was pretty cool for Geneva and had a good time with the crew:



After few beers we headed back to the crib and got ready for a nice chill Sunday....which turned out to be great. After lugging some gear to storage we headed to the Jura for a little hike and lunch...as always a great view lunch:



We started at the Col De La Faucille and headed out towards La Dole to an area called the Turet. We were a little navigationally challenged but got to this place after an hour or so:





Sunday ended with a nice dinner and a smile that we both know this it just the first of many. -GG