Boy from the swiss alps

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I ski to work. I ski for work. I ski in my breaks and after work, before skiing home... my life as a ski instructor is somewhat one-dimensional.

Surrounded by some of the giant peaks of the European Alps, the slopes around Grindelwald village provide great skiing with almost unmatched scenery. From the Eiger northface, one has an almost uninterrupted 360 panorama of mountains, broken only by the opportunity to look down on the sea of fog that the majority of the population lives in during the winter while the sun shines above. Two things strike me in this place. One is the size of the ski area. There is just so much terrain to ski; hundreds of kilometers of piste!

Beyond skiing, life in the valley is relatively laid back. There is not a lot to do but hang out with friends and enjoy life in this winter wonderland... and with a maximum of 5 hours work a day, there is plenty of time remaining to enjoy. With occasional live music and a familiar crowd in town (everyone knows everyone in a small village), there are fun nights out. Otherwise we make the fun ourselves; jam nights with guitars, games of cards, or a group of keen and hardy souls with shovels, building a ‘kicker’ to practice aerial snowsports in the backyard…

My skiing has improved out of sight in the last month. I have gone from a competent novice to a terrible professional in quick time. From skiing like a young giraffe, to skiing like a very confident giraffe... What I once would have steered clear of, I now make full use of to crash spectacularly…

It has been snowing now for two nights and a day and is forecast to get heavier, so the whole village is getting restless and starting to lick their lips… So my current life plan seems appropriate; ‘see what tomorrow brings’…

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Photos

Off piste fun...
Photo by: Daniel Snowski

Chrigu
the lovable flatmate... just after we wiped each other out in a powder collision