Graptolite - Alpine New Year
Graptolite's Sailing Log
Martyn Pickup & Heike Richter
Sun 3 Jan 2010 22:29
3rd January. The skipper is in Betzdorf, Germany
Friends Alison and Johnny turned up at the Mission chalet in the early hours
of New Years Eve morning. On New Years Eve day the four of us went up the
cable car from the village of Grimentz. Johnny had a ski and the rest of us
trudged around in the snow for a while until it was time for lots of vin
chaud (it's a French-speaking valley). After dark we watched a torch-light
ski parade down to the village and firework display. All very nice. Then it
was back to the chalet for raclet and cheese fondues. Hosts John and Linda
managed to arrive before it was all gone. We all celebrated New Year on the
chalet balcony with "Auld Lang Syne" from the Red Hot Chilli Pipers and then
Thai paper lanterns were launched into a moonlit but windless night sky.
Afterwards, chalet neighbours from Zurich invited us round for even more
drinks at their ice-bar in their garden.
On New Years Day we had some proper skiing instruction from Linda and John
on the baby slopes of Grimentz. The day after that, we had too much pain in
the legs and feet for ski-boots so we spent the day downhill racing on
toboggans at Chandolin. Sledging to a mountain hut at Illhorn for a lunch of
rosti was pretty good, I thought.
Today, Sunday, it was back to Germany through the Kandersteg tunnel. It will
be a while before I can face any cheese.
M