St. Moritz ski update

One of our condominium owners is in St. Moritz on a ski trip (lucky duck) and gave us a ski update from Switzerland......Mark Ulmschneider...... The scenery here is even more dramatic than Vail. I think part of it that your are really closer to the mountains. Also the lift system is more diversified. For example the ride up one day consisted to two cog rail ways, one gondola and one chair lift. The snow is nice like Vail. Reasonably light weight although it does not seem as dry. The grooming is a little bizarre. You really appreciate in Vail what a good job the grooming crew does. Here they have trails marked with poles on each side. It is very important to stay within the poles. Because even if it is a wide open field the groomers do not level out the area between. As a result there is about a 1 and 1/2 to 2 foot wall made of snow on each side of the trail. One of the members of our group was knocked out of commission with an Achilles/calf injury from such a short stop. The chair lifts have a really interesting feature. Some of the chairs hold 6 people, but even the quads all have starting gates. You line up like a bunch of horses at the Kentucky derby and wait for the gates to open and you are off to the races. Six people move up to get on a chair. If you move too slowly, the gate slams shut and breaks your knee caps. I think this leads to a certain discipline. In spite of the high tech features, they seem to not understand the purpose of drawing a line to indicate where everyone is supposed to stop in order to prepare to load. I think maybe they spent a lot of money to get the whole thing backwards but still really impressive. I fell on day one and again on day four. Day one I torcked my wrist. On day four I landed flat on my back. Fortunately I was skiing with a doctor. Unfortunately he was a retired oncologist. While I never have had the need for an oncologist, I have newfound respect. After landing on my back, I encouraged them to ski down and circle around and give me maybe 20 minutes to catch my breath. While laying there I stretched out on the snow in order to ice the painful area. When the doctor returned he explained that I was doing it all wrong. See every time I hurt myself, if I decide to ice it the doctor says no heat. If I use heat the doctor says no ice it. Seem like if you torck (sp) your wrist you want to ice it to prevent swelling. If you have spasm you use heat. Since I know of no rule that the Antlers blog forbids educational content, I thought I would throw that in. Today we walked down the St. Moritz bobsled run. It is absolutely unbelievable. There are many overpasses. It is built of solid ice. What I didn't appreciate was that it ran parallel to the road and you would be able to see the sled just as you are driving down the road. We walked down to the horse shoe turn. It contains all of the advertising signs. What I didn't appreciate was that opposite the turn on the other side of the road was a bar where patrons could watch these Kamikaze drivers descend. Great experience. While Vail is clearly superior, the food, drink, scenery, and the experience makes it a great experience. Your reporter on the scene in St. Moritz.

But the Exchange Rate....Water at the top of the mountain costs $5.5. A plate of spaghetti at the top was $18. Alcohol is about the same out in a restaurant but cheaper if you buy it in a grocery and bring it back to the room. Souvenirs are really high. I bought a turtle fur headband with St Moritz on it for $29.

Mark U.