Laure and Quarup

As the current ski season draws to a close, I should recap the ski touring that we did on the previous season. Since Laure was pregnant, we took things relatively laid back for the most part.

Oberiberg night tour with Stephen

It seemed kind of crazy but cool to go ski touring at night.

Stephen turned out to be a super cool guy that was starting to do Ski Mountaineering races. He had a bunch of super light ski gear that he could put on or take off in a matter of seconds. Since the avalanche danger was basically zero (we were practicing on the resort piste), Stephen and I split up and he did three laps during the time that I did two.

The 472 m elevation gain over 7.5 km was enough to warm up our legs at Oberiberg.

During the couple hours we were out, we came across a few other skiers. It felt like we were part of some cool club. On the other hand, I had this crazy fear that a Snow Cat would pop out of nowhere and run me over without noticing my headlamp.

Furgellen hut with Laure and Ralf

Last season, Ralf finally agreed to go on a tour with me and Laure despite the fact that we're splitboarders. We went up to cute little place called Furgellen hut located somewhere within an hour drive.

I love seeing ski touring and snowshoeing signs in Switzerland. The sports are so approachable here compared to back in the States.

The tour was nice and mellow, which was a nice way for Laure to warm up her legs for the season while baking a bun in the oven.

Taking it easy.

The hut is a short 431 m climb from the trailhead.

As luck would have it, the ridge was pretty windy. So instead of summiting the peak, we decided to hang out at the hut and slurp down some hot soup while our jackets dried. At the hut, we saw many other skiers, some of whom were probably in their 60s. I love how ski touring is a national sport in Switzerland for all sexes and ages.

Here comes Laure carrying our little one.

Don't forget Ralf!

We climbed 431 m over 6.6 km to the Furgellen hut.

Schafberg attempt with Laure

Laure and I attempted to climb a peak named Schafberg. Unfortunately most of the tour was under the clouds, which was cold and somewhat depressing. Since we started late and were running short on time, we decided to turn around early to ensure that we could make our way back without risking losing sunlight. We came to a mere 124 vertical meters and 1 km away from the hut, so it was a difficult decision to turn around. Times like these test our rationality and commitment to safety.

Laure's huge smile when we cleared the clouds.

Finally above the clouds.

Stotzigen Firsten attempt with Luc, Mark, and Eleanor

Next day, I met up with other ski tourers to attempt climbing Stotzigen Firsten -- spoiler alert: we failed. I had known Luc through work and I had gone ski touring with Mark and Eleaner in a guided tour during the previous season. Laure decided to take the day off from skiing that day.

Eleanor had previously done this route and led us most of the way.

We were climbing some badly wind scoured stuff. The other side of the valley looked better.

We stopped at a hut shelter for a quick lunch as the clouds started kicking in.

From the hut shelter, it seemed that all the ski tracks above us had been hammered flat by the wind. We were uncertain about continuing the route on a very solid snowpack without any visual cues of previous skiers. We also saw an alternative route that had been protected from the wind south of the ridge. But it was on a roughly 28 degree bowl without any previous tracks, which seemed borderline risky for avalanches. A few of us (myself included) felt unsure about proceeding, so we all agreed to turn around and enjoy the snow below us.

In hindsight, we would have probably been okay to climb the original route with ski crampons, but it would have been purely just to summit. The snow on the ridge was likely scoured all the way to the summit with terrible snow for skiing.

Eleanor near the point where we turned around. The clouds kept shifting in and out with the wind.

Arrrgh!

We actually got some great low angled snow as consolation prize.

We climbed 957 m over 12.3 km towards Stotzigen Firsten.

Hokkaido, Japan

Becky in Hokkaido.

I wrote a separate blog post of my ski touring in Japan.

Blüemberg with Fernando

My last tour last season was climbing Blüemberg with my friend Fernando, who was visiting from the States.

We start by taking a public "bus" to the gondola.

The tiny gondola looked like something preserved from the mining days of the nearby village.

Lidernenhütte is a popular hut located near the top of the gondola.

From the top of the gondola, we made a short ascent to a nearby peak named Blüemberg. The sun was out and the sky was clear, which was great weather for touring. Fernando was still getting over his jet lag, so he was hurting a little.

The last few meters to the peak are steep and require some scrambling with a steel cable.

We descended the north face of Blüemberg, which was surprisingly tracked out. It's funny how you can sometimes find more ski tracks in the backcountry than at resorts in Switzerland.

The snowpack was very stable, which was great for us to descend a slope that usually has a non-trivial danger of avalanches. On the other hand, the snow was tracked out and heavy, which was not the best for skiing. I guess you can't have it all.

The snow thinned out at lower elevations and we hiked the rest of the way.

We climbed 786 meters to Blüemberg and descended 1,742 meters on its north face covering 14.2 km.

With a "bun in the oven" and snow arriving later in the alps than usual, our 2014-15 winter ski season was relatively weak. We hit the resort ski slopes only a few times (of course after getting my doctor's blessing) before the baby bump made its appearance.

Ursern Valley Nordic Trails

Since the winter ski season arrived later than usual this season, we weren't able to go skiing until January. Thankfully a friend invited us to join her on a cross country ski trip in December. Neither of us had tried the sport and figured it was a great opportunity to try out something new. We decided to dedicate one day to each of the two styles: the classic style on Saturday and the more athletic "skating" style on Sunday. A local shop arranged our rentals and a private morning lesson on the basics of the skating technic. We stuck close to the rental apartment in Realp in the Ursern Valley because we were newbies and didn't have the stamina to travel a large distance. Nonetheless, it was fun weekend trying something new.

And in classic Swiss style, there were plenty of well marked cross-country routes to explore.

Cross country skiing with Swiss friends.

One afternoon of cross-country skiing with the classic technique...

...and one day of cross-country skiing with the skating technic.

I hate to toot my own horn but I must. This was the first time that I was naturally better than Q at something.

Sleeping on the train on the way home after an active weekend never gets old.

Hoch-Ybrig

A last minute ski itch took us to Hoch-Ybrig. We rented a car around the corner from where we live and within an hour we were in a parking lot full of other skiers with the same itch. The conditions were great with fresh powder, sunshine, and enough terrain for everyone to spread out. And Europe did not let down with a delicious lunch in a hut in the middle of a piste.

Nothing like a fresh layer of snow to make driving through Switzerland more beautiful than it already is.

Wide pistes and pockets of powder.

Way less crowded than we feared.

Today's lunch special... ...a sausage reclining in a hot tub of soup.

Haslital in Berner Oberland

Our last ski trip of the season was a quintessential Swiss ski trip. We joined friends on their annual ski trip for an overnight stay in a rustic Swiss hut in the Berner Oberland smack in the middle of a ski resort!

One person guy organized the whole weekend, reserving the hut and doing all the grocery shopping for the group of 14 people. Everyone pitched in by transporting groceries from the resort parking lot up to the hut by the resort's gondola. Since everyone had a backpack with their overnight gear, ski clothing and a sleeping bag, it was easy to top off everyone's backpacks with communal food.

The accommodations were rustic, yet charming with a ski room, kitchen, dinning room and bathroom on the ground floor and two large sleeping rooms above - plenty of room for the 14 of us to comfortably spread out. There wasn't a flat screen TVs with satellite cable - heck, there wasn't even hot water. We had a good time the old fashion way - chatting over communal meals and passing the evening with card games.

The weekend ski conditions were great. The resort is a bit off the beaten path and was not too crowded. Best of all, it snowed Saturday night and there was a fresh layer of snow waiting for us in the morning.

Waking up the fresh snow in the middle of the resort was awesome. The only downside was needing to clean the hut for the next group before hitting the slopes. It was a lot of cleaning for a single night stay. I think a two night stay would be more ideal.

The view of the slopes from the cabin window. And yes, that is a ski lift just a stone throw away.

Classic Swiss dinner in a classic Swiss mountain hut.

Brought the food up with the gondola and bringing the remain food down in my backpack.

Mandatory group photo in front of the hut.

I never feel fully settled in a place until about a week before I decide it's time to move - it's one of the ironies of my life. But with no plans to move in the near future, I thought it would be nice to share our place at its current state even though we're not fully settled in. There are a few finishing touches I still need to add but here is our Swiss home at the moment.

We donated many of our books before leaving the States and bought some for local living and traveling.

It has been a year and a half since we moved into our current apartment. Even after the arrival of our shipping crate from San Francisco, it took a while to make our apartment feel like a home. We gave away many of our possessions before leaving the US and needed to purchase a few replacements. There were larger essential items (like a sofa, a dresser and a dining table) that would have been expensive to move overseas and other items were small basics (like flatware and dishes) that were easy to replace in Switzerland. We got as much as we could from second hand stores before heading to shops like IKEA. The main excuse for taking nearly a year to get our apartment set up was our preference to travel rather than furniture shop - which is why we came to Europe anyways.

Ninety-five days later, we were reunited with our belonging from San Francisco.

All of our worldly processions arrived, 97% of them arrived in their original condition.

We chose to settle in Zürich's 2nd quarter, Enge. It's not the most happening part of town but it is right along the lake, next to the city center and well connected by public transit. Catching a train to the mountains is now more convenient and faster than finding our car when we lived on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco. What turned out the be the absolute best attribute of our apartment's location is the local grocery store. It is open late seven days a week (even on holidays) and it is a stone's throw away!

Zurich's quarters

Our current apartment is 1.5 times the size of our previous apartment. Compared to apartments in our prior neighborhood, this place is a steal. Not only is our apartment larger but the place is actually well taken care of. No more rotting floorboards, holes in the walls, mismatching baseboards, or appliances from another century. Unlike in SF, landlords in Zürich normally must make improvements on their rental property in order to raise the rent. Many of the apartments we viewed had remodeled kitchens, bathrooms, or a new balcony. It's frightening to look back and realize that our old SF apartment was going on the market for nearly a thousand dollars a month more then what we were paying; our previous landlord had no intention to renovate or repair anything.

A little part of me does miss the corky charms of living in building over 100 years old - tilted floors and all. Our current place was probably constructed around WWII. I also miss living in a small cozy apartment. Having always lived in small spaces, I find our current place a little too big for me.

Welcome to our new home.

Separate living room - a common find in older apartments we viewed.

Having a balcony was a must for us.

The sleekest bathroom I have had in a rental unit.

My favorite part about the apartment is the in-unit washer and dryer. The majority of my life I've gone without one or both. No more laundromats, crunchy air dried towels or hoarding quarters for us. I didn't think having my own stacking unit in the kitchen would be amazing but it really has been.

Actually, having one's own washer and dryer units wasn't the norm for many of the apartments we viewed. Many buildings offered a shared machine for all the tenants to either use on a first come / first serve basis or by assigned days and times.

Okay, so I don't fully know how to use it since the instructions are in German but I know the basics and love it!

Another new concept for me is having a spare bedroom. We now can offer overnight guests an actual room of their own. The room also doubles as a small office.

Basic guest accommodations - comfy bed in a private room.

Corner home office with just the basics.

A strange thing we noticed about apartment hunting in Zurich was the lack of built-in closets. It turns out that the Swiss buy wall wardrobes. Unfortunately, decent looking wall wardrobes do not come cheap and are a pain to move from apartment to apartment.

Prior to moving overseas, we had been slowly working on reducing the amount of stuff we own but this last move encouraged a huge binge. Since our purge, we have made a conscious effort to keep our place fairly minimalistic. I was thrilled that we didn't need to buy much storage furniture. We fit all of our clothes and linens into one shared dresser and in the hall closet. Worrying about less furniture will make our next move a tad bit easier.

Simple bedroom

Just acquired the basics to keep us flexible.

Another lifestyle habit we brought over with us from SF is my obsession with reducing waste - thanks to Bay Area bloggers like My Plastic Free Life and Zero Waste Home. Unlike in the US, large garbage cans in Zurich aren't picked up from driveways weekly for a flat rate. We purchase specific trash bags that are charged by the liter. Once the bag is filled, we need to drop them off around the corner at a collection bin.  I absolutely love this system since it encourages people to produce less waste and to recycle. I wish SF had a program like this.

One of these per month - not too bad but there's plenty of room for improvement.

A few of my reusable sacks that help me cut back on our trash. I've impressed several shop clerks and framer's market venders with my eco sacks.

I once read that an expat's kitchen is the last place to adapt to a new country. This definitely holds true in our kitchen. Once you get past the restored Swiss restaurant table and Swiss sleek cabinets, the inside of the cupboards look like one from an American kitchen. Every trip to the US is a chance to restock my favorite chocolate chips, granola, and other favorite consumables. I'm also guilty of requesting visitors to bring along some American goodies. I never knew there would be a day that US consumables would be the best gift ever.

Simple and efficient Swiss kitchen.

A few of my American comforts.