i'm only about 2km from the leysin turnoff, the rain went to sleet to heavy snow in all of about 10 seconds. my traction control warning light starts to flutter and continues to get worse as i approach the turnoff. behind me is a stream of angry and impatient swiss drivers. either i am going to have to chain up or hitchhike the rest of the way up. i park at one of the rare free parking spots in switzerland, hop out eagerly and as i start to rummage thru the trunk for the chains i realize this is going to be impossible with my hand in its condition (see avatar pic for details). so i gear up and stick my thumb out. no one came by for about 10 min and by then i was frosted with white. i didnt think anyone would want to pick up a 6'4" 220lb wet frosted freak with an equally large and freakish snowboard (my trusty 178 swallowtail), but someone did. bernard ranger, socialist candidate for mayor of leysin. he stopped in the middle of the road and i scrambled to get my board and bag in the back of his subaru, and in my rush to hop in, i grabbed the rain gutter with my bad hand and somehow slammed the door on the ends on my fingers. if i had any feeling in my fingers, it would have hurt like hell. i yanked my hand out, leaving my glove caught in the door and we both had a good chuckle.
i made it with time to spare. lifts were delyed till 10am due to high wind on top, but that quickly subsided. al made first chair, i made second, and we were greeted by a ton of fluffy goodness. how much? no idea, but at least 50cms i'd say. other than the 50 or so people on the first list rush, there were very few people on the hill. it pounded snow for the first hour or so, then started breaking. by noon we could see across the valley to g3000 and les diablerets. i split from al and the gang and did laps entirely aone thru les fers and solepraz. seems the people that were there were content with the boot deep pow on piste.
great day, EXCELLENT day, i just wish i had me legs back - this was day two after my 10 week injury timeout. i feel like an old man!
not much time for pics, a few from the chair...
