We took an airplane. A train. And hiked. For this? A kid slope half the size of my home slope in Grani. But it turns out we got to ski a route down liike no other: down the railroad tracks. And collect seven more ski areas.
We are in Obergom, Switzerland. The map showed a ski area. The web site said it is open. But maybe it is somewhere else, or really closed or we are confused. But no matter. Everything in Switzerland is always behind the church and a 10-minute walk. So was the kids slope that the ticket sales agent at the station directs us to. It. Had we asked for the way to the Matterhorn, it would probably also have been a 10 minutes walk.
It takes us 20 minutes to ski through the pictoresque village and find the lift. Seven Francs for the ticket, for the rope tow. We ski a few rounds, and then scout the areas around. There is untouched snow further away from the village and we try that, and hike back on the road.
But we look at out watch. The next train goes soon. We are almost out of time, but we decide to ski the old railroad tracks down to the station. That's a new one for us. We think there will be no trains before summer... but I keep watching to my back...
Our next stop is Realp, just on the other side of the Furka Base Tunnel. A bit bigger slope, but still small. Behind the church, 10-minute walk. Of course. We ski the flattish side area, with untouched snow, although it is closed due to avalanche danger from above, though we think no longer dangerous.
We also skied in Andermatt's Gemsstock and Täschen, Oberalp, Sedrun, and Disentis, all along the same train line. The Matterhorn-Gotthard Bahn rocks!
The weather in Oberalp and Sedrun was too bad to say much about these places, except that the restaurant complex at the Miles in Sedrun is good. In Disentis, we much enjoyed the powder fields from the Péz Ault anchor lift. Just be careful, as there are many spots here were snow has been dug and carried elsewhere to the ski area; there are sudden drops where the snowcats have moved. Also, we were kind of wondering about the "Disentis 3000" advertising, on a ski area that runs at most to 2833 meters, on this highest lift. But the powder was good!
By the way, back to Obergom: I realised that I had been to Obergom or the Oberwald train station before. A couple of years ago I was on autopilot driving from Austria somewhere else, unaware of my surroundings and the GPS brought me here, and tod me to take a boat. A boat! It turned out that it wanted me to board the train with my car, to cross the mointains. Which I did. But I have been more careful with GPS instructions sinne then.
Photos and videos (c) 2017 by Jari Arkko. This blog is also available at the TGR site. Tämä blogi löytyy myös suomeksi Relaasta.
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