Winter in Bonn was getting a tad grey so Padma, Joseph and I packed up and headed to Switzerland for a white holiday. Along the way, we picked up one of Joe’s Aussie mates, Aidan. We found an isolated chalet via AirBnB on a dead-end road at 2,000 metres near the village of Arolla in the Peninne Alps. We were after snow and found it here high in the Alps. The road to our chalet was snowed in so we had to hike through the snow to find the front door. We’re spending four nights to just relax. Padma and I are happy to read and drink hot chocolate in the chalet and avoid the -17 degrees C temps while Joe and Aidan have hit the alpine ski slopes and the cross country ski tracks.
Arolla maintains about 42 kilometres of groomed cross country trails so on our first day Joe, Aidan and I hit the trails. The trails generally run parallel to the Borgne d’Arolla, a tributary of the Rhone fed by glacial meltwater. By late afternoon it was snowing so hard that we could barely follow our tracks.
Joseph and Aidan traded their cross country skis for alpine skis on our second day. The ski resort at Arolla isn’t well known and doesn’t attract the rich and famous … so it was perfect for us. With new powder and sub-zero temps, the skiing was perfect. But you don’t need to don skis to appreciate the majesty of the Pennine Alps. We were surrounded by stunning peaks. The Matterhorn is a mere 20-30 kms from Arolla as the crow flies but two hours by car to get out of the valley. We are quite happy in the quaint little village of Arolla.
On Day 3 of our Swiss stay we awoke to something we hadn’t seen in a long time – sunshine. When I opened the curtains in our chalet I could for the first time see the tops of the peaks of the Peninne Alps that surrounded us. And it was a mighty impressive site indeed. Joseph, Aidan and I shrugged off the bitter cold and strapped on cross country skis and followed the path upstream through the forests on the Borgne d’Arolla. At 2,000 metres the skiing literally took our breath away but all the huffing and puffing meant more chances to stop and admire the Swiss Alpine scenery.
My weather app told me that heavy snow was expected overnight in Arolla and when I rose before dawn and looked out the window I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It must have snowed all night and all I could see in the pre-dawn light was white, white, white. The locals told us to clear out by 8 am as the weather was only going to get worse. The temps were expected to rise to near freezing and slushy snow means slippery snow. And blowing snow was expected which would create drifts over the road. We had neither chains nor four-wheel drive although the front-wheel drive, fancy anti-skid mechanisms and snow tires on our Toyota were proving to be very reliable. Nevertheless, we were high in the mountains on a one-lane, steep and windy road and I didn’t want to stick around to watch the snow fall.
I hiked up to the road and saw no sign of our path and often fell into waist-high snow and then struggled to find the car. I shovelled for almost an hour before our little Toyota finally emerged but in the heavy snowfall it seemed like my efforts were in vain. It was like painting the Golden Gate Bridge … before I finished one end, the other end was snowed under again. The snowplow had passed around 7 am but within an hour the road was already covered in snow. I gave up and went back to the chalet to help Padma, Joe and Aidan with the packing. I couldn’t decide whether to make a run for it or wait and hope the snowplow would pass again.
But then I saw my best friend again … the snowplow. We hurriedly packed and hauled everything up the hill to the car. Once again I had to shovel a path for the car since the snowplow had buried the car again. But we managed to load the car and very slowly crept down the mountain before the road would disappear again. The drive down was stunning with the new snowfall. We came for snow and we were certainly rewarded.
