For those that weren’t aware, the ski club went to  Zermatt, Switzerland and Rome in January. Here’s the executive summary: If there’s a better winter resort than Zermatt, I’ve never seen it. Spectacular scenery, with the Matterhorn serving as the backdrop, a quaint village, w/o cars, except the electric shuttles, an outstanding hotel with delicious 4-course dinners, a fun group to travel and ski with, and multiple ski runs of more than 6,000 vertical feet. Rome of course is one of the greatest cities in the world to visit, and January is a good time to avoid the biggest crowds.

 

The trip got off to a slow start on Friday morning, as I missed my exit to Normal from I-55. This didn’t inspire confidence in my leadership abilities w/ my passengers, John Wegman and Steve Parke. If I got lost going to Normal, what would happen in Europe? But they were pre-occupied w/ problems from work. I wasn’t the only one not completely focused. Rumor has it that Dawn Dieckgrafe packed 2 right-handed gloves and 2 of the same book.  Fortunately, we overcame all of that.  Everyone was on time, we got out of Bloomington and O’Hare OK, missing the brunt of the only snowstorm all month. (Go figure!)  After bus, plane, bus, train, we arrived in Zermatt precisely on schedule, although our luggage arrived a few hours later than expected, to my chagrin.

 

There were many highlights, but for me the best part was the skiing and the scenery. The highlights started Sunday morning, with my first sunrise view of the Matterhorn from my room. This was our first opportunity to ski, with most of us taking the Gornergrat train to the Gornergrat area. Tom Kaskubar was a lone wolf, sleeping in then going to a different mountain. I think it was jet lag. This was the day to get oriented, get in a little skiing and take a lot of photos.  About 10 of us had lunch together at the top. After lunch we split up, with expert skiers John Wegman, Steve Parke, Tim Marcum and Roger Gingrich exploring the Sunnega area.  Later on I was also a lone wolf, and skied right to the hotel via the runs on Rothorn.  

 

Pam Good didn’t ski the first day, but was even more ambitious. She apparently tried to scale the Matterhorn (which Ken Etcheson did some years earlier), but had an accident requiring stitches, which aborted her attempt. (That’s her story anyway, and she’s sticking to it.)

 

The other skiing days were as good or better. Monday about 19 of us were together, hoping to ski in Italy. Despite the sunny and fairly calm winds, the cable car we wanted to take wasn’t running, due to “bad weather”.  The alternative was a t-bar to the top. Most of us did this, but some didn’t, so we split up. The run we did in Italy was extraordinary. Known as the 7-mile run, it was over 6,000 vertical feet! 2,000 vertical feet is a lot, as in the Western US, but this was 3 times that. It took a while to get down to Cervinia at the bottom, but we all made it, although Dawn lost her lift ticket somewhere along the way. Kudos to Sue Baar for enduring the challenge, despite not having skied in over a decade.

 

Tuesday was more of the same, beautiful sun, but this time many of us took the cable car to Klein Matterhorm, at 12,700 feet. First some 360 degree photo ops, then skiing into Italy on the 7-mile run again.  Using our handy walkie-talkies, we met some others for lunch back in Switzerland.  I only did 2 runs all day, but it was over 13,000 vertical.

 

The other skiing days were Thursday and Friday. Thursday was a cold day and overcast, so most of the group did 2 runs, then came in to warm up, then repeated. Bill Vahary thought he had a frost-bit nose, but he didn’t. Friday was similar, but not as cold. John W., Steve P, and I skied the morning in the Sunnega area, but winds closed the lifts to the top of that area. We still got in some challenging runs and  tried our 3-man weave before skiing to the steps of the hotel before noon.

 

Of course, there was more than skiing in Zermatt.  There was a day trip too, which 25 of the 26 of us took. Tim Marcum decided to ski, & I can’t blame him. The rest of us took a relaxing bus ride to Lausanne, on the shores of Lake Geneva. Ed Eickenberg really enjoyed the engineering of the roads, bridges, and tunnels,. And Tom reminded everyone of the deep drops in the gorges. The Olympic Museum was the highlight for me, and many others enjoyed the old part of the city. John and Nayda Zschau finally got a battery for their camera, after encountering a Good Samaritan, who also showed them some sites.

 

During the week, many people just relaxed in town, both non-skiers and skiers alike, enjoying the sunny 40+ temps the first few days. They did some shopping, just enjoying the village. Barb Luthy, Connie Potter, Fran Eickenberg and Nayda Zschau probably did most of the exploring (not sure how much shopping they did, but their spouses may know).  Zermatt  is  a quintessential Swiss town, great to walk around in (and the model for Vail). Beautiful chalets, no cars, other than electric shuttles. No gas fumes. Horse-drawn carriages. The main church with it’s interesting interior. Infants dragged along on sleds (AKA sledges). The great bakeries and chocolate shops. (I’m not normally a chocoholic, but I became one for a while.)  

 

The après-ski and the evenings were fun too. Carl Cortese was our “entertainment director”, had good suggestions and experienced more of the night life than the rest of us. We can’t forget the great Happy Hour at the corner bar that many of us attended, and the bartender contributing shots for us (“whoa. whoa, whoa, yella, yella, yella”). You had to be there. Then there were the nights playing “Catch Phrase”, where we learned about Dick Van $#!%, and what Fahrfignuegen meant, the men vs. the women (and Ken Baurer vs. Sandy Baurer), with special guests of Edwina Eickenberg and Thomasina Kaskubar. And the curling many of us tried was a blast too, slip-sliding on the ice, trying to slide the stones to the target, similar to shuffleboard. I don’t know who had the “best” form, we’ll have to see the tape and vote on it. 

 

Rome was a great time in it’s own right. Carl was in his element here, being able to speak Italian.  We had a great tour of the city Sunday morning to get oriented. The tour leader spoke great English, and provided a wealth of information. We walked thru the Forum to the Colosseum, visited the Pantheon, and a few other sites. It ended at St. Peter’s Square, just in time to see the Pope speak from his upper-level Vatican apartment.  What timing!!

 

We explored all over the city during our free days but in smaller groups. Most of us went to the many great sites like the Vatican, St. Peter’s Square & Basillica, Trevi Fountain , and the Colosseum,. We enjoyed dining out in different restaurants and many of us got together the last night at a bar near our hotel for a little Happy Hour. The only negative incident was Steve Etcheson losing his wallet to Rome’s notorius pick-pockets while on the subway. 

 

There were a few more positive and interesting stories. The Zschau’s celebrating their Honeymoon from their 2005 wedding; Skiers Roger Gingrich, Tim M., Cynthia Kukla and Carl not getting off their chair until the last second, and causing a domino affect of falling skiers; Cynthia getting locked INSIDE her room by Tim;

 

But the best story was from Dave “Spiderman” Rademacher, on the early, early morning of our Zermatt departure, in his own words:

 

 “I walked alone at 4:55a.m. (still half asleep) from our hotel toward the station to catch the train for the first leg of the trip to Rome.  At the church, I suddenly realized that my passport was not around my neck.  I panicked!!  Thinking it might still be in the hotel, I ran back only to find the building locked and dark except for my room on the second floor.  If only I could get up on the balcony, I could see if the passport was still in the room.  I piled chairs one on top of another and climbed on top, only to find that I couldn't reach the balcony.  My next thought was to climb from the ground to the second story on the hotel corner where stone and brick were mortared together.  Struggling to find cracks for my fingers and toes, I made it half way up the side of the building only to fall back to the ground.  Picking myself up, I said, "You can do this.  Just get back up there!"  And, I did!  Swinging on to the balcony, I peered in the window to discover that the passport was not in the room.  I was sure it was stolen.  Climbing down was scarier than going up.  I ran back toward the church and found a bakery delivery person.  The big problem was that he did not speak English.  Somehow, I convinced him to drive me to the train station.  There on the platform, standing alone, were my suitcases.  By this time, it was about 5:25.  I threw everything out of all the bags and found no passport.  I was sure someone had stolen the passport, credit cards, money, and insurance cards.  My last hope was to search an outside zippered compartment where I NEVER put ANYTHING.  There it was, as if it were placed there by some divine providence.  Just as the train doors were closing, I threw the bags on and jumped on at exactly 5:30.  My mouth was so dry and my heart was pounding so hard, I couldn't respond to all the questions for several minutes. I guess there always is that l0%.”

 

It was a trip we’ll always remember.