We just got back from Davos, Switzerland & Venice, Italy, and here’s what went on in Davos. We arrived in Chicago with 46 and met 10 more at O’Hare so we left with 56 participants. We met five more in Zurich and went on to Davos by bus with 61 total. We pulled into Davos at 3 p.m. just as the World Economic Forum was wrapping up and checked into our lodging at the Club Hotel Davos. Skis were rented, and we kicked off with an orientation party.
Michele from Davos tourism gave us a brief rundown and welcome, followed by a dinner buffet. Michele was impressed by our Davos-Klosters T-shirts. And I was glad she was not mad about pirating their logo.
Monday morning was a bluebird day, and three guides from Davos ski school met us at the hotel for our first day of skiing. 30 people signed up for a guided tour with guides Kurt, Ronnie, and Osmo. A short bus ride to the main Parsenn Funicular and we were off. This lift is a train pulled by a cable at a 30-degree angle up the mountain. One more high-speed quad chairlift up and we were skiing the huge Parsenn area. Spectacular vistas opened up of the surrounding mountains with lots of photo ops. By lunch-time we all gathered at the mountain top restaurant for lunch and more photos. We readjusted the groups and were off skiing for the afternoon. Osmo switched over to ski instructor mode helping us with our technique. After a long run down toward Klosters, we made our way back with a long gondola ride. Discretion being the better part of valor, we downloaded and began après-ski. We all met on the deck at the Parsenn Hotel across the street from the lift station for beers and then returned back to the hotel for dinner.
Davos is a good-sized town and has the feel of a small city, which it is in fact. It sits in a mountain valley with ski areas on both sides. Buses run up and down the main street. It has a casino and many hotels, shops, restaurants, and there’s a train station at each end of town. The town got its start as a center for tuberculosis sanitariums, but when better cures were invented than just sitting in the sun at high altitude, the town discovered skiing, hockey, curling, and sledding. It now has five separate ski resorts, all accessible by bus and train from town.
Tuesday we had a mountain lunch scheduled at Chalet Gueggel on Jakobshorn, the mountain opposite Parsenn. The day started out as a whiteout, but by 11 a.m. it was clear enough to ski in about eight inches of fresh light powder. We found plenty of untracked stuff even after lunch, which consisted of an appetizer of prosciutto, sausage, cheese, and fresh baked bread. and they had baked our name right into the bread “Fox Ski Club”. OK, they didn’t have enough room for the “Sly”. After that, lunch was soup and pasta. The afternoon was spent looking for hidden powder stashes.
Wednesday, 44 of us took an all-day railway journey on the Bernina Express. This was an amazing three-and-one-half hour journey over, under, and through the Alps to Tirano, Italy. It was another clear day revealing all the splendor of the Swiss mountains. After two hours wandering the town and having lunch, we boarded the train for the return, and noticed that Rhaetian railway had put our name on the car: “This carriage reserved for the Sly Fox Ski Club” Our club’s name in lights!
The next two days were snowy and sometimes the lack of visibility made it almost impossible to ski. Most of the ski terrain is above treeline. Yet each day it cleared late in the day, or word-of-mouth let out that another mountain was skiable, and we just took the bus to that mountain. Friday was our last day in Davos. Our pre-dinner party included the usual Lunar Award nominations. The breakfast buffet had a boil-your-own-egg setup with a pot of boiling water and a basket of eggs. There were little wire baskets with color-coded handles so you could put an egg in it, set it in the boiling water, and time it to your taste. Some people were complaining about occasional missing eggs. They put it in, but when the they went to get it, it was gone! Late in the week, someone was explaining to one member how the system worked and she said, “Oh, I haven’t been going to all that trouble. I just pull an egg out that looks like its done.” That member was the winner of the trip Lunar Award.
