Steve Gilson Photography: Christmas in Grindelwald Switzerland

I arrived in Switzerland on December 15th 2011. This was the first time I was away from my family over the holiday season. As excited as I was to be here and to have new experiences I still missed the people I usually spend Christmas with, but so much that I didn't have a great three days in the mountains. Waking up early on Christmas eve, me and Sandra jumped on the train in Baden bound for Grindelwald arriving around 10am. The weather had brought snow the night before which was still heavily falling from the clouds that cloaked all the surrounding mountains. After renting skis for Sandra and securing a room at the local "Mountain Hostel" we boarded the train that took us up to the Kleiner Scheidegg, which is the pass between the Eiger and the Lauberhorn. Here there is a train station, hotel, restaurants, and ski lifts that serve as a central area of the Grindelwald and Wengen Ski areas. The snow up here at elevation seamed to be falling harder than down in the valley a 1000m below. Visibility was not great to say the least, however the snow quality was the best I had skied all year, not too dense, soft, and piling up fast. We bumped around to a few different areas but not being able to see more than 20-50 meters made navigating and skiing interesting at times. Finally around 4pm we retired to our room back at the hostel to relax a long day of skiing almost blind. After accidentally falling asleep for a few hours we made our way up to the village to get some dinner, as we walked it was clear that the snow was not going to let up this night. eventually we decided on a restaurant where we indulged in some classic Swiss dishes Röschti and Älplermagrone.
Mmmm...So fattening and tasty this meal put right into a "food-coma" When we awoke the next morning, Christmas, the clouds had cleared and views of the 3500m - 4000m peaks that surrounded the valley were astonishing. It is always so wonderful to wake up amongst such giants, especially when they were not visible the previous day. So blue bird powder skiing is probably one of my favorite things especially when it is lift served and not skied out in an hour. Heck we basically had the mountain to ourselves, what a great Christmas gift...faceshots and cliff drops. Even though I was away from everything that was familiar to me for this time of year this was a Christmas I will remember.