Over the Hump

This past weekend we were lucky enough to be invited to stay with some friends of ours who have a house in the mountain town of Lenk, during which we got “over the hump” both physically and metaphorically. See, we have been debating about whether our family is really cut out for skiing at this stage. Emily and James have had virtually no experience, and our first effort over Christmas was not enjoyable for anyone. But, the family we stayed with has been coming to this valley and skiing their whole lives. So, we had no choice but to go with the flow.

On Saturday morning we all got geared up and headed over to the first ski area. They even had skis in Henry’s size and insisted he should suit up with the rest of us. We got to the top of the lifts, and skied down the first hill. I was holding Henry, who was screaming the whole way down. He was pretty much done for the day. But everyone else took off with enough adults to help. After lunch I got to ski down with Emily (holding her between my legs for most of a medium run) until we got to the kids area or “bunny hill,” as my family calls it. We skied for a couple more hours, with the adults taking turns staying with the kids. This was far longer than we have ever managed before. By the end of the day, the kids had made a lot of progress, but we were all pretty exhausted. Fortunately, there was a gondola to take us back down the hill and a great swimming pool complex where Joe and I took all the kids to unwind.

That night, another family joined us at the house, so there were two Swiss families with spouses from Sweden and Namibia and us. Everyone mostly spoke English, but we understood what they said in Swiss German as well. They complimented our kids, and even us, on our ability with the language. We kept up with a conversation about Swiss cultural quirks and compared the virtues of the two primary Swiss grocery store chains. Though it seems small, I felt like we had really gotten over a cultural “hump” and were no longer the outsiders.

On Sunday, we were off again. After a scary ride up an icy mountain road on which the direction of the one-way traffic changes every half hour, we made it to the ski area on the other side of the valley. I stayed in with Henry and played in the snow for most of the morning, and Joe was able to take both Emily and James on his own and help them as they skied independently. This was huge! They had clearly gotten over a critical hump in their ability, and they started to become more confident.

After lunch, Lorenz offered to stay with our kids so Joe and I could explore a bit. We literally went over the mountain and down to Adelboden in the valley on the opposite side. We humiliated ourselves on a black run that was directly below one of the busiest chair lifts, but fortunately no one was hurt, so we’ll just gloss over that. Otherwise, we had a wonderful time and returned to our kids just as the lifts were starting to close down. The mountain had mostly cleared out, and this time there was no gondola to ride down. The only way to get to the car was to ski down the mountain.

Lorenz was nice enough to carry Henry down (we didn’t even bother to put his skis on anymore). Joe and I followed with the other kids, and I am proud to say that they did a great job. We were the only people on the mountain as we snowplowed slowly back and forth down the slope. My heart was swelling as I watched my kids skiing on their own as the sun was setting behind the mountains across the valley. It was a moment I will never forget.

So maybe, just maybe, we can be a skiing family after all.

Photos of our skiing weekend.