Ski trip to Klosters

Schools are closed for a two week ski break, so we booked a room (with 8 bunks) in Klosters and took the train with my parents (Galen and Grace), 5 bags, 3 backpacks and one set of skis. It was fairly easy to get there by taking one train to Landquart and then hopping on the famous Rhaetische Bahn rail to Klosters. We stayed in a great hotel with a large room for all of us- 8 bunks handmade by the owner, a living room, 2 showers and a trough sink with a row of 4 faucets. We were thankful for the 8th bunk the first night after Hanna managed to pick up a 12 hour stomach virus. She was recovered enough by the morning to even try some skiing, and somehow, somehow, the rest of us didn't get it. It snowed heavily all day the first day of skiing so the powder was lovely. We skied at the family resort called Madrisa (a gondola ride up to the base), and the snow kept clogging up the magic carpet on the kids run. Hanna and Elisabet enjoyed getting the feel of their skis, and even more so the hot chocolate in the lodge. We were wiped out by the end of the day because all the lifts were T bars, one taking at least 15 min to reach the top. This meant our legs never got a rest! Leif and Travis fell off the long T bar lift on one of their first runs and ended up in 2 feet of deep powder. They made it out however, and recovered enough to make a full days worth of runs. The second day of skiing we took the Gotschnabahn up to Parsenn ski resort (a gondola car of 120 people). Once at the mid-station you take a second, smaller gondola up to the next part of the mountain. The view from this mountain was spectacular, and we were not even at the top. The runs are mostly above the tree line, so it's very different from skiing in Colorado or Utah. We may have been a bit overly ambitious taking Hanna and Elisabet with us, and they spent the day between my legs or their Papas. Hanna did do a little skiing on her own on the flatter sections. By lunch the two of us had to rest our quads - if you've ever skied with a kids between your legs you know what I mean- and we left them with Nona in the lodge so we could ski up higher on our own. Leif tried out the fun park and got air on a few jumps. Travis and I skied down to Klosters on a long trail from the top while Papa and Nona took the kids down the mountain via the Parsenn bahn (a funicular train car) and the train. We skipped skiing on Sunday to go to St Moritz and see the White Turf horse races and then on Monday, our last day in Klosters we went back to Madrisa where Hanna spent the day teaching herself how to turn and navigate the "gates" on the kids' slope, Elisabet practiced her turns the pizza wedge, and Leif went to the top of the mountain and skied down from the long T bar lift several times. We took the gondola down and the bus back to Klosters, turned in our equipment at the rental store, picked up some snacks at the Co-op, and boarded the 17:32 train back to Zürich. By 8:15pm, we were in our apartment.