when it snows, it white-outs

the ski season this year has been nothing if it hasn't been disappointing. we're in the goddam *swiss alps* and there's no fucking snow...

but karen, krister, godefroy, and i braved it up the mountain anyway on sunday, since there had been a little bit of snowfall near the end of last week. of course, we showed up only to find that now 3/4 of the lifts were closed due to wind, and most of what was open were the "ass-pullers" and "crossbows" (literal translations of the words they use to describe the two different types of t-bars). and i still maintain that any civilized person would laugh uproariously at the thought of going to some ass-backwards place where they still used t-bars... unbelievable.

but we were already there, so we gritted our collective teeth and charged up the mountain to claim it for our own. when we got to the top however, visibility was about 15ft maximum, and the enormity of my error began to sink in. even in the radius of sight, there was no contrast, and any contours in the snow were hence completely and utterly invisible. now, i'd like to think that i've gotten to the point where i can hold my own pretty decently on the snowboard, but it seems that much (if not all) of this is predicated on the fact that i **be able to see where i'm going and prepare for the terrain ahead.** as this was not the case, i was not doing well, and felt like a fucking idiot. add to this the fact that krister is apparently the kind of badass that likes to go off the trail into the middle of nowhere where it's deep and i sink, well, it didn't work so well. but somehow we ran into michael, and all had a very nice fondue together for lunch, and it started to clear a little bit after lunch. i tried my hardest to keep up, but still felt like i was probably holding them back. eh, whatever.

stopped off at karen's house on the way back home and had a nice little dinner. her house really is fabulous, i can't say that enough.