The Swiss take their winter sports very seriously, and I can honestly say that they take sledding or 'sledging' much more seriously than anyone else I know. Their sledding hills are usually 1-3 miles long giving you a continuous sledding experience, and then at the bottom is a wonderful gondola to take you back up to the top to go again. Amazing!
Scott Parrott came to visit us on his way back from Kenya, so we took the opportunity to rent a car and drive up to a mountain about an hour from us for the sole purpose of sledding. We were originally not planning on taking Carsten down the sledding hill since it was so long, but at the top of the mountain we decided that we had better give it a go. And the result was that we ALL had fun :). Carsten loved sledding, and anytime we asked him if wanted more, he would sign 'more'. Of course since we were all having so much fun we decided to go again, even though we had only been planning to go once :). Here are some photos, and I think you'll especially love the video! Andy used Carsten's sled since we could rent a nicer one to take him down, and it was slightly too small but worked wonderfully!
riding the gondola up the mountain
Scott Parrott!
family photo opp
group photo opp
It was snowing beautifully up top (raining down below so we got wet as we went down - oh well!).
Note the size of this sled. Andy rode it down the mountain, twice!
Carsten on a traditional Davos sledge that we rented.
footbridge
Carsten and I sledding!
Scott sledding!
regrouping part way down
Carsten LOVED this and so did I :).
group photo shot!
Scott managed to get this terrific video that I just had to share on the blog :).
We would love to make this happen again, but unfortunately it has warmed up since we learned of this amazing Swiss tradition, so we'll just have to see. We also learned that this particular mountain has kind of a luge that it does in the summer (sled on rails), so I think we'll try to do that this summer at some point :). Doesn't this post make you want to visit Switzerland? ;)
Awesome!! I think some skiing places here need to convert a few hills to sledding :) now, if only there would be snow in November or December so you could go again before you leave!
Very cool! How much does this cost, and how does it compare to the costs for skiing???
ReplyDeleteAwesome!! I think some skiing places here need to convert a few hills to sledding :) now, if only there would be snow in November or December so you could go again before you leave!
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