Today we woke up to snow falling and a very crisp –7°C outside. After making sure Ben and Tom (the fur-children we’re caring for just outside of Lausanne) were all good for the day, we grabbed our snowboarding gear and many, many layers of clothes and headed off to Leysin for our prescheduled snow day out.
It was Ben’s second day on the mountain. He had come up the day before and somehow managed to board every single run that was open – absolutely in his element.
Now, getting to Leysin is half the fun. You go from a regular train to a cute little mountain tram that gets pulled up the slope on what’s mostly a single track. It feels like you’re being gently lifted into a snowy postcard.
As is normal when we snowboard together, Ben waits at the bottom of each section while I take my time getting down. Even though there is a big gap in our ability levels, he never complains; he just grins up at me and shares an encouraging word.
Anyone who’s ever snowboarded knows slope-side meals aren’t cheap, and being in Switzerland… well, it hits a whole new level. So today we skipped the overpriced food and went full charcuterski – a DIY spread of meats, cheese, and tasty snacks right there on the mountain. It was very cute… right up until a big gust of wind came through and sent half of it flying into the snow.
By midday the wind really started picking up, and the staff warned us the main gondola might close. That meant snowboarding all the way down, whether I felt ready or not. Luckily, the snow was falling instead of me falling, so I took that as a win and Ben was there to lead me down through the fresh snow.
All up, it was a good day and a super fun snow date day. Ben’s now snowboarded five different mountains on this trip. He’d happily do more, but since we’ve got another winter destination coming up soon, he’s saving some energy (and maybe a few muscles) for the next stop.
Any guesses where we’ll be snowboarding next?
