Midway up the Sertig valley, striding along the classic tracks. This is what dreams are made of. Check out Episode 4 of the MEME Stream podcast talking about my research on climate change in the arctic tundra, grad school in Europe, and the importance of hobbies like skiing! And fellow ecologist xc-skier Caitlin McDonough MacKenzie invited me onto the Plos Ecology blog to talk about reading a lot of papers and combatting imposter syndrome.
Ski Team, among others. There are always blog posts and Instagram stories showing sunshine and powder days that recharge the soul. The best part of the Davos trail network is probably its extensive classic-only trails which go up long side valleys out of town. When I was living and working there in the summer of , these were some of my favorite places to get out for a hike or rollerski, and my gateway to mountain passes.
For several years I went to the December World Cups to work for FasterSkier, but those years happened to be times when there was barely any snow, just a snowfarmed loop on the race course. This year, there was apparently good skiing, but I was at a conference in the UK that weekend.
This really is my last winter in Switzerland, and I realized at some point that I was running out of chances. So on Sunday I woke up early and took the first train to Graubunden. Davos is quite far away by Swiss standards , so even catching that train, I only arrived just before nine. Into my skis. It was cold when I arrived, and after days of freeze-thaw cycles the tracks were fast as I double-poled down to Frauenkirch, at the bottom of the main valley.
I skied in and out of the shadow of the steep hillsides, and through hollows by the river where the cold had really settled overnight. But an hour in, the sun had come over the mountains and suddenly, it was hot. I stopped to re-wax my skis. I meandered through the Junkerboden, a forested hillside.
