 Poster: A snowHead
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Went on a cheeky little day trip to St Moritz on Saturday.
After debating how to get there from Davos: Train, car or car with train, we opted for car. A beautiful drive through some quaint Swiss villages, one in particular grabbed my attention: https://www.instagram.com/p/C0l6c2JND0U/?igshid=ZDE1MWVjZGVmZQ== 
We arrived later than expected after a slightly challenging drive in a very snowy St Moritz. We drove through the main drag with Gucci, Louis Vuitton shops all very tempting but tragically didn’t have time to pop into any of them. Didn’t see any fur coats on the pedestrians in the high street but an impressive display of fur head and hand wear on show and I can confirm the hats and gloves all matched.
We finally arrived at Celerina and met up with Alex Braschel www.ski-with-alex.com
He hails from Salzburg and is Austrian and Swiss qualified (Brevet) and is just as happy teaching beginners or timid intermediates but doesn’t need a second invitation to ski the good stuff. For us this was very much a recce, Alex has been banging on about it for a while saying how good the skiing is in St Moritz so we thought it would be rude not to try it out. I’d always been put off by the cost but a day trip as we were staying in Davos seemed a decent compromise and a chance to chalk up my 54th different resort (I’m 54 next year so trying to stay ahead of my age). I’ve had to sell a kidney and some children along the way but feck me has it been worth it.
After getting our lift tickets we headed up the gondola and had a cruise around the main area on the pistes and then dived into some very accessible off piste, it would have been top notch on another day but first turns in the season in flat light was a bit of a challenge.
Alex is passionate about freeriding and snow science and offered us the chance to do a bit of training so we headed up to the top of the Gluna lift and headed skiers right. We put our gear down and dug a snow pit, when I mean we, I was in more of a supervisory role  https://www.instagram.com/p/C0l-Y7EtyVK/?igshid=ZDE1MWVjZGVmZQ==
It was a good session, great use of time, re-learning and learning. The reward for (their) hard work was a nice run down a relatively steep but quite wind affected line. Hard work but I’ll just blame that on first day on skis.
After a bit more of a cruise around it was time for lunch at Marguns which Alex had booked and assured us it was one of the few decent value mountain restaurants in the area. And very nice it was too, great service, lovely menu, cracking pizzas and the tap water was outstanding. After lunch we were offered the option of more piste skiing or doing a short boot pack to access some off piste.
We opted for the latter, always a good move on lunch legs, (not), but for ten minutes of effort at the top of the Trais Fluors lift we accessed some lovely rolling untracked off piste, 1000m vertical of it in fact. Although it was still overcast we got some nice views across the valley towards the airport and Pontresina. The snow was quite heavy and tested our (lack) of technique but after the rolling hills there was a nice section through the trees, a hop over a stream, another short climb and we could virtually smell the amber nectar. We finished off with beers at the base station and it was re-assuring to hear some great German/Austrian apres tunes including the all time classic ‘Mama Lauda’
We dropped off Alex who very helpfully pointed out where Mikaela Shiffrin was staying if we wanted to say hello because I’m sure she would have been really chuffed to meet some half pissed middle aged sweaty lads asking for a selfie. We hit the road, well the train in fact. If you’ve never driven on to a train in a car before it’s a bucket list job and highly recommended.
So that was St Moritz, we barely scratched the surface but saw the massive potential and will definitely be back. https://www.instagram.com/p/C0m19i0LTzs/?igshid=ZDE1MWVjZGVmZQ==
Anyone want to buy a kidney? 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Sounds like a great day. You only have so many kidneys
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I must ski there one day.
My grandparents and my mother and her sister used to go to Cellerina every year in the 1930s and 1940s (they missed a few years due to local disruption at home!). There were no lifts then, everything was walk-up (maybe one fenicular or train?).
They always had the same guide/instructor and he became a friend.
In the 1980s (not sure when) my aunt went there in the summer and was reminiscing about it to a local.
"Oh, the Schmidt family (I'm actually not sure of the name, so Schmidt will do) live in that house over there."
My aunt went and knocked, and told her tale. Obviously the old guide had died but his son was still around and he remembered the family name and pulled out a load of old photos with my mum and family in them! The friendship had been very much reciprocated.
I've still got my mum's old skis , boots and poles...and her skins which are actual seal-skin.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@rungsp, Thanks for sharing that awesome story.
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