Switzerland hotels

I finally sorted out all the hotels for our trip to Switzerland. It appears that hotels there have not gotten online for direct booking as much as US properties have.

We're staying at the Bernerhof while in Gstaad and we'll overnight in Geneva at the Hotel Suisse . Both seem to be well regarded by the Michelin guide as well as TripAdvisor.com which has user reviews.

Suisse Hotel




Bernerhof











Added bonus - here's a picture from this morning at Okemo, Vermont. It looks like the junction of trails where Sapphire gets steeper. It could also be Sunburst; they have a similar feel in the top part. We'll be up there again this weekend; the snow will probably be the best of the season.
Here's a post about snowmaking previously: White Lies

Good news for New England skiiers

Clearly most of you can feel the chill in the air, and perhaps see a few flakes in the sky, but it looks like Winter is back for a little bit. Vermont should have high quality skiing for the next 2-3 weeks basked on pockets of Arctic air that are swirling our way, and hitting moisture pockets, creating snow. Good times coming!

The link below is a technical discussion on the weather metric NAO which is a good indicator for what will happen in our region. The NAO is currently negative, which is good for both the Alps and New England skiing. Here is a technical definition of the NAO

Also below, is a pretty unreal descent by a snowboarder. Just watching this is scary.

Cold in the East = Snow at Okemo

Clearly the bitter cold here in the East is translating into some fresh, good snow in Vermont, which is much needed. It appeared to me that the snow Jennifer
was skiing on at was better than one would have expected, although not as good as Quebec's.

It takes a lot of snow to make snowboarding pipes and parks, so this early morning picture from Okemo on Jan 23 is a good sign that they actually have enough to get a large part of their mountain open.

Pictures from Tremblant

Tremblant Pix on Yahoo

Great trip!

Despite the travel delays in getting home, it was a very nice trip.

Thanks everyone and I look forward to seeing you in a few weeks.

I'll clean up the Yahoo pictures site over the next few days - there are a lot of dupe photos as well as blurry/unusable ones - and get some captions on them.

Arv

Directions & Tremblant destination

Sean discovered this map of where we are staying, which is called the Village Pietonnier, which loosely translated into American is "Shrine to Celine Dion". We are at the Somnet des Niege complex.

Here are some directions for driving

From Montréal and International Airports

Take autoroute 15 North to Sainte-Agathe. After Sainte-Agathe, the 15 Northmerges with 117. Continue on the 117 North past Saint-Jovite. Take exit 119(Montée Ryan) to Chemin Duplessis and follow indications for TremblantResort. 1 1/2 hour.

From Boston

Take autoroute 93 North, then 89 North to U.S./Canada border. Follow route133 North to 10 West towards Montréal. Follow signs to route 15 North. Takeautoroute 15 North to Sainte-Agathe. After Sainte-Agathe, the 15 Northmerges with 117. Continue on the 117 North, past Saint-Jovite. Take exit 119(Montée Ryan) to Chemin Duplessis and follow indications for TremblantResort. 7 hours.

Tremblant T Shirts have arrived

Front of the Shirt Back of the Shirt
I got extras so people have some to take back home for folks who missed this years trip.

See you next week!