Last Day

We are leaving Les Brevieres this morning.

We will spend one night in Lyon then fly out of Geneva tomorrow. Then one night in Dublin, then home!

We had an excellent raclette dinner with our landlords last night... Yum.

No more phone or internet until we get home on Saturday.

See you all soon!

-SK

ute Ro

Since we did about half of an Haute Route trip when Bob was here, we're calling it the ute Ro. (Get it? Haute Route ha ha)

I like Bob's description of the trip:

Four days and three nights consisting of icy climbs, steep ski paths, a 100’ ladder on a cliff, a rappel into Italy, route finding through ice falls… The last day we skied under the Matterhorn, then ran out of snow a few miles from Zermatt.

I promised I'd post some more pictures here, so here they are!

Ladders


Inside the Dix Hut


Rappeling into Italy


Glacier skiing


Last day: Walking to Zermatt


Don't forget, there are more pictures and the full story on our web site!

-SK

Birthday "cake"

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes!

For my birthday, I made myself a banana bourbon bread pudding, but with waffles instead of bread. It turned out really yummy, especially considering I had no recipe! I sort of remember what I did though:

Toast about six waffles so they are crunchy, then cut them up into chunks (about 1-2inches).
Mix an egg, about 3/4 cup milk, a couple of tablespoons sugar (more if your waffles are no so sweet) and a couple ounces of bourbon.
Add the waffle chunks and stir it all up.
Slice a banana into the whole mess.
Pour (spoon, coax) it all into a 9x9in pyrex.
Let it sit about 20 minutes.
Cook at about 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.

YUM!

Also, for my birthday it snowed! Here I am enjoying it!


Speaking of birthdays, it was my dad's 60th while he was visiting us. And to celebrate, we had all sorts of adventures! I will write a synopsis soon, or, if you are in a hurry to hear about it, check out the description and photos on the web site.

-SK

Ghost Town

Well, the snow in our village is gone, the gondola is not running anymore and most of the businesses are closed. (Including, sadly, the little grocery store, which closed on Sunday.) There is NOBODY here anymore. We can still ski at the higher base areas, but that means driving.

On Friday, we did a ceremonial "last ski" down to the village. The run was closed, but we had scoped it from the gondola and thought it looked passable.

It got a little dirty at this point.


...And then, we had to walk!


Oh well, the lack of snow is making it a little easier to leave. We are now figuring out how to get everything home. Customs is a pain. And so are luggage restrictions on cheap airlines (like Aerlingus).

See you soon,

-S