St Moritz 2019 ski trip - day 1

1 February, 2019 (Friday)

Eight of us flew out of London to Zurich for our St Moritz ski trip. I worked from home today and took a cab to City airport for the 17.20 flight. Some of us took the flight out of City airport, while Shilpy flew from Heathrow and Monika from Luton. We all met at Zurich airport in the night. The eight of us in this trip are: BH (the only non-Indian), GK, SS, SG, MK, SS, AS and I. 

SS and MK had told us on Whatsapp that their flights had been delayed by up to an hour due to snow conditions in UK. SS suggested that I alone should wait for them at the airport while the others can take the other car and leave. There was some amusement when I exclaimed “Powder me in sugar and call me a doughnut.” MK replied that that was one mental image she can never shake off now!

When we landed at Zurich airport and were still on the plane, I was anticipating a text message from O2 stating that I can use my UK minutes and data freely in Switzerland i.e. there would be no additional data roaming charge. When no such message was forthcoming and my anxiety started increasing, GK asked me to open the Chrome browser and "live dangerously!"

We picked up our car keys and waited outside the car rental shop for SS and MK to arrive. They had been delayed. SS had got hot chilli nuts called VIP nuts from City airport. I devoured them as they were actually hot chilli flavour, unlike most such nuts in UK where the heat is severely suppressed. I agreed with the tag line on the packet: “If only every nut could be a VIPnut…” 

While we were waiting at the airport, I was reading about snow chains. Key points like the fact that you have to put chains on the front wheels for front-wheel drives. There is severe snow warning in Europe this week, and I expected that we may need to use snow chains.

MK was the last to arrive, but just before she arrived, a few of us had the bright idea of grabbing something from McDonald’s. As we were waiting to order, BH had a gleam in his eyes looking at the menu and commented that it has been ages since he has been to McDonalds. As SG began to nod in agreement, he added “almost a full week.” We feasted ourselves and lost half an hour in the process, as MK was waiting. At least we have taken the guilt off her, I advised wryly. 

We picked up two cars and started driving just after 10 pm. GK got an automatic car while I got a Ford Focus manual. The drive started well but as we were nearing St Moritz there was considerable snow on the road as well as a growing blizzard. SS, SG and AS were in my car and although they advised we should keep going until we can’t any more, I thought it would be better to stop on the side and get the snow chains fitted before we could go no further. It was my ‘risk manager’ hat that I was wearing – being prepared for a stress in advance. When we stopped at the side of the road (the other car was also behind us), there was a group of Swiss lads who asked us if we were OK. There were still 40km to go, and the conditions were treacherous. They advised we should probably get our snow chains fitted now. When I asked them if that was easy (as we have never fitted snow chains before), they asked us to drive behind them to the next village so they could help with it. It was well past midnight, and there were hardly any vehicles on the road. It was cold and blustery. Even though it was an ungodly hour, they came to us as a godsend and helped fix snow chains in both our cars. Even they struggled a bit with my car and it took about 45 minutes in total. It would have taken us much longer if we had to figure it all ourselves. They said they were from Lucerne and we thanked them profusely.

We kept driving with renewed gusto, or at least improved traction, and all was well until right at the end. We were close to our place as per the GPS but unable to locate the precise location. SS asked me to turn into the petrol pump. But that was buried in snow and the car got stuck (in spite of the snow chains). It took a Himalayan effort to dig the snow out and reverse out the car from the trench it had gotten into. In the meanwhile, GK and co. had reached and parked their car neatly in the garage, which had space for one. We had to park our car outside. But it was 2.30 am and we were glad to simply have made it. I noticed that the other parked cars had kept their wipers standing in air (probably for easier removal of snow from the windscreen on the next day), and I did the same. The house was comfortable enough and after we self-allocated the rooms we were good. SS and MK made a noble sacrifice and agreed to sleep on the sofa bed in the living room.