Celebrations round two, and a brief taste of skiing

After a rich breakfast (including a remote cousin of Scottish porridge), Fiona and Silvia left on snow shoes toward Chemeuille. Benoît and Géraldine soon arrived on skis from there. After a fine lunch with freshly made ravioli cinghiale, we exchanged the latest from our lives over cookies and tea and then went for a long walk in the snow at night fall.

A snow-chilled bottle of Marzemino frizzante and our favorite fig bruschetta opened the second festive dinner, followed by delicious grilled beef (thank you, Doris!) and salad. 

After a good night's sleep we awed at the beautiful sunrise 

and used the few hours of sunshine to send off Thomas on a sled (which was poor advice, given the deep powder... sorry!) and took a few runs on the slopes, until the icy wind chased us home for another Raclette. 

Au revoir, Benoît et Géraldine, et a bientôt au Greyerzerland. As our last guest and neighbor seems to have gotten lost on his way from Lanna, festivities are winding down and we enjoy a cozy evening behind the pierre-ollaire. Thank you all for joining - and off to the next ten years!

Celebrations, round one

After a day with heavy snowfall (around 50 cm), which we spent mostly indoors and joined around noon by my two Cousins Fiona and Silvia, 

we started the 10 year celebrations with a special bottle of Calines, Brut de Pinot Noir, AOC Valais 2012, from Cave Petite Vertu (Patrick et François Schmaltzried), snow-chilled as in 2004,

followed by the traditional Raclette.

Settled in

The beautiful and warm fall weather made it easy to settle in, shop and drop groceries, install a new temporary water pipe at the creek. 

Today, we woke up in an entirely different landscape, fulfilling our promise of some days in the snow. 

Looking forward to more guests arriving today and tomorrow! It starts to feel like December 27th 2004!

Arrived!

A day before the 10th anniversary of our first arrival in a snow storm, we walked today over a thin snow layer and lots of brown patches to the chalet, down from Chemeuille. We have never seen it with so little snow in the winter, though with more in the fall and spring. 

Firing up the pierre-ollaire, vacuuming away the flies, and then installing a new water pipe to fill our canisters was fast and easy, just in time for watching the sun disappear from Matterhorn and Dent Blanche. 

For those who join us tomorrow or the day after: remember this is our water supply (in the winter), but look forward to a great time in pre-heated Vache Guiri. Solid shoes will do for now, though Saturday may see some substantial snow fall.