EuroBBI 2020, March 12-20 @mtlodge-sedrun

[Buster Highmen]

Thanks! I Got Milan nixed. Those were my concerns about driving. Since I’m not using miles for my flight, I negotiated that I get to choose we’re we fly. I was thinking about stopping in Paris for a few days on the way, then taking the train to Zurich since it looks like there’s a direct train from Gare de Lyon. Otherwise, it will be in to Zurich.

Air France has good deals out of Seattle to ZRH; they stop in Paris. And yes, there's a train out of De Gaulle that goes through to ZRH and then Rueras. Or take the Glacier Express.

https://www.sncf.com/en (but sbb is a better interface)

https://www.sbb.ch/en/leisure-holida...s-zermatt-chur

[vendul]

I would skip the glacier express though... with that money you can almost do an extra week of skiing while enjoying the same views on regular trains..... :-)

[Buster Highmen]

(edit) Rueras at night:

]
credit: 2Funky

[vendul]

That's actually Rueras...;-)

[2FUNKY]

Yes it is. That’s my photo.

[vendul]

Hell of a good foto I'd say!!!

[Buster Highmen]

My bad; that's what this WhatsApp sharing will get you.

[abraham]

Yes it is. That’s my photo.

Is it? Looks like one I took while enjoying a sightly drunk walk back to my hotel down the road

[2FUNKY]

Is it? Looks like one I took while enjoying a sightly drunk walk back to my hotel down the road

. Lol. I swear I deleted all the whatsapp photos out of my euro trip. Sorry man. You deserve the credit. Couldn’t remember taking it, just chalked it up to another fuzzy evening.

[Buster Highmen]

. Couldn’t remember taking it, just chalked it up to another fuzzy evening.

Say it's not so!

[2FUNKY]

Lol. That’s my hand moving some more whisky to my mouth just beyond mofro. That was a spectacular ending to a spectacular day.

[carvehard]

Posting this here. Maybe some of you also know Robb Gaffney...

Rally for Robb Gaffney
Robb was diagnosed with a rare bone marrow cancer known as Myelodysplastic Syndrome with Blasts. He has a high-risk version which has left him dependent on transfusions of red cells and platelets in order to stay alive.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/rally-for-robb-gaffney

[carvehard]

We are in for sure it looks like, I'll book rooms soon. Now, trying to decide on flying in to Zurich vs. Milan. Any advice? Friend that lives in Zurich and may join us for a day or too says the train ride is only an hour longer from Milan.

I've lived in Milan and Paris.

Trains from Milan to Andermatt are really convenient, about 4 hours total. You can get the routes from the SBB website (https://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html). You transfer 1 to 3 times depending on the itinerary, but it's nice traveling. Just don't take the last trip of the day, in case you miss a connection!
I would NOT recommend renting a car in Italy to drive to Switzerland, for a variety of reasons.

From Paris, there are high speed trains to Zurich (4 hours) and Geneva (3 hours). Info on SNCF website (https://en.oui.sncf/en/).

[Buster Highmen]

Posting this here. Maybe some of you also know Robb Gaffney...

Rally for Robb Gaffney
Robb was diagnosed with a rare bone marrow cancer known as Myelodysplastic Syndrome with Blasts. He has a high-risk version which has left him dependent on transfusions of red cells and platelets in order to stay alive.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/rally-for-robb-gaffney

https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...p-Robb-Gaffney

[Buster Highmen]

On guiding Andermatt, I reserved a day with Dan Loutrel for Monday the 16th. It's 650chf/day for 2, graduating up from there for up to 6 people. I hope to do something mad.

Also, Dan and his guides do a Sunday Funday for 170 chf : see here http://www.andermatt-guides.ch/EN/sunday-funday.html . Meet at the bottom of the Gemsstock tram at 8:30 am which would require leaving Rueras on the 7:30 train.

[vendul]

On guiding Andermatt, I reserved a day with Dan Loutrel for Monday the 16th. It's 650chf/day for 2, graduating up from there for up to 6 people. I hope to do something mad.

Also, Dan and his guides do a Sunday Funday for 170 chf : see here http://www.andermatt-guides.ch/EN/sunday-funday.html . Meet at the bottom of the Gemsstock tram at 8:30 am which would require leaving Rueras on the 7:30 train.

A full day with Dan around Gemsstock is a must... as a must should also be a day with Alpventura around Disentis...

[2bjenny]

Room is booked! Snowing here today, super excited about this! I know I'll probably have more questions later on but lots of answers are in last year's thread.

I'll probably rent skis since my daily driver here is 95 underfoot and my 110 is super heavy, both set up for alpine which is what I more comfortable with - I've never used a touring set up, only tele (gasp!!!).

[Buster Highmen]

Great!

But let me rerereiterate: touring bindings are not really necessary. Only needed if you want to commit to some big tours.

As people from last year can attest, most of the interesting lines off the Gemsstock or Disentis lifts do not require skins and touring bindings. The Sunday Funday deal Danny (Andermatt-Guides) does likely does not require skins.

We only used skins for one access to Val Strem and another on the tour out to do the Oberalpstock.

[TAFKALVS]

I would just go with your alpine gear you’re comfortable with. I wish I had. There’s more skiing a short traverse from the lift than entire ski areas in the states. And some real pucker inducing stuff that familiarity of gear would be nice on... if you want that sort of thing.

On the flip side though, I would suggest a boot with a walk mode.

[2FUNKY]

^ What Buster said. Didn’t plop skins on my skis once and skied the fuuuuuuck out of that place.
Will I go back without a set that I can tour on, nope, as there a few lines I want that require it, hello Piz Mahler.
So 2b, I would bring the 110 set up and look to rent a touring set up if really needed.

[Micol]

thanks for all the ticket prices....
sorry..... my brain works a bit in teh abstract...can someone lay out an ez chart for all these tour/guide options?

e.g.

Thurs March 16 , skiing off lifts, Bobby Deez, 20CH ea, 8 max, Meet Bamboo lift 8am
Friday. March 17, skiing off trams, some boot pack, Marge , 37CH, 10 max, meet Rambonz lift 7:30am
Monday, March 20, touring only, skins and dyna req'd, Pacco Manz, 55CH, meet Zamboni train station , Door 9, 5am
Tues, March 21, mag ski off lifts, all mags, 0.05CH, meet lobby of Mt Lodge, 9am,

and so on.........

[TAFKALVS]

Just buy tickets for the ski arena + disentis for the duration you will be there, sort itinerary daily based on weather and snow conditions

[Buster Highmen]

thanks for all the ticket prices....
sorry..... my brain works a bit in teh abstract...can someone lay out an ez chart for all these tour/guide options?

e.g.

Thurs March 16 , skiing off lifts, Bobby Deez, 20CH ea, 8 max, Meet Bamboo lift 8am
Friday. March 17, skiing off trams, some boot pack, Marge , 37CH, 10 max, meet Rambonz lift 7:30am
Monday, March 20, touring only, skins and dyna req'd, Pacco Manz, 55CH, meet Zamboni train station , Door 9, 5am
Tues, March 21, mag ski off lifts, all mags, 0.05CH, meet lobby of Mt Lodge, 9am,

and so on.........

On March 16th, Monday, I have reserved a day with Dan, owner of Andermatt-Guides. Dan will likely wait until a few days before that Monday to decide what to do in order to select the best experience. The base fee for less than 3 people is $650, going up like $80 per added person. I think we have 3 committed so far, 4 is best, 6 is max. If we achieve more than 6 committed, I can ask for another guide.

Other than that, it will be sort of freewheeling, go where people want to check out.

The schmart thing to do is to buy in advance a pass for all of Disentis/Andermatt SkiArena. I paid $181 chf for 5 days last year, so at $36/day, we have the freedom to skip a day at the SkiArena and go do something like a day at Bivio or maybe back to St. Moritz or possibly Flims/Laax or Piz Maler (with private 8 person 1500 vertical foot tram) across the road. This would add maybe $40 to $100 for a special day. This is where vendul comes in though, since he has the expertise, the connections and the mad vision to pick out something cool to do, so I defer to him in that regard.

A bunch of yahoos put their trust in this last year and I think it worked out pretty well. I hope to see some of them tending bar this year in Rueras.

[Micol]

^^ thanks guys
i usually just wing shit, but if im going all the way to eurp, dont want to find out about things after they happen and im like , damn! , i will do it next year...not sure if i can even make the trip next year, not sure this year , yet fo sure, but trying to figure out a way...

[2FUNKY]

Said to myself last year that I would do a guide at Andermatt if going back. I would be in that group for sure if going. Killer lines that have hidden routes to get to them and seemed no one was skiing them. A couple lines I want never got skied so route finding without a boot pack to follow was not wise for a noob for the area. Easy to get yourself into a shitty location.
Did the same as two said above for lift tickets last year, micol. It’s the best deal going.