Wengen Group Arrives, Sunday March 15

Sunday, March 15

The 2009 Ski Masters Euro group has arrived and settled into snowy Wengen. The group is jelling and acts as if they’ve been together forever. In fact, of the 33 travelers only three are SM Euro rookies.

As for the trip over, it can be considered a success in that 31 of 33 people arrived as planned. And, of the 31 that arrived, only one bag was missing. Robin Callan, the victim, hopes it will be found and make its way to Wengen but….

As for the missing couple, the Geists, their final arrival was a tale of intrigue and adventure involving, as they said it, planes, trains and automobiles. British Air canceled their flight which forced a late arrival. The bus was long gone when they arrived in Zurich so they schlepped their bags down to the train station at the airport and grabbed the last train to Lucerne. Once there it was a short taxi ride to the group hotel where they arrived at 10:30, only three hours behind the bus.

Their quick trip was abetted by the fact that, thanks to British Air, they didn’t have to carry their skis. They have yet to arrive.

The first dinner was “spoon free” as the infamous spoon had not yet been unpacked. But, judging from conduct witnessed the first day, spoon worth candidates should not be in short supply.

Rooky Eva Sabo, for example, was impressed by the giant snowballs stacked beside some of the barns until Claudine explained that they were actually plastic covered rolls of cattle feed or silage.

Tom Naden, a trip veteran, made a spoonish confession at the inaugural dinner. On his last trip to Wengen, clad only in his underwear, he had stepped onto his 5th floor balcony to enjoy the view. To his dismay, a breeze slammed the door behind leaving him stranded in a chilly and awkward position. Risking a tragic fall (as he describes it) he went over the rail, around the partition to the neighboring deck and snuck through that room to the hallway and back to his room. His adventure went undiscovered and thus unspooned on that trip. But his conscience, and a belief that there is a statute of limitation on spoon stories, compelled him to tell the story to us. With his conscience clear he is now ready to be spooned in 09.

So, now it’s on to our first Wengen dinner and then, tomorrow, on to the ski slopes. Both weather and snow look promising.