“Keep the windows down and keep the radio turned off,” my Grandmother advised me, and I nodded. I knew the avalanche rules too well. I had been traveling down the mountain roads as a passenger with her and other adults for years. Now it was my turn. For the first time, I would drive down to the village all myself. It was about time! I was already 17, way too old to be babied anymore -so I thought.
What sounded so natural and reasonable at first, gave me shivers a while later. Being alone in the car felt different, it was creepy. Why do we keep the windows down and the radio turned off? So that we can hear the rumble in the distance when an avalanche comes down.
The rumble, the loud noise that all mountain people know so well. We have heard and seen it numerous times; especially in areas, where the trees and had been cut to make room for new ski lifts and ski resorts.
When you hear the avalanche coming, hit the gas pedal and drive as fast as you can. That was the logic behind it. Drive in between the snow walls and try to get away, before massive amounts of snow covers the road for days.
Avalanches were a part of my childhood. Reading the signs after an avalanche was part of an education, I didn’t get in school.
I remember years when I couldn’t drive home at the weekend. Our small village had been snowed in, or an avalanche had come down, and the roads were not passable. Life was uncomplicated back then. I got temporarily adopted by other kids in boarding school and went home with them instead. Sometimes I got lucky, and we got snowed in when I was back at home on our farm.
The windows on the ground floor couldn’t be seen, our farm and others had been swallowed up by snow. Only the walkways to the houses and barns were shoveled free. Smoking chimney in the far distance signaled that others were still around.
Helicopters came and dropped off food and medications when they were needed, sometimes people were lifted out in emergencies -gratefully school was not considered an emergency, and I got a few extra weeks of vacation.
We made the best out of it. We, the kids had fun, the adults not so much. Many farmers still had the old sleighs in their barns, and the memories of the sleigh rides are dear to me. I remember jumping out of the second-floor window, right into the snow underneath that covered the first-floor windows. My Grandmother didn’t like my athletic attempts and grounded me to the kitchen -what I loved.
This year Zermatt, in Switzerland was in the news. Thousands were stuck when the roads were swallowed my massive avalanches. The trains stopped, and the luxury ski resort was separated from the world for a while.
9,000 tourists were trapped in a luxury ski resort. I assume there could be worse places to be snowed in. Reading the headlines brought back some of my best childhood memories.
My Aunt has a home in Klosters she goes to October through April- she kept sending me photos of the snow- so incredible the amount! Your account of growing up with avalanches as part of it amazes me. Not something we would have to think about here in the United States!
i like your post!
Fantastic account Bridget. Thank you for sharing your memories.
All I can say is that I’m very grateful I’m not one of those 9000 people stranded because of an avalanche. The idea terrifies me! I guess when you’ve grown up in the mountains though, it’s just one more part of life. I just can’t imagine all that snow!
The avalanche “just” covered the trail tracks and roads, Zermatt itself was safe, but it snowed pretty good, two meters in just a few days. Being snowed in is actually not that bad -even as an adult. 🙂 Think about all the romance and free vacation.
For the resort operators and the staff, it would be a lot less fun, I’m sure.
[…] Source: Winter and no way out! […]
Twice gorgeous Zermatt has been closed this season. Your story gives me goosebumps. I love it when Trump supporters call anti-Trumpists like you and I snowflakes. They have no idea how unique and powerful snowflakes can be, especially when they work together!
I like that, I like it a lot. 🙂
That is a huge scary experience, to have avalanches. I try to avoid them and have been fortunate. I have read foolish bloggers, old enough to know better, who went right past signs warning of trouble and into avalanche zones with booze to take selfies. I couldn’t keep reading the blog of someone whoi cane across as so foolish..
People have always dared nature. Same can be seen here with people chasing tornadoes or storms. It looks so harmless at first, but nature has a way to show us who is boss. I worked with the mountain rescue until I was 18 I could tell you stories of tourists you wouldn’t believe. 🙂
I am sure you can. The internet nowadays is littered with foolish people suffering needlessly, or harming others needlessly, and there are countless signs that you think would not be necessary about ‘don’t swim with the alligators’ or ‘don’t jump out the window’ etc. That reminds me to look up the Darwin Awards, which I forgot about, where folks died in tragic foolish ways. It did not seem kind, but it’s sociology–
Goodness, always when I think I have seen and heard it all. An award where people can read up on tragic death for their amusement. (Shaking my head)
Isn’t that strange? It was very popular some ten or more years ago. I am unsure if it is still around. It might well be, since people have not become smarter nor more averse to public discussion of anything at all.