Snowboarding in Svizzera!

I spent January2-6th snowboarding in Switzerland. I have to admit, it has been the most fun I have had on a trip so far. We opted to rent a car because it was far less expensive. My friend Zach and I took turns driving. It was actually a really easy drive once we got out of Florence. (There really arent traffic laws in Florence, and its filled with one way streets.) We left around 4:30am and arrived in switzerland 5 hours later.

There are three towns that surrounded the mountains we were snowboarding in. We stayed in a town called Flims, and snowboarded in Laax, Flims, and Falera.
Our hotel was about 150 yards from the Gondola that takes you up to the chairlifts, and our balcony overlooked the mountain.

Snowboarding there is just outrageous. Each run is anywhere from 8-14 Kilometers (6-12miles) long. Needless to say the mountain is not for beginners.
Another really cool thing that is different from the US is that in Switzerland, you snowboard at your own risk. They have arrows follow where the runs go, but there are no ropes or employees keeping you from going off the trail. The whole mountain is at your fingertips.
At one point, my friend and I broke off from our group and snowboarded off the trail into an empty cloud of powder. There were no trails or other boarders in sight. We snowboarded across two towns and ended up in somebody's backyard!
Just unreal.
I wish I could still be there.
Chelsea Zach and I goofing off.
Yep, -16c when we got there! (Thats 3 degrees farenheit) Makes for great snow!

At the top of the world! When Zach and I went off the trails.

Pit Stop in our car! Driving through florence was bonkers, but easy once we got to switzerland. Thankfully we had a navigation system