Past Blast: The Matterhorn

View from Zermatt

While Americans may become familiar with the Matterhorn via an amusement park ride, the 14,690 ft summit is actually one of the most dangerous peaks to climb in the Alps. Alas, we only hiked from the nearby Swiss town of Zermatt to the glacier at the Matterhorn's base. The four-sided peak has a way of repeatedly dramatically-revealing itself, both in the winding streets of Zermatt and the other nearby Alpine villages, and as the trails make their way past small streams and ski slopes.

Zermatt- nestled in an Alpine valley

While the hiking itself is nice and quiet, there is an almost-constant rumbling of mini-avalanches down the steep faces of the Alps. Kind of neat to watch small streams of snow pour over the top edges and appear to be a short-term waterfall. Our day of hiking was filled with sunshine, and was only missing a yodeler or two to complete the Swiss experience.

Know where to go

The Freshmaker

Now is the winter...

Welcome to the first Sunday AF [after football]. It was a fun season, from a Bears fan perspective- coming in nobody predicted an eventual NFC Championship fight against the Packers. The hype on local radio stations [it didn't matter if you were listening to The Score, The Drive, or even NPR] was unprecedented. And although our defense did its job against the ballyhooed Packers O [albeit after spotting them a 2-TD lead], it's hard to win with a 1st-string QB injured before halftime, and a 2nd-string 'veteran' QB who made me yearn for Kyle Orton. That's hard to do.

How about a '5th Phase' next year?

At the end of the day, though, da Bears missed a golden chance to take a stab at a title. It ain't easy getting through the playoffs, and the Packers look poised to start an NFC North dynasty [they are a quarterbacking gold mine]. With 32 teams in the NFL, simple math in a 'fair league' says you should win a Superbowl once every 32 years... so da Bears still have 8 years before their next Superbowl win is overdue. But with certain teams always trying to spoil the party and win at a rate faster than 1/32, being this close to the Superbowl [and losing in it a few years ago] hurts. I don't know how da Bears got where they were this year, but it'll take some similar magic to do it again. And the NFL rewards solid-team-building much more consistently than 'magic'.


Okay, that's enough rambling about football for the next few months [assuming there's no 'work-stoppage'...]. My weekends just opened up due to lack of football. Here's hoping the weather avoids dipping below-0 from here on out... but it's still another month until the equinox brings us Spring. Looking forward to an Amtrak trek west in early April, too! But for now, time to get back to lazy Sundays.

Blizzarded

Early Wednesday- the plow just couldn't keep up!

'Twas fun driving

Chicago's third-snowiest-storm-on-record is now history, and yes we managed to survive. Although my early commute home Tuesday took two hours [no thanks to some moron who ran out of gas in a center lane on I-88 only 30 minutes into the storm...], everything else went smoothly. Full cupboard, check. Power only flickered a few times. Watched a whole slew of The Wire season 4, although Cassie still had to work thanks to her laptop. And it's looking like my snowday will be repaid on Saturday in the office. Still, can't say it wasn't a little exciting.

~18"

My apartment parking lot was finally plowed around 4pm, and we dug out the cars to avoid doing it tomorrow when the temperatures are going to be brutally cold. It's the storm that keeps on giving. 

Snowplow aftermath

Gotta climb it, right?