Night Sledding!

We headed back so we could get ready for night sledding. Before getting back to the hostel some girls stopped for their boots, I went back and got my ticket and then got my boots also. We had about an hour and a half before it was time to leave so I took a nap and then got layered up for the evening. It was really funny because we all looked like little Michelin men waddling around in all of our layers. I made it down stairs and stuffed my fat feet (they had a few too many pairs of socks on) into my snow boots. We waited for a van and finally got into one and then started the 20 minute drive up the mountain. Once we got there we had to hike to a gondola and ride to the top. Our group was near the end of the line and each gondola took 8 people. It was crazy as the box of people went up and disappeared into the black sky. When we finally got in and did our own disappearing trick we looked down to see that we were being carried straight up the face of a mountain, it was a direct drop down. I’m really glad that it wasn’t daylight or I would have really been freaking out. Once we reached the top we headed to the rest of the group and got our glow sticks, put them on, and swung them around to our back. Then we waited until we got instructions on how to maneuver our sleds. When we were all ready, we hiked a long ways up to the trail and headed out down the mountain side. It was kind of scary the edge of the mountain was really right there, just a short (maybe foot tall) snowbank was between you and quite a tumble down the “hill.” Once we got past the initial bumper cars effect that was created by 50 people starting down the same hill, you were almost all alone on the mountain, all you could see was the little trail of green glowsticks ahead of you. Somehow though the little light always seemed to come up a lot faster than you expected and it was hard not to crash into someone. We took our first break and got out and walked to see a frozen waterfall. It was really beautiful. Pictures wouldn’t turn out so it was just a moment we would have to remember. We had buddied up at the beginning and Rachel was my buddy, we met back up and then all grabbed our sleds and began to head down the next part of the course. I quickly lost her in the mob again and filed into line with the rest of the green lights. From this point on we didn’t have a full out stop with everyone but instead just walked when you had to. I finally started to get the hang of things, turning and passing people. It was funny it was like you were in a video game with the little glow sticks and it was really unrealistic how fast you got going and how just sticking one foot out would allow you to turn. I ended up running into Kristin. It was funny because I said, “Kristin, is that you?” and she simply replied, “Yes” and I just said, “It would be you.” It was really funny (you had to be there ). After that little crash we only had a little bit of the course left and then it was over. I met back up with my "buddy." We carried our sleds to the shed and headed in for our dinner. We sat down at our table and waited as we were served salads, then the cheese fondue came out and then we had Rosti, which is just hash browns with various toppings this one had an egg. After our meal we headed back down the mountain and got back to the ski shop. We turned in our gear and went back to the hotel.