Tram Day

The beautiful sunrise heralded a sunny, pleasant day.

A close-up of the race track on ice revealed activity even at sunrise.

Why is there a horse racing track on ice? An event called "White Turf" is held here on 3 consecutive Sundays in February. This Sunday is the last one. There are traditional jockey races, "Trotting Races" where the jockey rides behind the horse in a cart/sled, and "Skijoring" where the jockey ski's behind the horse. They race around an oval groomed track. Grandstand seating is sold. We are hoping to purchase standing-room-only tickets on Sunday to watch some of the racing before we head out of town. After all, how often do you get the opportunity to watch horses race on ice?

One of the guests at our hotel is a young woman who owns a little French Bulldog, "Honey". I've already posted one photo of Honey. The young lady is in town on business, and while she is working during the day, she keeps Honey with the receptionists. Honey has a really cute, sweet personality.

I think Honey might miss our attention, too!

Up at the ski area, it was sunny and much less windy than on Tuesday. We were happy that most of the lifts were spinning.

Around 11:00 a.m. the tram made its first trip up to Piz Nair. When we observed it running, we "green contrailed" to the tram. We enjoyed our ride up.

There is a mid station that the tram does not stop at. It was used for the World Ski Championships in 2003 and 2017. The men's and women's downhill races started from this point. The starting areas are very steep!

At the top of Piz Nair, there is a large building with an extensive observation area and a restaurant! (It puts Lone Peak's tram shack to shame.) The elevation is 10,030 feet at the top.

The 360 degree views are amazing! The Alps seem to go on forever! We observed our tram departing.

A ram greeted us at the top!

We had a birds-eye view of the town of St. Moritz below. You can even see the White Turf race track.

How majestic the Alps are! This is why St. Moritz calls itself the "Top of the World".

We skied this slope down from the top. You don't want to fall!

It looks steeper than it really is. It was a little bit scoured from the wind, but manageable.

We skied quite a bit of new terrain and found some great turns. We even found a nice expert run and a few powder turns, and Brock was quite a bit more courageous than me.

We went back up on the tram a second time for lunch, and we skied a very full day.

We have had our best skiing in St. Moritz.

We celebrated with a relaxing visit to the hotel's steam room and ice bath, then a nice dinner at the hotel's dining room.

On Thursday we are planning to rest our legs and explore the town.

Vertical feet skied today: 20,391! Biggest day yet.