bettlä's blog

11.11.- 16.11.2009

 

After I've looked forward to go to Levi since one year, I packed my stuff. I'm already pretty experienced in packing for Levi. It was my fourth time.

 

So, on wednesday early in the morning we took the train to zurich. We means this year five fearless warriors.

After a pleasant flight we arrived in Kittilä and drove to Levi. As already traditional, we went straight to the Hullu Poro. But in there weren't many people, so we went to bed pretty early, because we had a exhausting day coming up.

 

 

On thursday we were invited by our buddy Jouni. We met him two years ago. He is a voluntary by the races and owner of a farm. After last year, it was the second time we' ve visited him.

After a cup of coffee and some different pastries, we went strengthened outside for a snowmobile ride. There's nothing as funny as driving on a big lost frozen lake with about 100 km/h. The air is leading you directly into the face and breathing is difficult. But in this time you feel like the king of the world.

Well, some girls overacted a little and landed with the whole snowmobile on the frozen lake. One glove here and the other about 20 meters beside that.....:-) But nothing was broken.

Afterwards we took it a little more easy and made a small trip with the reindeer-sledge.

After the traditional wood heated sauna, a delicious meal and packed with some new experiences we went back to Levi.

 

In the evening we had to check the Hullu Poro again. There were much more people and the party was once again amazing. We met Kalle's brother and a nice guy from Italy. So we partied until whole Levi was dark- light failure. But who cares? We went on and on and on till we weren't allowed to stay any longer.

 

The friday was the relaxing day. We slept until some unbelivable guys thought they had to make breakfast. It was pretty early....

So, my cousin and I stood up, went to a small shopping tour and decided to hike the Levitunturi. (Well, it's a hill but in finland it's called mountain.:-))

 

 

The weather was cold and sunny. And we catched the right time. It was awsome. The sun went down and the mood with the light was indescribable. We took snapshots like the Japanese when they see the Matterhorn. We hiked up for about one hour. We were the only ones on top of this 'hill'. I think it felt like heaven.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the sentimental trip, we went back home straight into the sauna and got ready for going out again.

It was Hullu Poro time again. This evening we met a guy from Norway and one from Sweden. It was funny again.

 

 

Saturday- women races. We took our flaggs and went to see the race. As a Kalle Palander Fanclub member my heart beats for Tanja Poutiainen as well. And as a swiss I support of course also the swiss girls. And we weren't the only swiss there. Two other fearless guys from switzerland stranded in Levi. 

It was a pretty exciting race. Maria Riesch won in front of Lindsey Vonn.Tanja became 3rd. and a lot of young racers reached the second run. And between watching the race I had to give an interview for the local newspaper. Who knows, maybe that was the launch of my career...:-) 

 

After the race and a little nap, we went to the Hullu Poro Areena. There were a lot of people. But the music didn't meet my expectations. But anyway we had fun. We met Tanja and again some italian guys. And like always when you don't expect a big party....Well, I went to bed at half past 7....:-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday- men races. After lieing down for about one hour, I got ready. Not yet recovered but with good will to do my best...:-)

The race started without the three best Finns. Kalle, Marcus and Jukka are injured. But nevertheless we gave all our best and supported the guys. But a race isn't the same without Kalle. We tried to cheer him up a little with some letters.

 

Unfortunately there weren't many people and the atmosphere was a little spooky. Anyway we gave our best and tried to make some noise. Reinfried Herbst won the race in front of Ivica Kostelic and Jean-Baptiste Grange. The Swiss guys showed a acceptable race and became 10. (Gini) and 12. (Zurbriggen).

After the race my batteries were empty. I went for a power nap for three hours. Afterwards I felt as reborn. We went again to the Hullu Poro. (For the last time this year :-( )

There we had a nice last evening. We met a lot of people from the fanclub and some guys from the Finnish Junior Team. After we enjoyed the last minutes in the Hullu Poro, we went to bed.

 

In the next morning we stood up early. We weren't sure if we will have a flight back to Switzerland. Finnair was striking. So we had to wait for about four hours until we knew that we can fly to Helsinki. Our two Suomi-Men drove five times to the airport and dealed many hours with the company. They missed the whole race on sunday. Without them we would probably still be in Levi. THANKS GUYS!

After landning in Helsinki, we had to search a connection flight to Zurich. After a few hours we found one via Stokholm.

At half past one a.m. I sank into my bed. Falling asleep wasn't a problem after a amazing week with a sleep average of 3-4 hours. :-)

I'm at home now, but my mind is still in Levi in the beautiful lapland. It was once again an amazing trip. Thanks everybody who organized all that. I will be able to live the next half of a year from those impressions. And then looking the other half of the year forward to the next trip.

 23.03.-24.03.2008

The race of the races! The only one! The real fight!

Alex Berchtold Memorial-GS Visperterminen

Traditionally we start our trip to Visperterminen at Easter. It's a very special event there. You can compete against worldcup stars like Didier Cuche, Daniel Albrecht, Fränzi Aufdenblatten, Sylviane Berthod....

At the same time it's our internal skiclub race, because there's most of the time not enough snow on our local mountain.

Like every year, we started the weekend with a beer.:-) After watching the bib draw, we ate a raclette and drank a glass of wine. Visperterminen without wine, that's not possible. They have their own wine from the highest vineyard in europe.

 

In the evening we drank some glasses with our rivals. We hoped to be faster the next day...The atmosphere in the small lanes in Visperterminen was once again great.

 

I guess some guys had a headache in the morning or at least a little small eyes. But everybody was looking forward to the race. The weather was great, but very cold. The slope was excellent too and the run not to easy.

 

As an old girl, I had the luck to start early. The first part of the gs was great but after skiing temporary on one ski, I was late the whole run long and had a big arrear. Fränzi Aufdenblatten won our category. I was almost 9 seconds behind her...:-)

But I had the luck to win our club race. Well, it wasn't very difficult. I was the only one in my category...:-)

 

Some of my buddies did better than me. We went home with 4 podium places.

By the way, the elite-race won Ralph Kreuzer. Daniel Albrecht became just 3rd. Didier Cuche didn't start.

 

A great weekend came to the end and we' re all looking forward to the next Easter in Visperterminen.

 

 

 

 

13.02.2008

About one month ago, Patrick and I decided to take some photos up on the mountain. Recently, he opened a new photographic studio. So, he wanted to test his new stuff.

For me it was the first time that I had to try to look good by skiing!:-) Until now I had just to ski fast.

We caught a beautiful day without clouds. In the morning we tried to find a nice place. And started to take the first shots. It's not so easy to make the perfect turn with a  perfect angle to the camera...

 

 

 

 

After a few attempts we dared us into the fresh snow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Well, something wasn't perfect...But I hadn't a crash and nothing was broken...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's one of the best pictures. Not yet perfect but not bad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, a long and exciting day ended by a beer and the last few sunbeams...

TBC...

 

By the way, if somebody is interested to watch more pics or buy any just let me know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take a look at Patrick's page: www.kameraarbeiten.ch

Or watch more pics on: http://picasaweb.google.de/bettlae/Fotoshooting 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11.01.-13.01.2008

Part two of one of the most interesting weeks in the  year. Worldcup in Wengen! After I had finnished working on friday morning, I started in the afternoon my car and drove to lauterbrunnen. There I took the famous rack-railroad up to wengen.

Arrived in Wengen, I watched the bib draw. Kalle draw the number 13 again! I gave him a nice chocolate bug and wished him all the best for the race.( I'll never give him once of those again).

Afterwards I was looking for my friend from the swiss tv. I planned to stay again in his hotel. Cause you don't have a chance to find a bed in Wengen without relationships or booking about one year beforehand.

After a few (or maybee one more) beers I went to bed.

It was snowing the whole night long.

On saturday morning I met the guys from the fanclub. We walked to the finish area and installed our banderole. We were all anxious to watch Kalle's run. We knew that it's been one of his season goal to win the slalom in wengen. According to this, we supported him as loud as we could. And Kalle did a nice properly run and became 5th. So, for the 2nd run everything was possible.

It was still snowing like crazy and our clothes became slowly but surely wet. That's why we were lucky as the 2nd run started. Kalle did a great run in the first part of the slalom. He was the fastest until he had a bad mistake and couldn't reach the next gate. 

You can imagine how disappointed Kalle was and we with him. I've never seen him before like this.

The race was won by Jean- Baptiste Grange in front of Jens Byggmark and Ted Ligety.

Understandably, Kalle didn't come to us after the race. So we took our stuff and went back to the village. There we were looking for a restaurant to eat. That's not so easy when some other people also want to do the same thing. So we asked a policeman where we do have the best chance to find a place to eat. He saw that we are from the Palander Fanclub and said us the name of the hotel where the finns were staying. We went to this hotel and saw Kalle. His mood was a little better yet. So he talked with us for about an half of an hour and thanked us for our support.

After the meal the guys from the fanclub left wengen. So, I changed clothes and went to the bib draw for the downhill.

A few hours later I met some friends and we partied almost the whole night. I dare to say that nowhere else is a party like this in the worldcup like in wengen. The people sing and dance while standing on the tables the whole night. Of course alcohol is one reason. But not so extremely as in other places where I've been yet.

After a few hours in my hard bed, I was really surprised about the weather in the morning. There was no cloud to see! Motivated I took the train up to the wengernalp. From there I hiked up to the famous hundschopf. From there I had an unbelivable view on the slope and the mountains around me.

What would the lauberhorn- race be without the patrouille suisse? The show of the swiss army in their jets between the big mountains around is one of the highlights and every year amazing!

Then the race started. The ambiance was once again great. And we heard all the people from the 'girmschbiel' screaming like crazy.

Bode Miller won the race vastly superior in front of Didier Cuche and Manuel Osborne-Paradis.

This day I saw a lot of happy people, And like adelboden, wengen is only a small place. So until everybody arrived down in lauterbrunnen, it took hours...

Again a great weekend ended. And it was the last race of the season for me. So I'm looking already forward to the next season!!!

 

Some nice impressions from wengen:   

http://picasaweb.google.de/bettlae/SLDHWorldcupInWengen08

 

 

 

 

04.01.- 06.01.2008

After missing one year adelboden I was looking forward twice as much as normaly to this weekend. Adelboden is just about one hour away from my home. So it's 'my' home race.

I set off on friday afternoon together with my brother. In adelboden is always a presentation of the different ski companies and their racers. So I was hoping to see Kalle. And get this: he was writing a lot of autographes on the fischer stall. 

After colleting a lot of autographes, we watched the bib draw. Kalle drew the number 1.

So, we went back home to bed.

 

In the next morning we got up early, because we knew that it will have a lot of people who wants up the road to adelboden. Well, instead of one hour we had two and a half hours to drive up...

With a lot less nerves we arrived by the fanclub on the top of the tribune. Kalle had won the race in Alta Badia, so we were very confident that he will be on the podium.

 Unfortunately Kalle catched a bad run and became 11th after the first run. But there were some other positive results. Marcus Sandell was showing a great run and became 9th. And the swiss guys took advantage of the trainings on their home hill. Four guys were in the top 6 of the ranking.

Almost everybody in adelboden was happy after the first run. According to this, the people wanted to buy some stuff to eat and drink. What a luck, that I got a awsome ticket for a tent where I could eat and drink for free and whitout waiting...:-)

Strengthened we were looking forward to the 2nd run. And with us the 23'000 people who were coming the same road up to adelboden as we did.

 

What a great run from Kalle. He gave his best and became finally 6th.

Unfortunately Marcus couldn't take advantage of the good run from the morning and had a spectaculary crash.

So, there were just some swiss guys left who could have made me really happy. The 23'000 people were going crazy as the swiss guys started. I've never heard and seen something like this in adelboden before. And the result of this unbelivable day was a double win of Marc Berthod and Daniel Albrecht.

 

Well, after this race I traded on my nice ticket and drank some beers.

 

What a luck that I had a nice offer to stay near adelboden. A friend of mine is cameraman by the swiss tv. So, I had a nice hotel and a fast travel up again to adelboden guaranted.

 

In the next morning we had to stand up early. I guess I was the first fan up on the hill. So, I had the possibility to help install the whole tv stuff. By the way, it was raining the whole night.

So I was also sitting in by the live production of the announcement for the race. It was exciting to see something like this from an other point of view.

 

A few later I met the first guys of the fanclub.

And I expected a friend who I'd met in Canada one year ago (more about this later).

So, I was looking very forward on her. After her, I met an other friend of mine frome swiss ski. He had some VIP-tickets left for us. So, the dinner was saved once again. The bad thing on those tickets was, that we weren't allowed to go to the fanclub tribune. Of course we were having a better place to watch the race. But I'd rather been by the fanclub. But you can't have everything.

 

After this turbulent morning, we were glad about the start of the race.

Although Kalle had started with his favourite number 13, he didn't finish the race. And the swiss guys weren't able to confirm the results from the day before.

So, a little unhappy we went into the VIP tent to eat the three-course meal.

With a better mood we sallied out to watch the 2nd run.

Mario Matt won the race in front of Benjamin Raich and Felix Neureuther.

 

By a beer this once again unforgettable weekend died away. 

 

To watch a few pics from adelboden: http://picasaweb.google.de/bettlae/GSSLWorldcupInAdelboden08

Because I had such exciting days there, I forgot to take some pics.

 

So check out the site of Mitch to see more pics: http://mitch218.vox.com/library/photos

07.11.-12.11.07

Well, this story began at august 07. After our first phenomenal journey to levi in november 06 we decided to travel again in the north with the kalle palander fanclub.We booked our flight and we were looking very forward to the races in levi. One week before the races would have been hold, they had to cancell them cause there was not enough snow. What could we do? We had booked already our flight.Thats why,we decided with one voice to fly anyway.

 

So, on wednesday the 07.november we met us at zurich airport to fly first to helsinki then to rovaniemi. 'We' means here: two finns who are living in switzerland, an italian who's also living here, a swede (guess what)and three swiss guys and three swiss girls. not all of them are from the fanclub, some of them just wanted to have fun...

In Helsinki we met another finn, so we were 10.

After landing in rovaniemi, a bus drove us the 2 hours to levi. On the road it was snowing like crazy and we saw some reindeers. 

Only just arrived in levi some of us (including me) had the urge to visit the hullu poro (crazy reindeer) for the first time in a long time. For everybody who doesn't know the hullu poro; well it's a famous bar. But you can't really describe with words what happens in there...

After the first few beers and karaoke rounds we went to bed happy and tired.

 

On thursday we slept late. Then we were ready for the next highlight: SAUNA!!!

Well, some girls were inside more than 2 hours without cool down once....(who could it be?)

After a sightseeing tour in the afternoon, we went to the hullu poro in the evening.

There we met again some nice finnish guys, took some drinks, saw some guys singing "Que viva l' espania", made snuff known, and saw some amazing older guys party longest....

 

On friday we went to the sauna again. Then we took a taxi to the next city, kittilä. Some guys needed money and we hoped to see something exciting. But it adhered to the hope... At least we met a nice barkeeper who let us test his recently invited, homemade drinks.

In the evening we were invited to a big party. Jouni palander, Kalle's father, got the finnish gold cross, the highest honor you can get in finland. He was honored for everything he did for the finnish alpin ski sport. According to this, the dinner was very special and very good. As a swiss it was a little bit difficult to understand all those speeches and the traditional lapland singer. But it was funny and very friendly that we had been invited.

After this party first of all we changed clothes (gäu münggä?!:-))

Then guess what! We went to the hullu poro...

 

On saturday morning we had to get up a little earlier as the days before. We planned to watch the women slalom races on the big screen in the village. Unfortunately the sign had been so bad, that we couldn't see the 2nd run.

By the way since wednesday it was snowing almost without a break and so we had also a winter-atmosphere.

In the evening we went to the hullu poro arena, a newer and bigger building than the other one. There a famous finnish singer was singing. The arena was a little too big for the few people who were in levi at this week. But also there we spent a nice evening.

 

On sunday was our day! Kalle started with his favourite number 13. And after the first run he was 2nd. Behind the swiss Marc Gini. With a good mood and a lot of other people we met us again in front of the screen to watch the 2nd run. And to our great joy, kalle became 2nd, Gini won and Manfred Mölgg was 3rd. So, the party started. I guess in this moment hadn't been anybody unhappy in levi!

We got back in our house and had a nice final evening. After some guys went to bed, some other simply unbelievable guys went again to the hullu poro. Directly from there (4 o'clock am) we went back home.

 

 

So ,it was once again an unforgetable trip to finland. Certainly it wasn't as good as in 06. (That's difficult to top anyway) But also without the whole worldcup circus we had a lot of fun. Thanks everybody for those great days and see ya next year! 

 

some pics from levi: http://picasaweb.google.de/bettlae/2ndSLWorldcupracesInLevi07

 

26.10.07-28.10.07

Together with my sister, her friend, my brother and the new car of my parents I started on friday 26. october the journey to sölden. In the evening we met my friends of the kalle palander fanclub. After a couple of beers we went to bed. In the morning we got up early for watching the GS races of the women. Of course we supported tanja poutiainen ( 4. place) and as a swiss also the swiss girls (no countable results). 1st became Denise Karbon, 2nd Julia Mancuso and 3rd Kathrin Zettel.

After the race we prepared us for the fanclub presentation in the village. There every fanclub can present oneself in the best, funniest or loudest way as possible to get the vote from the public and win a lot of money. The best fanclub this year was the one from manfred mölgg.

 

Afterwards we watched the winner ceremony and the bib draw in the village, went for a drink and then sacked out.

In the next morning we stood up early again.Kalle had drawn the number 1 the day before. We went up to the mountain and got ready for the first run. Everybody of us took a flagg or something to make noice and look out, Kalle became 2nd! So, we were confident for the 2nd run.

In this 2nd run Kalle gave once again his best and finally became 3rd. What a result for a man who hates this slope!!! Of course everybody of us was happy!:-) And after waiting for quite a while, Kalle came to us like always and thanked us for our support.

By the way, Aksel Svindal won the race, Ted Ligety became 2nd.

So, the three kick-off days for this season were over. And everybody was looking forward for the next journey with the fanclub- levi...

 

there are some impressions from sölden: http://picasaweb.google.de/bettlae/GSWorldcupracesSLden07

Long time ago I signed in by vox. And I decided to write some blogs with the beginning of the new year. Well, now we have already the 30. January. That means, it's really time to start this one. I've planned to write some stories from the last year too. So, I hope you'll enjoy!

 

Hi!

I'm bettlä. I'm from switzerland. My live is skiing. When you don't find my on the slope...

... I'm playing clarinet

... I'm watching an icehockeygame of the SCL Tigers

... I'm playing volleyball

... or I'm drinking a beer or taking a snuff with friends

Here you can see how I live and what I'm doing the whole year long.

So, enjoy my pages!!!