Angel Mountain
By Jay Cowan |
| Photo by Elizabeth Skrzypczak |
Still, prior to that I’d also spent hours in the company of a squad of gregarious Brazilians here. And now I’m skiing Angel Mountain (the literal translation of Engelberg) in a driving storm with two Swedes and a German. No punch line, merely pleasant circumstances, the result of more than just Switzerland’s historic crossroads location, or spectacular Engelberg’s appeal to a diverse array of visitors. They are also a product of skiing’s longtime role as one of the most international of sports. And never have we needed that worldwide connection more than we do today.
At this moment, war is the talk all over the world, especially here in Europe. There are deep concerns with the policies of the American government, but almost no animosity toward American citizens — at least not on the slopes of the Alps.
Our strange and highly specialized obsession with sliding down snowy mountains may seem an unlikely candidate for helping bring the world together. But people from all over the planet ski, including those from China, Chechnya, Russia, Kosovo, Korea and even Texas. You can ride the snow in Hawaii and Burma, Kenya and Kashmir, Morocco and Corsica. Or Switzerland, home of the United Nations, where I am now.
What makes today great for me is partly the location and partly the rapidly accumulating powder, but mostly the way the four of us have come together on this mountainside. We are, plain and simply, skiers, and we are all here for that one purpose. Not to argue over our possible differences during tense times in the world, but to share a common passion with wide eyes and big grins. And, in doing that, to discover more about what we have in common than what we don’t.
Peter is a fiftyish career Air Force officer in Sweden who also works for the U.N. in tense postings such as Jordan, Israel and Yugoslavia. His son Christoph is a 20-something law student in Stockholm. Interestingly, we met just a little while ago because of historic biases.
“I like your coat, but I don’t like who makes it,” Peter informed me with a joking smile when we all boarded a gondola together. When I looked at him funny his son said, “We’re from Sweden, of course.” And my coat is from Norway. Meanwhile he and his son wear jackets of prominent American manufacture.
We’re also using skis from four different countries, but what we have immediately in common is a love of fresh snow and off-piste slopes. And, as it develops, a willingness to trust each other in dicey, uncontrolled terrain and conditions. This is not an insubstantial thing when avalanches and life and death can hang in the balance. As we plunge down wild mountains in visibility akin to the murk of international diplomacy, our bond grows. We test the stability of the slopes together, power through the thigh-deep rewards and laugh like kids at the uncomplicated fun of it all.
Over a quick lunch, we talk about the famous, centuries-old Benedictine monastery in Engelberg and its similarities to the temples of Islam and Judaism, of Hindus and Buddhists. We muse about why humans can’t focus on their remarkable similarities instead of their murderous differences. And I get to hear the opinions of up-and-coming European lawyers, and a man who has spent much of his life in international hot spots. Happily, none of us seem to feel that harmony, or at least mutual coexistence, is such an impossibility.
Now, after more runs down our favorite line, I’m shaking hands with new friends and saying goodbye. I thank them for letting me share their day, and there is an agreeably awkward pause as we each hesitate before skiing off. It’s one of the fine things about our sport, days like this that start with strangers on a mountain and end with the knowledge that something interconnecting has happened.
An hour from here, some of the most powerful people in the world are meeting and disagreeing at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos. In places of such beauty and possibility, is it too much to hope for better? Perhaps. Or maybe they just need a good day of skiing together to put everything in perspective.
A regular contributor to SKI, Cowboys & Indians and Big Sky Journal, Jay Cowan is the author of “The Best of the Alps.”
