Lost luggage, beautiful scenery and a boulder wall in the middle of the office – Read and watch what Sierra experienced on her trip to Switzerland.

Text: Sierra Blair-Coyle

Hi everyone!

I just got back from my first international trip of the year…to Switzerland! This trip was exciting and fun for so many reasons. It was also the first time I was able to announce my new sponsorship with Mammut and meet everyone at the Mammut headquarters.

My trip started off with an easy flight from Phoenix to Chicago. From Chicago we were supposed to fly to Newark, and then from Newark to Zurich. However, as our flight from Chicago to Newark became more and more delayed we realized we were going to miss our flight to Zurich! Luckily the airline switched our flight plan and we ended up flying from Chicago to Brussels, then Brussels to Zurich.

Once we were in Zurich we encountered another travel problem…we had made it to Zurich safely…but our bags were nowhere to be found! Our bags had never left Chicago! Normally I carry my climbing bag on the plane with me, but for this trip I had checked it. I also had Mammut sample clothing in my checked luggage. After reporting our luggage as lost, I met Christoph (Head of Sponsoring at Mammut) in the arrivals area. After getting some food, our first task was to go and purchase some new climbing shoes since the photo shoot began the next day. The rest of the day went by pretty quickly, I got new shoes, checked into the hotel, had a short nap, ate dinner, then off to bed!

The next day (Tuesday) marked the beginning of the photo/video shoot with Mammut. We started the day off by visiting Mammut headquarters, where we had a tour and met all of the amazing people who work at Mammut. For me it is always very fun to see the behind the scenes of the companies I work with and meet the wonderful people who make it possible.

"For me it is always very fun to see the behind the scenes of the companies I work with."

After touring headquarters we went to Kraftreaktor Klettereldorado in Lenzburg to do some shooting. For the shoot I mainly got to climb problems that I found interesting, with a few purposefully set up shots that took place here and there. Thomas Senf, the photographer, was awesome to work with and we had a really fun time!

Post climbing gym we went back to the hotel and were ecstatically looking forward to the arrival of our luggage! We had bought some necessities from the grocery store…but were still wearing the same outfits we had worn on the airplane. Luckily for me I got to change into different clothes for shooting, but my poor Mom had been wearing the same outfit for 2 days at this point. Unfortunately our luggage was not at the hotel because it had made it to Brussels…but did not make the next flight to Zurich! We crossed our fingers that the luggage would arrive soon…hopefully sometime before the next morning when we went climbing outside.

"I actually set a boulder on their small bouldering wall in the Mammut office."

Unfortunately on Wednesday morning we were still without our luggage. Christoph had to bring me socks to wear for our hike to the climbing area that day. We went climbing at a small area called Schwyz, which was incredibly beautiful. The misty morning mixed with the greenery of the area truly made it an unforgettable experience. Sascha Lehmann (another Mammut athlete) joined us in Schwyz and we had a great time climbing together. Despite the misty morning the sun stayed out for most of the day and kept us warm!

After a fun day outside we went back to the hotel for dinner and were very happy to find that our luggage finally arrived! My mom would finally be able to change her outfit! :)

Our last full day in Switzerland was spent at the Mammut headquarters again. I met some of the people who had been absent on Tuesday and actually set a boulder on their small bouldering wall. After Mammut headquarters we drove into Zurich to have a session at Minimum. Today was also the day that I was allowed to officially announce my Mammut sponsorship! I had known about the sponsorship for quite some time but wasn’t allowed to announce anything until today. It was nice to finally share how excited I am to be working with Mammut!

We had an early flight home in the morning where it was back to normal life in the States. I had such a great time on my Switzerland trip and meeting all of the amazing people at Mammut! I am proud to be working with such a great company and I look forward to our future together.

On to the next adventure…