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As we suspected, the fine weather came to an end last night, and today we have heavy rain showers and a strong wind that closed many of the ski lifts. The Ibex doesn’t mind the weather.

We headed down to Interlaken and met Ali for a large and leisurely lunch at the Cafe de Paris. When we got back to Lauterbrunnen Hayley decided to take the path up to Wengen to walk off her lunch.

Not long after we got home the rain got much heavier and the temperature started falling fast. Time for some work on the jigsaw.

Colin is playing at the Anonym bar later, and we’ll pop into Rocks on the way as it’s James’s birthday.

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We’ve had a nice run of good weather for the past few days, but it looks like it will come to an end tonight. Clouds are massing over the mountains and it’s very windy up there.

Hayley went skiing today while Val and I watched the ski racing on TV. Hayley cooked a delicious dinner. Tonight we’re off to the Braunbaer to have a sing-song with Uptown Lights. The Braunbaer has a logo which I think is supposed to look like a cuddly teddy bear. Popular opinion in the village says it looks more like a bin bag. What do you think?

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I had a hard time deciding whether to ski today or stay in the village to watch the racing from Kitzbühel. In the end the racing won, and I had a very pleasant morning in the Crystal bar watching the race on TV. Meanwhile, Val and Hayley were skiing at Männlichen.

They had a good ski all the way down to Grindelwald. This evening we headed down to Interlaken for dinner at the Brasserie, followed by drinks at the Braunbaer once we got back to Wengen. According to the weather forecast it’s supposed to snow tonight, but with the temperature around +6C I somehow doubt it.

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This morning the wind was whistling down the chimney, and most of the ski lifts were closed. It was mild though and quite sunny, so we thought we’d go up and see what skiing was on offer. Scheidegg was very windy, but we dropped down into the forest towards Brandegg and enjoyed a nice run down. Coffee in the restaurant was very welcome.

After lunch Hayley skied back to Wengen and got a nice picture. The big cloud over the Jungfrau is a sure sign of a windy day – too windy for the workers who are still dismantling the grandstand at Wengernalp.

Tonight we’ll head up to Rocks, and afterwards we have a table booked for dinner at the Eiger.

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It was snowing when we woke up this morning, so Val and Hayley went skiing while I sauntered down to Interlaken to buy supplies. There was a lot of fog and poor visibility on the mountain, but the sun did peep through once or twice. Hayley hasn’t skied for 2 years, but she still covered a lot of ground until the fog became impenetrable.

Colin is playing again tonight, this time in the Victoria Lauberhorn.

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Hayley has arrived, after a 24 hour will she / won’t she debate whether she should travel out to Wengen. Anyhow, she arrived this afternoon and here we are in the Braunbaer bar with Ozzy and Tanja.

Colin is playing in the background of the picture, and we all had an enjoyable night. It’s nice to have a guest in Chalet Iltis.

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Beves and Ibe played their first gig of the season at the Braunbaer last night. We had a very jolly sing-song.

This morning we were up very early as we wanted to make the trip to Grindelwald’s ski area. It’s called First (pronounced Fee-erst). To get there we take the cable car up to Männlichen, then ski across the plateau to the gondola which takes us down to Grindelwald Terminal. From there a bus takes us to the valley station of the First gondola, which then takes 25 minutes to get us to the top. It’s quite a trip, and before we entertain any thoughts of skiing we stop for coffee and cake. First is a compact and attractive little ski area.

We had a ski around, and soon it was time to head back towards Wengen. We paused at Kleine Scheidegg for hot dogs. It’s warm enough to eat outside.

A nice day out.