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The spring-like weather continues, so we’re up early and off up to Scheidegg for a ski. Nice view from the Eigernordwand restaurant where we stopped for coffee this morning.

It’s still quiet on the mountain and in the village. Christmas holidays will soon be here though, so we need to enjoy this nice weather while it lasts.

The sun also provides another distraction, as we can keep an eye on our solar electricity production. This becomes something of an obsession. The system produces pages and pages of statistics showing us how much power we’ve produced, used or sold to the electricity company.

Val did a load of laundry this afternoon, and it was completely free! There was even a bit left over to export to the electricity grid.

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Val is still trying lots of different settings on the ski boots that she’s looking to buy, so this morning we’re off up to Männlichen. We met Ali at the cable car station and headed up the hill. It’s a beautiful morning.

Männlichen was very quiet, with a few groups doing instructor training and hardly anyone else.

Ali got a rare shot of Val and me.

We popped back down to the village for lunch, then headed back up to Scheidegg for Val to do more testing. Eventually she was happy with the adjustments that had been made to her boots, so she went back to the shop and parted with her money. Hooray!

The weather has turned very mild, and the air is really clear. I got this shot from our balcony this evening.

The forecast is good for tomorrow, so more skiing looks likely. It’s not a bit like a typical December.

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We had a Wengen community meeting in the Victoria Lauberhorn last night. It was nice to see everyone all together, and the food and wine were good. Colin provided the entertainment in the bar later.

While we were enjoying ourselves it was snowing outside, so we trudged home through ankle deep snow.

This afternoon, just after lunch, there was a loud crash outside and a big heap of snow landed on the terrace.

The snow must have fallen from the roof. I couldn’t see fallen snow anywhere else, so we figured there must be more to come. Sure enough, an hour later, another much bigger fall came down on the steps and the garden.

It was really noisy, and I had to dig the steps out so that Val could get up to the village. Here’s the culprit – our shiny and very slippery new roof.

The roof has some defences against sliding snow, but they’re clearly not up to the job. Another problem to tackle.

This evening we popped up to Rocks to meet Val’s ski school colleagues. There was a nice view of the Jungfrau on the way up the hill.

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After 3 years of construction, the new cable car from Stechelberg to Mürren opened today. We thought we’d go and have a look. Smart new ticket counter.

We were expecting big crowds for this event, but the cold and murky weather seemed to have persuaded people to stay at home. Zero queuing.

The cabins are nice and spacious, with room for 85 passengers.

The ride up to Mürren takes less than 4 minutes. A cabin approaches the top station.

The route from the valley floor ascends a sheer cliff face. The new lift is therefore the steepest cable car in the world. Here’s the mildly terrifying view down to the valley station.

After all that excitement we caught the bus back to Lauterbrunnen and were home in time for lunch.

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Last night we headed down to Interlaken for dinner with Wil and Amanda. There’s a Christmas market at the casino, so we thought we’d take a look. A few pictures.

We had beers at the Brasserie, followed by a lovely curry at the Taj Palace.

This morning the sun was out, so we headed up to Scheidegg. Val’s been to Central Sport and borrowed some posh new ski boots that she wants to try out. The ski season hasn’t really got underway yet, so it was very quiet.

It’s always nice to find that mind, body and equipment are still capable of skiing down a snowy mountain. Wengen is still pretty quiet, but a few bars are open and most of the hotels will open their doors over the next week or so.

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Last year we had a family dinner with an overnight stay at the Gaskell Arms in the nearby village of Much Wenlock. It was a big success, so we thought we’d do it again this year.

The pub is very cosy, with real fires and nice rooms. The food was pretty good too. After a good night’s sleep we enjoyed a Shropshire breakfast before heading home.

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Yesterday’s coloured sticks have now been supplemented by lots of bauprofils (build profiles). These wooden structures aim to provide us residents with an idea of the shape and scale of the proposed building work, including the space that the second railway track will occupy, and the pedestrian underpass.

What happens now is that the railway company will start a charm offensive. There will be presentations (with wine and snacks) as they try to convince us that the village will benefit from the additional railway track. Of course, when planning permission is applied for we will all object anyway, in the expectation that some ‘sweeteners’ might be offered. Ah well, at least nothing will happen until spring.

Tomorrow we’re leaving for the UK, so today has been taken up with last minute shopping and packing. It’s hard to imagine that when we return in a month’s time it will be winter.