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Val was off early to work this morning, and I didn’t envy her one bit. It was cold, wet and generally miserable. The forecast was for an improvement, but the rain continued and eventually I had to face the trudge up to the village for supplies. Wengen is super busy with families, the European school holidays are in full swing, and most of them seemed to be in the Co-op keeping out of the rain. I whizzed round the shelves in record time, content in the knowledge that a coffee awaited at the Crystal bar. Alas, even that was not to be, as the bar was full of bored kids who had turned it into something resembling a huge crèche. Unwilling to put up with the noise, I headed for home.

The rain continued until after lunch, but late this afternoon the clouds parted and we were treated to a sensational view of the Jungfrau clad in fresh snow.

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Ben is the manager of the ski school that Val works for, and yesterday was his birthday. Naturally we went out for a few drinks, and his venue of choice was the Grand Hotel Mattenhof down in the valley. We thought this was a bit of a strange choice, but actually it’s an amazing old place. Vaulted ceilings everywhere.

A disco ball above the ballroom.

And, of course, a really nice bar.

It turned into a really good night out.

Amanda came over from Grindelwald today, so we had lunch at the Crystal bar while we watched the ski racing on TV. The weather’s still very pleasant, so we walked off the food with a lap of the village. Uptown Lights later at the Alpine Hotel.

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According to the thermometer outside our kitchen window, it’s very warm today.

Despite this, and somewhat miraculously, you can still ski all the way back to the main street and the cable car in the village.

Laurie and Michael came round for dinner last night.

Laurie is the selfie queen. Here we are on the balcony.

After dinner we wandered up to the Alpine Hotel for the live music. A nice evening.

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It’s been a beautiful day. Val got this lovely shot from the train on her way back from work this afternoon.

After a late lunch, we had a walk out to Innerwengen. The animals at the farm are enjoying the sunshine.

Puppies under the bench.

The ski runs that arrive here are getting a bit threadbare. It’s been about 7 weeks since we had a meaningful snowfall. Without artificial snow, there would be nothing here at all.

A good walk on a super afternoon.

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Val was off to work early again this morning, it’s not a bad day up at the top.

The ‘Hütte’ at Scheidegg where she takes the kids for hot chocolate has started offering food. The smoked brisket schnitzelbrot (basically a hot beef sandwich) sounds delicious. I might pop up for lunch sometime.

Michael and Laurie are visiting from Heidelberg. We had a few beers in the Crystal bar. Val wore her Heidelberg top.

The weather’s still dry and mild, it’s more like April than February.

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Val was off early to work this morning, and she got this shot from just above our house. For the first time in weeks, it has snowed!

It was just cold enough last night for snow, but it’s been so warm lately that the roads and paths are still warm, so the snow didn’t settle where we have to walk. The sun broke through during the morning, and just like British snow, it was all gone by lunchtime.

I went up to the village for shopping this morning, and met all the usual suspects in the Crystal bar at coffee time. Ali came round for coffee this afternoon, and this evening we popped into the Alpine Hotel for music with Beves and Ibe. A good night was had by all.

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We met Jeanne and Robert this afternoon, they’re back in town and waiting for their family to arrive. Jeanne remarked that these pages haven’t been updated for a while, and she’s quite right – I have been remiss. We’ve been skiing despite the holiday crowds, and it’s been surprisingly good considering we’ve had no snow for a few weeks. Meanwhile, there are some signs of spring. Snowdrops on the walk down to Wengwald this morning.

Everyone’s new friend the Ibex is back too. Apparently, according to the locals, this is a mature animal. The Ibex used to confine themselves to the forests to the south of here but this guy, and a few females, are now regular visitors to our neck of the woods where they are close to the railway line. You can see how green the grass has become, spring is coming.

As I write this it’s raining outside on the balcony. Val is starting work tomorrow, so hopefully Scheidegg will be blessed with some new snow.