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Every winter the Tourist Office organise a big curling tournament called the Dolly Cup. It’s for locals and it takes place over 4 Tuesdays during February. Val and her ski school mates have entered a team.

I have no idea where the name of the tournament came from, but a quick Google tells me that lots of Swiss towns and villages have such an event, and it’s always called the Dolly Cup.

Val’s team naturally wear their blue uniforms; this is not just for publicity but also to keep out the cold on the ice. In the end they were beaten by a single point in a very close game. Nobody minds as the winners have to buy the beer afterwards.

Today it’s cold and foggy. Val’s ski school is running some training for resort workers so Val and Ally bravely went up to join in. Not much scenery to admire today.

Fancy dress at Scheidegg. 

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A lovely day today, and anyone who can ski is up the hill. School holidays have begun so there are lots of kids careering around. It’s all good fun.

The next few days are looking a bit grotty according to the forecast, and sure enough the clouds started rolling in this afternoon. 

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We put together a huge team for quiz last night. We’d drafted in Erin and Michael as we’d had a hint that there might be an American round of questions. 

Anyhow, the plan worked and we won the Prosecco. 

Today the weather was mostly overcast although we did see the sun once or twice. Flat light on Männlichen. 

But much better in the trees down towards Holenstein. 

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Lots of fun in Rocks last night involving my favourite tipple, weissbier. Barmaid Caroline hasn’t quite got the hang of pouring it yet, so naturally she got lots of advice from the ‘experts’ on our side of the bar. Here’s Jack demonstrating. 

A lot of Jack’s effort ended up on the floor. Eventually we got one right.

Today is Aliena’s birthday, so we’re off to the party. Lots of birthday cake of course.

Girls very excited. 

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Val went down to Lauterbrunnen with Jim to wave him off this morning, and later we went for a ski. Stunning views at Wengernalp. 

Pit stop at Allmend. How many skis?

A pause on the path back to the village. 

And drinks at the Figeler bar back in Wengen. 

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Minus 8 when we got up this morning, and minus 11 up at Scheidegg. But the sun is out so we pop down to Interlaken as it’s Jim’s last day here. The Ice Magic skating complex is still here on the Hohematt, occupying the spot that the parapenters usually like to use as a landing area.

Back in Wengen later in the day things are looking lovely, though of course the camera cannot capture the cold.

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It started snowing early this morning. Quite windy up high so we went down to Lauterbrunnen and got the bus to Stechelberg for lunch. The bus had quite a struggle getting up the hill to the hotel, but by the time we had eaten the snowplough had done its work and the road was clear.

Back in Wengen it’s very snowy. Bicycles have been replaced by toboggans.