We had another successful quiz last night.
Today the sun was shining brightly when we went up the hill, and the ‘extra’ hour that we get in the morning since the clocks changed really helps the snow conditions. Männlichen chairlift is one of the most popular in the entire area, yet we were the only customers when we got there at lunchtime.
The village is beginning to close down. The lower runs are closed and some of the hotels will shut their doors this week.
Paul and Sally arrived yesterday afternoon, so Paul and I were off up to Männlichen this morning. Literally couldn’t see anything when we got out of the gondola. We had coffee and things began to improve enough for a bit of skiing. After a quick lunch the fog rolled in again.
Back to the village therefore. Quiz later tonight after the football.
You might remember this event from last season. The challenge today is to get from the bottom of the men’s downhill course to the top as quickly as possible. There are no rules concerning how you go about this as long as you don’t use anything motorised, but most people use running shoes fitted with crampons
Competitors congregate in the village.
Today however we have a problem. There’s a big storm up the hill and no trains are going up the mountain, nor are any ski lifts running. The big cloud over the Jungfrau gives a clue to the severity of the storm.
Nevertheless the race goes ahead on a shortened course to ensure the safety of the racers. We walk to the stadium to see the start.
Our next-door neighbour Jana is doing the race with her friend, as are Hayley and Nuala. A gun fires and they’re off.
The race today will end at the top of Bumps; this is an ascent of about 500 metres vertical. A stiff climb for sure, but some way off the 1100 vertical metres that the full course measures.
25 years ago today we caught the train down to Lauterbrunnen to get married in the little registry office. Later that day we had an Anglican service in St Bernard’s church in Wengen. It was snowing hard on 24th March 1992. The weather’s a lot better today.
We’ve had lots of cards and gifts from villagers and visitors alike.
Lovely meal at the Silberhorn.
And Uptown Lights are playing in Rocks.
All in all a pretty good day.
It snowed quite a bit last night, and this morning the sun took about an hour to melt it all. Up the hill a storm is raging with lots of lifts closed, so we’ll stay in the village and enjoy the sunshine. Certainly the shops are betting on warm weather – here’s a display of flip-flops outside Alpia Sport.
Higher up the village the flowers are coming up thick and fast. Snowdrops are everywhere, and the Swiss are very fond of daffodils.
Yesterday was foggy and mild, we spent most of the day at home before going to the President’s annual party at the DHO club.
Today was foggy and a bit colder. We decided to venture out. It’s looking distinctly spring-like by our house.
We caught the train down to Lauterbrunnen to have a look around the shops. Obligatory Staubach waterfall picture.
Back in Wengen the mild temperatures have really taken their toll on our nursery slopes.
It’s raining now and everyone’s praying for snow later tonight. Fingers crossed.
We had a hard-fought battle with Altitude in the quiz last night. Eventually we won by a single point with some help from Paul & Hayley on the wordles round.
Lovely sunny day today so we popped up to Männlichen. Here’s Val sat at the far end of the Edelweiss bar. We were the only customers.
It was a similar story on the mountain. Pistes in pretty good condition and not a soul around.
By lunchtime the snow was getting really soft so we descended back to the village to eat. The weather is just like summer.
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