Well it kept on snowing all night, so off we went this morning to see what the mountain was like. Visibility was very poor, but the snow is absolutely epic.
It has snowed a lot!
Val finds some more deep snow to enjoy. It’s hard work skiing this stuff but very nice – it feels like skiing on air!
Back in the village conditions are midwinter-perfect. This is the run back to the centre of the village. As you can see it’s still snowing.
We walk up to the village in sunshine this morning, but the weather forecast is awful so we don’t plan to go skiing. Outside the Co-op are rows and rows of bedding plants ready to go into those troughs that all the chalets have here. I think it must be pretty much compulsory to do this.
Down in the valley we hop off the train at a village called Wilderswil. There are some very old buildings here – much older than anything else in the region.
Later on we arrive back in Wengen, and it looks like the weather forecast was right. We’re expecting 2 days of snow now. View from our balcony.
Up early today for a trip to Grindelwald. We get the cable car from Wengen to Mannlichen, then ski down to the outskirts of Grindelwald where we get a bus. This takes us into the village and we get a gondola up to First, which is Grindelwald’s ski area.
After a coffee and some apple cake we have ski around the area. It’s quite small, but it does have one classic run, a route called Stepfi. This is a miles-long romp down through the trees.
Stepfi eventually leads to the Hotel Wetterhorn, named after the mountain which dominates the area. We have rosti and fried eggs for lunch while we wait for the bus.
The Wetterhorn.
Back in Wengen the weather is changing – it’s getting windy and colder. Some of the locals are talking about snow over the next few days.
Warmer still today, so we head up to Mannlichen and ski all the way down to Grindelwald, stopping for coffee at Aspen on the way. Train back up to Scheidegg for lunch, then a quick cruise around and back to the village.
New piste down to Arven from Salzegg. It’s good because it removes a bottleneck where all the pistes meet just before the lifts. Bloomin’ steep mind.
On a piste called Fallboden, under the Eiger.
This run is called Bumps. No bumps today though. Silberhorn in the background.
A bit further down we have a run called ‘The Standard’. No idea why it’s called that, but it leads to Mary’s Cafe just below Wengen.
What a good evening that was! Lots of music and song, the usual good beer and a few nibbles. Steve got things going, lots of people sang.
Colin plucked up courage to have a go after a few beers.
So how did Colin manage with his artificial fingertip? Have a listen to the video:
Things got a bit out of hand towards the end – Ellen decided it might be a really good idea to stand on the bar to sing a few numbers.
Mürren is a little village across the valley from Wengen. It’s quite a bit higher than Wengen, and the story goes that Mürreners look down on Wengen and say ‘only any good for growing flowers down there’. We look up at Mürren and whisper ‘strictly for the goats up there’. But anyway, it’s a nice place to ski so we visit often. Mürren has a British ski club just like the Downhill Only Club in Wengen. On January 30th 1924, British skiers in Mürren formed the Kandahar Ski Club and within 12 months they had challenged the skiers in Wengen to a series of races. On race day, February 6th 1925, the Kandahar’s resplendent “K” badges were countered in the lunch interval by some hastily contrived paper badges bearing the letters DHO, thus preserving for posterity the Wengen skiers preference for ascending the mountains by rail and skiing Downhill Only. The DHO was formed the next day over a celebratory dinner, precisely 53 weeks after the Kandahar Ski Club.
There’s a bit of a climb after you get off the train.
Quiet runs means you can go quite fast.
Incredible views. This is at a restaurant called Sonnenberg where we stop for coffee.
A bit further up the hill we ski some of the higher slopes. More views! That’ll be the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau in the background, all around 4000 metres high. In the foreground you see Val who is 1.64 metres.
In the cable car on the way back to Wengen. Remember I said it was quiet?
Back in Wengen we pop into Rocks bar for a beer, and run into our mate Colin. Colin is a carpenter and he scratches a few extra francs by playing his guitar in the bars in the village. He’s actually very good, but don’t tell him I said so.
Colin has a problem.
Earlier this year he sawed the end off one of his fingers doing some carpentry. Not much of his finger, about three quarters of an inch, but enough to be a major handicap if you’re a guitarist. You see him here reconstructing the missing bit of his finger from bits of rubber and sticky tape, so that he can play in the bar tonight. He has not played in public since the accident. Tune in later to see how he gets on.
Very warm today, ideal weather for sitting in the sun eating & drinking. We do both. First we ski to Brandegg.
A little later on, back towards Wengen.
A beer at Cafe Gruebi with Beanie, Sandro and Aliena (5 weeks old).
Followed by ice cream on our balcony.
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