On Wednesday night at just short of midnight, the sky was clear and the full moon shone brightly on Wengen.
Today, Thursday, Mrs IS and I were woken by the sound of silence. Overnight, it had snowed heavily and the snow continued to fall. Wengen was still.
The mountain was quiet as well, but the skiing was wonderful. I am not the best skier in this weather, but there is something compelling about it. I think it is the silence; today the snow made no sound at all under my skis, save for the end of a turn, when the edges cut through the powder and bit into the hard pack beneath.
As always on such days, few people turned up. The photograph shows the Tschuggen piste, just before the path to the T bar. It was like this everywhere on the mountain.
Skiing off the T bar meant less downhill, of course. The day brought 8,085 vertical metres in 20 lift rides.
Tomorrow, the weather is meant to be “better” (though in a ski resort, I wonder whether it is possible to improve on a snowy day). Time I think to invoke Idle Skier’s First Law: those who don’t ski the bad weather days are not allowed to ski the good weather days.
Idle thoughts from a mountain 