By mid-evening yesterday it was snowing heavily and it is still going strong today. This morning, it was pretty much dark still at 7.45am, with heavy cloud and heavier snow, but with an early afternoon departure lined up, I made the effort to get up and go skiing, if only for a short time.
Not many others had made the same effort. There were ten of us on the 8.45am cable car. At Mannlichen, we were greeted by deep powder on piste and visibility which was okay. My skis made no sound at all as I made gentle “S” turns down the piste. It was magnificent.
Cloud was hanging around at the top of the Lager chair though and doing so with clear intent to cause trouble. That proved to be the case. As I have done more times than I can remember at the top of this lift in bad weather, I skied too far to the right and face planted in the deep powder.
It took a while to dig myself out the Idle Skier shaped hole I had made in the snow and by then it was time definitely to get moving. I made it to Scheidegg without any more unscheduled excursions and just had time for a run on Wixi.
Then it was home – with a fantastic ski to Inner Wengen – and a quick exit from the village via Wengwald. These words come from the train to Zurich airport.
A shortish ski brought 2,880 vertical metres in seven lift rides and 18 kilometres travelled. That is it for a few days. The Idle Skiers will be away all week, visiting family. That long promised post from the seaside may materialise therefore; let’s see.
Idle thoughts from a mountain 