The sky was clearer than expected this morning and the sun was up and at ‘em from the start. The Idle Skiers had planned a trip to Murren today and it came to pass as we hoped.
The journey to Lauterbrunnen was slow and we missed the first connection to Grutschalp, but after that all went well. Sometimes in Murren there is no one around at all – in the village or on the slopes – but today was busy, at least in local terms.
Of course, for every skier on the cable cars to Birg and Schilthorn there were three non-skiers. Fifty years after the film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was made, it seems the association still brings in the crowds.
As an idle opinion, it is the best Bond film, with a good story to it. I appreciate that I am in a minority of one in this view.
The run down from the top was a bizarre mixture of powder snow and ice. The excitement only last for a couple of hundred vertical metres, but it did concentrate the mind for a few minutes.
Murren is old fashioned; the skiers have to live with the conditions available. They would be shaking their heads in Courchevel 1850, where the mountain is made to fit the needs of the skiers.
Two contrasting days, yesterday on home snow in wonderful conditions and today an away fixture on a bumpy pitch, brought 19,482 vertical metres in 48 lift rides and 115 kilometres travelled.
Idle thoughts from a mountain 