It has been a funny old start to the season and the skiing has been a bit restricted to say the least. The Idle Skier didn’t help matters himself last week.
Does anyone remember Gerald Ford? He was of course President of the USA after Richard Nixon. He had a reputation of being clumsy; “Gerald Ford put his thumb in his eye. Secret service agents wrestled the thumb to the ground” being one comment from the time.
Last week, I managed my Gerald Ford moment, by trapping my thumb in the clip of my boot. It wasn’t serious at all, but it bled so much our ski locker at Central Sport resembled the elevator scene in The Shining. By the time I had stopped bleeding, the afternoon was gone.
Today, I managed to put my ski boots on without mishap. It had been raining in Upper Lauterbrunnen, sleeting in the village but snowing nicely on Mannlichen when I got there shortly after 10.00am.
The wind picked up again however, the link to Scheidegg closed and by mid-afternoon the only lift in the Mannlichen area still open was the new gondola from Grund. (It is a very good lift, as you ask.) Even that seemed likely to close at any time so an out break of common sense saw me on the 3.15pm cable car back to Wengen.
A shortened day brought 5,028 vertical metres in 12 lift rides and 35 kilometres travelled.
Idle thoughts from a mountain 