Today we have had most of the weather winter can offer. This morning, it was raining in the village. It was also dark and grey; only the clocks confirmed that it was morning at all. On Mannlichen it was snowing at the cable car, but the snow turned to rain well before the bottom station of the four man chair.
In the afternoon, I reached the Wixi lift (via a bare and rocky run on Blackrock) just as it was closing for high wind. The lift man waved me on to the chair, for which I was grateful, until the lift stopped just before the Lauberhorn race start hut and the chair rocked wildly in the high wind before finally and slowly reaching the top station.
The weather meant that many skiers stayed at home. The cable car in the morning was full, but the queue for the lift was short. At the end of the day, on the Wixi run, there were few people to be seen. As a bonus, though, it was by then snowing hard, at least until the Bumps T bar, when the rain returned.
A rainy, snowy, windy day brought 7,667 vertical metres in 20 lift rides and 46 kilometres travelled.
This evening, the weather apps have gone into overdrive, warning of heavy rain and plagues of frogs for tomorrow.
Idle thoughts from a mountain 