The crowds were missing this morning. The Christmas holidays are over and whilst new skiers have arrived for the week, a semblance of peace has descended on the village.
So it was straight on to the cable car for a rapid journey to the top station and almost as quickly down again from there to the four man chair, helped by some icy early morning conditions.
It was colder today and some of the higher pistes remained pretty much bullet proof until mid-afternoon. Below Wengenalp, though, the snow was soft and moguls were everywhere. The finish schuss for the racecourse was as difficult as I can remember. A skier fell above me on the steepest section of the hill and tumbled past me, shedding skis, poles and sunglasses as he went and apologising all the while.
It is time for some new snow. Most of the forecasts suggest there will be a decent snow fall on Wednesday. We are hoping they are correct.
An icy day, with mainly grey skies, brought 8,239 vertical metres in 19 lift rides and 43 kilometres travelled.
Idle thoughts from a mountain 