This morning brought a welcome sight, snow to the valley floor. It wasn’t heavy snow in the lower part of the village, but still there was five centimetres of new white stuff on the postboxes. That was the good news. The bad news followed fairly quickly, as the cable car and all the Mannlichen lifts were closed by the continuing storm. I am sure that the bar for closing the lifts becomes lower each winter.
The ugly news was visibility at Scheidegg, which was poor. I had headed for Wixi and for an hour or so blundered around in the clouds. Later I was given the tip that things were better on the other side of Scheidegg. I should have realised myself, after all these years watching the weather progress up the Lauterbrunnen valley. Things were indeed better and a good afternoon was had.
Later on I headed back to Wixi, which was still shrouded in cloud at the top station. Just below Bumps T bar, the sun was shining. It was a good ski to Innerwengen, though the snow was very heavy for the last few hundred metres. It has snowed lightly into the evening.
A good day with some tricky clouds brought 6,596 vertical metres in 19 lift rides and 37 kilometres travelled.
Idle thoughts from a mountain 