Wengen, Switzerland

I've just returned from a week's skiing in Wengen, Switzerland and despite some pretty changeable weather and it was a really good week. Flying direct from Edinburgh to Berne was a big bonus as it cut down on the transfers at both ends. The flight was pleasant enough on a little propeller plane run by Darwin Airlines. Things didn't go so well at Berne airport when we found out that not all the baggage has gone onto the plane because there wasn't enough room. Luckily my skis had made it but David and Rosie lost their board bag. This was all handled really badly by the Crystal/Thompson's reps who didn't have any clue about what was happening and made no apologies for the problems. Things were rubbed in further due to the ridiculous £15 charge which is made for taking skis/boards on the plane, the company knew how big the plane was well in advance so knew how much carriage they should have allowed. David and Rosie ended up having to rent boards for the first couple of days while theirs made their way via Geneva, the travel company eventually coughed up for the rental charge but only after a lot of resistance. Everything was handled really badly by the company and the resort reps.

Putting aside the baggage trouble (I had my skis at least) we made the most of the week. The first day was bright and sunny with decent enough snow conditions and we had a good introduction to the resort skiing in the Männlichen and Kleine Scheidegg areas. The second day was a bit more overcast and windy at the top so we stayed around the Männlichen area before heading down to Grindelwald. Staying over the Grindelwald side was a little bit of a mistake as the winds got stronger and the trains to Kleine Scheidegg stopped, we ended up getting back to Wengen the long way round on the train.

One strange thing about the ski areas, compared to French resorts at least, is the number of walking and sledging runs. I felt a little bad as in previous years I had mocked Gwen about wanting to go on a purely sledging holiday. Feeling that we were missing out we decided to hire some sledges and head out on some of the longer runs. Sledging is incredibly good fun, I think I had a massive grin fixed to my face for the whole day, and incredibly dangerous - at the end of the day I was covered in bruises from falling off at high speed. It was definitely worth missing a day's skiing. Feeling pretty sore the day after we were treated to a pretty miserable day on the mountain. High winds had closed the gondola, lifts and trains to Kleine Scheidegg, it was overcast and raining. Determined to make the most we took the train as far as we could and did a few runs in the wind and rain, on wet snow, using a T-bar as uplift - it was pretty much like skiing in Scotland, not very alpine. After a good number of runs and a couple of trips on the train by lunchtime we gave in to the weather and spent the afternoon wandering around town and in the pubs. At least if it was raining in the town it would be snowing higher up.

Determined to make an early start after missing an afternoon we weren't disappointed when we got to the top the next day. It had been chucking it down all afternoon and night so there was loads of nice fluffy powder; we spend a pretty tiring morning trying to get in as much off-piste runs in as we could before they became tracked. After lunch we spent the remainder of the day travelling round to Kleine Scheidegg and seeing what the Lauberhorn world cup run was like. After an excellent run down (trying the speed trap and baling at about 100 km/h) we decided to do it again, it's a pretty good run. The bottom section was starting to get really slushy and cut up so we stopped for a beer and took the train back.

The last day is always a bit of a downer but we were treated to more fresh powder. After hammering down loads of runs getting in loads of fresh tracks we got up to Kleine Scheidegg were we were meeting Chris before heading up the Jungfraujoch. The train up the mountain through the Eiger is amazing not for its views but for the sheer engineering challenge of building it. The views from the top were pretty amazing. After a few hours we were back at Kleine Scheidegg where we got in some more runs before heading back to Wengen when the lifts stopped.

Skiing in Switzerland made a nice change from the French resorts, things seemed a bit more laid back, but a bit slicker at the same time. I'd say that the food in Switzerland, like Austria, is generally better. The local Veal Bratwurst was pretty tasty, although the massive amount of really salty chips served with everything could get a little stupid sometimes. Wengen itself was a nice little place and with our hotel on the main street it meant that everything was really close. Being in a town with no traffic, was really nice as well as it gave a more relaxed atmosphere. Although travelling on the trains was a little slower, it was quite relaxing as well. My top tip is that it's really worth getting up early and heading up the gondola as soon as possible. The lifts up from Grindelwald take a bit longer so you can get in a lot of nice quite runs first thing.

Back to the Alps

It seems like I can never keep away for long and on Saturday I'll be going back for a week's skiing. We're heading out to Wengen in Switzerland where after a big dump on Tuesday night the snow conditions are looking not bad. There's a bit of snow forecast while we're there so it could a cloudy week, I guess we just need to wait and see. Apart from a quick day trip down from Avoriaz I've not done any skiing in Switzerland. It'll be a nice change from the big French resorts as Wengen is a fairly small village with no roads and most of the skiing is serviced by trains. It's gonna be good.

Fuck You, Global Warming

After some pretty bumper snow fall last week all of the scottish ski centres were open for business at the weekend. Saturday was forecast to be clear blue skies and no wind, and it didn't disappoint. Conditions up at Glenshee were absolutely fantastic. The only downside was that everyone else in the world had also decided to head up so there were a lot of queues. I don't mind queueing too much in good weather and there was a good atmosphere around the resort. We got there pretty early and after sorting out a lift ticket headed up the sunnyside chair and over the back before the queues got too big. Unfortunately the Glas Maol tow was closed after suffering some damage in high winds but there was still plenty of excellent terrain around. After a quick lunch back at the car we headed up the Cairnwell side with some excellent runs down Carn Aosda and Butcharts. The day was finished off with an excellent run down the tiger. Dave and Rosie had to be back in Edinburgh by six so we set off before the lifts shut. We didn't make it back to Edinburgh by six because of the chaos in the car park caused by the sheer volume of people. Folk who had arrived late had parked up both sides of the road, blocking the cars in the car park and turning the road into a single lane road. We spend quite a while waiting to get out the car park, got the car stuck in the snow for a bit (cheers to the guy who helped Dave push us out) and then sat in a queue on the road for ages. There's not really anything that could have been done better due to the massive number of people there.

Who says that it doesn't snow in Scotland and that the ski industry is fucked, pah.

Santa's Grotto

After a few lazy days of eating too much over christmas I somehow found myself in Assynt being roped (ho ho) into going down a cave. Not expecting to be doing any outdoor activities I hadn't brought any gear with me so after managing to borrow the bare minimum equipment necessary we set off for the cave. The cave which we were going down was Rana Hole which has slowly been getting deeper and deeper over the past 12 years as cavers attempt to find a 'dry' route to Uamh An Claonaite - the longest cave in Scotland.

The first section of the cave is a massive engineering feat in itself, the entrence to the cave is surrounded by masses of scaffolding, ropes, pulleys and a massive spoil heap. The first couple of sections are pretty much straight down by ladder with a series of safety ropes similar to a via ferrata. After the ladders there's more via ferrata style decent as you traverse across some staples which have been put into the rope, through a small waterfall and down some more ladders. At the bottom of the main pit is where the fun begins.

In recent attempts to find their way through to the bigger cave system a dam has been built to try and reduce the water level in a sump. Unfortunately it was pretty wet, so after a lot of bailing and some ad-hoc adjustments to the wall height the dam was full. If we wanted to keep going we'd need to get a bit wet. After dropping into the cold water and squeezing along the passage you eventually get to small ladder and can climb out of the water. The passages after this were only discovered a couple of months ago and after a bit more squeezing, some crawling up and down over rocks and a final squeeze through the floor you're greeted with a pretty amazing cavern leading down a loose bolder-y slope to the bottom where there are some pretty amazing formations hanging from the roof.

After the large cavern there's another tight squeeze down to a passage which was only discovered the week before on Christmas Eve - the suggested name for this is Santa's Grotto. Not many people have been down into this passage and after squeezing down into it from the chamber I decided to head back up - I wasn't really feeling the need to get stuck somewhere that onlya handful of people had been before. On previous caving trips I've never had a problem with tight squeezes or claustrophobia but for a few seconds I was shitting myself.

After waiting around in the cavern for a little while I decided to head back to the surface and after working my way back through the passages and having another short swim I was back at the dam and the bottom of the main shaft. I eventually got back to the top after finding out that climbing a ladder with wellies full of water is a lot harder than you'd think. On the final ladder I was greeted with a face full of hail every time I looked up but pretty much as soon as I poked my head out the cave it stopped. Everyone else who was at the top of the cave - most people didn't fancy the swim and turned back - had decided to head for shelter when the hail started. Soon enough the others were out and we headed back down to the car park.

Not your usual christmas activity but really good fun none the less.

Quinag

The weather on Sunday was really too nice to do anything except get up a hill, especially seeing as we were up in Elphin, Assynt. I've wanted to take a wander up Quinag for a while so we decided to set off up. We had been warned that the route would be a bit muddy but as the ground was frozen solid and the temperature didn't seem to make it about zero it wasn't a problem. We had a really nice walk in with the frozen landscape being cast a mixture of icey blues and warm reds from the low sun. I've not really been out walking for a few months so it felt good to stretch the legs and get out somewhere, although I was feeling it the next day.

Nevisport Going Under?

The Nevisport in Edinburgh seems to be closing down; there's massive sale on all stock with at least 20% off. What's weird is that everything is reduced, usually when shops close down any stock which can be moved to other stores isn't reduced. Everything from OS maps to GPS seems to be on sale. It'd be a shame to see another outdoor shop have difficulties (I seem to remember Blacks closing a lot of stores last year) but since they moved along to the East End of Rose Street I've not been that impressed by their stock. The truth is that for a good range of things (even just small stuff) you need a lot of space and Tiso or online shops are going to win every time. That said I got my skis from them earlier in the year and they were the cheapest on and offline, the service was pretty ace as well.

It's not all bad news though because I picked up a cheap harness. Hopefully we'll be heading out to Ratho one day this week and I can try it out then. From trying it on it's a lot more padded and comfy that the ones you can rent out there.

Unsurprising

Unsurprisingly we headed out to Ratho again on Wednesday night to go climbing. Adrian and Emma also came along (Adrian seems to know half the people there despite never having been before). I had a really good night completing another couple of 6as and a 5+ that I hadn't made it to the top of last time. I think to improve my climbing I need to slow down a little and think about when I need to go and where my feet need to be.

There was also some talk this week about the possibility of heading out to Chamonix again next summer. We shall see.

More and More Climbing

Been heading out to Ratho every week now which is cool, having a good time trying som increasingly difficult routes. I still wouldn't mind doing some other stuff though, once I get my boots back from being fixed I think I'm going to try and get some walking in, not been on a long walk in ages.

More Climbing

Been out at the EICA a few more times over the past couple of weeks and have been enjoying being able to tackle some harder routes. I think that we're going to start heading out regularly once a week which would be cool.

Climbing

On Saturday morning I headed out to the EICA at Ratho. It's been a while since I've done any (indoor) climbing so was a bit apprehensive about remembering what I was supposed to be doing. Luckly it all seemed to come flooding back and the rope/harness/belay stuff that I relearned for Mont Blanc carried over nicely. I think that I'm going to try and start heading along for some climbing once a week.

My lower body strength seems to be fine from all the cycling and walking but my upper body strength is rubbish. After about an hour and a half my arms and fingers where killing me. I don't really want to push my arms too much as I'm still worried about overworking my knackered right arm. Even 2 years after it was sliced and diced it still gets sore the first.