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.