Wengen, March / April 2009
14th March. Arrived!
Nice Mercedes to the airport, splendid breakfast. Good flight on a little Fokker 100. Bit grey at Zurich airport this morning, but got here on time, and all is well in the village.
****************************************************************
15th March. Nice spring day
Lovely mild morning. View from our balcony.
Lovely skiing on Mannlichen - very quiet.
Call the fashion police!
Scheidegg like a ghost town when the fog rolled in.
****************************************************************
16th March. Warm and sunny
Val turning on the style.
Lovely old chalets at the top of the nursery slope.
****************************************************************
17th March. Warm and sunny again
Wengen in the morning sun.
Lauterbrunnen. Train from Wengen crossing the river.
Old bridge.
Lauterbrunnen Youth Hostel. Possibly the best views in the world?
St Patrick's Day lunch. Beef in Guinness and mashed potato.
****************************************************************
18th March. Murren with Oz
Nice day at Birg.
Lunch at the Schilthornhutte
Parapenting very popular.
****************************************************************
19th March. Weather changing
Light a bit flattish - curiously quiet considering it's so nice.
Clouding over a little. Forecast is for a change, but nobody knows what it'll change to.
****************************************************************
21st March. Saturday. Holidaymakers go home today, a few more will arrive, but always less than were departing at this end of the season.
Everyone has a day off today, so you can go skiing with your mates.
Stunning location for a spot of lunch!.
It is officially the first day of spring here in Switzerland. The flowers know their duty!
People skiing all the way back to their hotels past our chalet on the last day of their holidays.
****************************************************************
22nd March. Sunday. A million locals on the mountain.
Gloomy at Scheidegg, but still plenty of takers for the train of doom.
Loads of people sitting around having lunch - we didn't!
The Jungfrau Region steel band!
****************************************************************
23rd March. Excursion.
Thun. A lovely old walled city.
Fairy-tale castle above the town.
Nice promenade along the river.
Spiez, a small town on the lake with a lovely marina.
Beautiful lake steamer at Interlaken.
****************************************************************
24th March. Snow.
Avalanche danger in our back yard this morning.
Scheidegg like the end of the earth. Not a soul about. Trains stopped running to Grindelwald so we thought it best to get a bit nearer home before the whole thing closed down.
A few rays of sunlight made it onto the village street - lovely!
Had a bite to eat at Cafe Grubi, last of the lunchtime sun.
Cleared all the snow off our back steps, but guess what - pelting it down again.
****************************************************************
25th March. More snow.
Got up early. Zero viz at Mannlichen so skied all the way down to Grund. Pistes absolutely deserted.
Closed - need to go all the way down before you can have a coffee!
Snowstorm came in as soon as we got to Grindelwald!
****************************************************************
26th March. Snow & sunshine.
Snowed all night. No trains at all this morning. Some services resumed at about 11.00am. Lots of digging for the railway workers.
But the sun came out, and we had the whole place pretty much to ourselves.
Salzegg and the Eiger.
Posh new lift, no customers!
Lots of new snow to enjoy.
Curry at Spice India, yay!
****************************************************************
27th March. Friends arrived from the Old Country.
Nice dinner at Sina's.
No prizes at all for guessing how the evening ended up!
****************************************************************
28th March. Rain forecast, sun shone (mostly).
Quiet pistes around Scheidegg, rain kept away until after lunch.
Lovely on Wixi, ended up at Aspen for lunch. Snow and fog at Scheidegg later, picked our way home via Mary's.
****************************************************************
29th March. Lauberhorn Race
Today is the best event of the season - the Lauberhorn sponsors race. This year, owing to the wintery weather, it is held on Bumps, a section of the racetrack. This is the view looking out of the start gate.
Beanie Val and Martin getting hyped up.
Sheridan and Maureen.
OK, here goes....
The DHO prize winners. Nice lunch and presentation at Mannlichen. In all we got 8 podiums from 20 starters.
Cable car emerging from the gloom to take us back to Wengen.
****************************************************************
30th March. Overcast, cold, wintry.
Did quite a few miles considering the conditions.
Best visibility all day on the home run.
****************************************************************
31st March. Spring is here (again) !!.
Lovely at Mannlichen this morning
Similarly nice at Scheidegg.
Grindelwald and the Wetterhorn.
Having a sit down on Black Rock - there was a power cut so no lifts or trains.
Very, very sunny!
Quiet pistes at Gummi.
The Eiger (yes you knew that) from Grindelwaldblick restaurant.
****************************************************************
1st April. Sunny & warm, windy high up.
Very warm in the village.
Fohn clouds over the Jungfrau.
Still plenty of skiers off up to Mannlichen.
Ladies' day out drinks at Mannlichen.
****************************************************************
2nd April. Very mild, windy high up. Odling Cup today, but poor viz and high winds = rubbish race
Still great snow cover all the way down - Almend from Mannlichen.
Very few customers for the cable car.
Our neighbours having a sofa delivered.
Took ages to get it in the right place - must have cost thousands!.
OK I'm going to drop it here!
What the well-dressed gentleman is wearing in Wengen this season.
****************************************************************
3rd April. Warm, sunny, a few clouds high up.
Lovely spring day.
****************************************************************
4th April. Home.
Trains and aeroplanes, and a few beers and a chinese when we arrived.