(Wengen, Switzerland)

After being away from both Wengen and Switzerland for many years, I am finally back in the mountains where I spent so many holidays learning (hopefully) how to ski like a real Swiss!

The initial version of this post contained a fairly lengthy diatribe about the airline industry and their ongoing shrinkage of seats.  While this is certainly a topic that merits discussion in a travel blog, I’m going to defer it because I’ve just returned from a day of skiing and I am feeling much sunnier now than I was on arrival in Switzerland.

Besides, most of my pain was forgotten by the time the train has travelled from Zurich to Spiez and the peaks of the Berner Oberland come into view.  It never gets old:  just when you think the topographical riot can’t get any more spectacular, it somehow does.

You can’t reach Wengen by car:  the only access is by a cogwheel railway that ascends ridiculously steep inclines.  Our hotel in Wengen, like every other building there, is perched on a narrow ledge hundreds of metres above the valley floor in Lauterbrunnen.  While my hotel pictures were taken on an overcast day, I think you can see that the setting is spectacular.

On our first day of skiing, the sun was shining brightly and the air was crisp:  cooler than usual, perhaps, but by no means uncomfortable. And yet we were able to board the Männlichen Bahn cablecar immediately.  We then had our pick of the Männlichen slopes, all to ourselves.  Where was everybody?

It was the same story on the slopes above Grindelwald, where we spent most of the day. The only logical explanation is that the strong Swiss Franc is scaring people away from Switzerland.  This doesn’t surprise me:  that’s exactly why my ski posse’s last 4 ski trips were to Italy.   So, while this trip is not going to be cheap, I’m also foreseeing terrific skiing with no line-ups.

Stay tuned for all the details:  as a taster, I’ve included a few pictures of our first morning on the slopes.