(Zweisimmen, Switzerland)
After a stellar “biathlon” the previous day (see above for a photo from the previous day!), it wasn’t fair to expect another wholly amazing day in Zweisimmen. And while it had some fun parts, it’s not going on my all-time Traumtag list.
In the valley, it rained all day. It changed to snow once I got above 1300 m elevation, but most of it was very wet and heavy snow. And visibility was quite poor for most of the day. With wet goggles, seeing properly was even harder.
With that dim introduction, you might think it was a terrible day. But there were still some highlights. People weren’t skiing on the Rinderberg in the morning for some reason, so I was basically able to make first tracks in the fresh foot of snow that had fallen since the day before. And I kept doing that for at least 5 more “laps” of the upper Rinderberg pistes. The visibility wasn’t great, but it was good enough that I could focus on skiing through the fresh stuff.
Eventually, however, the ski schools arrived en masse and I no longer had the mountain to myself. I figured I would return to the St. Stephan slopes where I had so much fun the day before. Alas, the conditions were terrible. The top half was OK, but there is only one lift…so you must ski the bottom half too. The bottom half featured muddy snow that felt like sand…and stopped your skis dead in their tracks. It was grim. I only did the one run there – life is too short for skiing in mud. I couldn’t return to the Rinderberg without doing multiple lifts and low-elevation pistes, so I moved on to the Saanenmöser slopes.
Saanenmöser was better than St. Stephan, but even there I had to adapt. While there wasn’t any muddy snow, the warm temperatures meant that skiing anywhere “fresh and untouched” in the middle and lower sections would also bring your skis to a sudden stop. So I could only ski where other people had skied before. This goes against my skiing instincts, but the alternative was worse. And even then there were some invisible slow spots.
Lunch was a much-needed escape from all the rain and snow. I ate at the Hotel Restaurant Hornfluh. I ordered Älplermagronen und Suure Moscht: this is Swiss-German for macaroni and cheese (deluxe, with ham, two cheeses, and fried onions) and an apple cider. Once again, lots of carbs to get me through the demanding ski conditions!
By the end of the day, I was exhausted and soaked. Plus, my water bottle leaked in my backpack. As a result, my dry extra clothes were even wetter than the damp ones I was wearing. It wasn’t a very glamorous way to end the day. Nonetheless, I decided to focus on a sense of accomplishment for adapting to the many challenges I faced throughout the day. And nothing can take away those dreamy first runs in the morning when I had the slopes to myself!
Next: my return to Wengen!