NOTES ON WINTER RESORTS
Of late years the number of the English and other nations who annually
go to spend a portion at any rate of the winter at some High Alpine
resort has enormously increased, and in consequence every year fresh
hotels are opened in valleys which hitherto have hybernated like dormice
beneath their snow-laden roofs, during the months of short days. But it
is by no means every high-perched hotel that is suitable as a centre for
winter sports, for there are several conditions to be considered. In the
first place, such a spot must be sufficiently high up to make it
probable that there will be fairly continuous frosts there throughout
the winter, and this again depends not only on height but also on
aspect. As regards height you cannot reasonably depend on getting this
continuity of frost (allowing for reasonable breaks) under the height of
round about 4000 feet, especially if the place in question is to enjoy
long hours of sun. True, an exceptionally severe winter may come, and
the strictness of the binding of the frost may hold, week after week, at
a much lower altitude, but it is natural that the holiday-maker, who has
only a week or two abroad and wants during all his hours of daylight to
be employed in sliding movements, should wish to be fairly safe to find
the conditions suitable, and he has, obviously, a better chance of
finding them if he goes high. But there are several places considerably
below this 4000-foot level, such as Grindelwald, which lies in a very
cold valley, where he may in an average year find himself unhampered and
rendered idle by thaws, and it is wonderful how continuous frost is at
Grindelwald. But there both skating-rink and curling-rink are, all day
long at midwinter, entirely in the shade, for the sun does not rise high
enough at noon to look over the great barrier of rock that lies to the
south of it. That protection, of course, preserves for the place its
excellent ice, whereas if, as at other winter resorts, it basked in the
sun all day, the rink would speedily be metamorphosed into a degraded
glue with discouraging pools interspersed. But if you go to greater
heights, you can combine the pleasures of skating with those of sitting
in the sun, and that to this writer is a remarkably charming
combination. But in order to enjoy that you must have greater height
than is possessed by Grindelwald, and a place like Montana, where the
sun is on the rink by nine in the morning, and continues to beat down on
it till somewhere about five in the afternoon, would see its ice and
snow disappear into slush and torrents of water were it not perched
nearly 5000 feet above sea-level. St. Moritz and Mürren are throned
higher yet, and it has to be a very warm winter indeed which will cause
a general thaw at such places. And there is nothing more irritating than
to have gone to some comparatively low place and find that day after day
goes by in melting mood, and at the same time to know that a thousand
feet higher up ideal conditions are being experienced.
The skier naturally is less dependent on the altitude of his village,
provided that there are high hills abounding in suitable slopes round
him. It is part of the essence of his sport that he climbs for it,
whereas skaters and curlers demand their playgrounds at the door and no
climbing at all. Thus the high valley leading across from Montreux in
the Rhone valley to Spiez by the Lake of Thun is, though its highest
villages and hotels are below 4000 feet, ideal for the skier, since it
has on each side of it lofty hills which are rich in good slopes. But
for the others, skaters, curlers, and tobogganers alike, it is important
that the frost should hold in the immediate vicinity of their hotels.
They do not seek their various joys on the tops of neighbouring
mountains.
Now this question of sun is, of course, a personal one, and the
popularity of Grindelwald shows that there are multitudes of folk who do
not mind skating and curling in the shade. For them, then, that is all
right, but if you happen to like skating and curling in a blaze of sun,
you will be wise to go somewhere not below the 4000-foot level. Even
there, of course, you cannot be safe against thaws, and the deplorable
series of days known as the winter of 1911-1912, when thaw succeeded
thaw at almost all Swiss resorts, taught us all that the malice of
climate is infinite and incalculable, and the summer of 1912, here in
England, where the general temperature was about the same as that of the
previous winter in Switzerland, repeated the same lesson. But in the
average year winter places over 4000 feet in height can be trusted to
let the visitor enjoy sunshine and hard frost together.
A second consideration is wind. It would be no use at all to spend the
winter on a mountain-top: what is necessary is a high sheltered valley,
like that of Davos or St. Moritz, or a high sheltered shelf on the
mountain-side, like Villars or Mürren. To be able to skate at all, it is
necessary that the day should be practically windless, and quite a
gentle breeze spoils it altogether. Moreover, even gentle breezes are
currents of moving air above or below freezing-point. If they are above
freezing-point they spell ruin, for they melt both snow and ice with
amazing swiftness; if they are below freezing-point they feel quite
intolerably cold. Therefore, all winter places should be screened from
the wind on the north and east, so that, if such airs are astir, they
pass over the valley in which you are, and their icy blasts are unfelt.
It does not matter so much whether the valley is screened from southerly
winds, for this blowing of a southerly wind means in itself that warm
currents of air are coming up from the Mediterranean, and as long as
that lasts there must be more or less of a thaw, and a screen to the
south almost necessarily implies a cutting off of the sun. This
southerly wind, so justly abhorred by all altitudinists, is generally
known as the _föhn_ wind. Philologists may try to interest us in it by
telling us that the word is derived from the Latin _favonius_, or south
wind, but when the _föhn_ blows you are not the least consoled by
knowing its derivation: you only wish it had another destination. It
brings clouds, mists, sleet, and even rain, all undesirable aliens, into
our sunny valleys.
So much, then, for the two main conditions--sun (for those who like it)
and absence of wind for everybody. And the next prime essential is a
good rink, for out of every hundred people who come out in the winter,
it is safe to say that at least eighty either skate or curl. And not
only is a good skating-rink necessary, but good skaters also, for the
encouragement and instruction of the learner, and, we may add, the
mutual admiration of each other. But it is extraordinary how a good rink
seems to breed skaters: sooner or later (usually sooner) good skaters
are attracted to it, like flies to honey, though we hope they do not
stick in it, and other mere beginners rapidly develop into sound
performers. The Davos rink developed skaters thus, and more recently the
immense rink at Villars has brought to birth a whole fresh school of
English skating. The writer is tempted to be anecdotal. Not more than
six or seven years ago he first went there and found that the only
skating-rink was one flooded lawn-tennis court. On it the most
accomplished skater in the place was instructing and demonstrating to
two pupils. She was showing them the change of edge, and as, perhaps a
little falteringly, she passed from one edge to the other she
proclaimed: “The change from the outside edge to the inside is possible,
but the change from the inside to the outside is impossible.” Indeed
that would save an infinity of trouble to many of us, if we thought it
was strictly true. But Villars made up its mind otherwise, and nowadays
the great rink, which would hold hundreds of lawn-tennis courts, holds
hundreds of skaters also who demonstrate the falsity of that sublime
pronouncement.
Now ice varies enormously, not only in smoothness or roughness of
surface, but in texture and in hardness, and without doubt the
pleasantest and at the same time the easiest ice to skate on is that
which has been frozen at temperatures not unreasonably low. Should the
thermometer have stood all night at zero or below, the ice made under
that benumbing influence will be both very hard and rather brittle;
whereas if the rink had basked in a mellow moonlight of say 10 or 15
degrees of frost, the ice, though perfectly solid and dry, will be far
kinder to the skate blade and lend itself more amenably to the edges.
Indeed, after a very cold night, the ice is absolutely unskateable on
until the sun has relaxed its adamantine rigidity; the edges of the
skate will not bite. This appears to be due to the amazing fact, not
generally known, that the skate actually moves over a thin layer of
water, which its passage, its weight and friction causes to be
momentarily produced. This transient, minute and local thaw (which
instantaneously ceases in the wake of the skate) does not take place
when the temperature is abnormally cold, and, in consequence, the skate,
instead of travelling smoothly and firmly, cannot be prevented from
skidding on the marble-like and uncuttable surface, and even when the
sun has to some extent mitigated this hardness, the ice tends to be
brittle and unkind. Thus, since in very high places there are recorded a
large number of very low temperatures, the skater will probably find
pleasanter ice at lower altitudes. Much, of course, depends on the
making of it, and the whole question perhaps may be regarded as
trifling, but in the writer’s opinion the resorts at which, as a rule,
very low temperatures do not occur, yield the greatest abundance of
jolly ice. On the other hand, the higher the place, the greater is the
probability of immunity from thaws.
So much, then, for the more technical considerations. But however
absorbed we may be in our inwicks, our Telemarks, our brackets, there
are still moments when we happen to look up and regard and appreciate
our surroundings. In fact, though we do not go out to Switzerland
primarily for the sake of the view, the natural beauty of the places we
go to make, even to the sternest and most determined athlete, a certain
appeal. And though every place alike has the witchery and magic with
which the radiant frost clothes peak and mountain-side, there are four
places, three of which are set on high shelves on the mountain-side
facing south, which, to my mind, altogether outshine the rest, and these
are Mürren, Montana, Grindelwald and Villars. Of Mürren mention has
already been made in the first chapter of this book, but those who have
seen it only in summer have no idea of the incomparable majesty of the
huge outspread panorama of the Oberland when the winter suns shine on
the winter snows. Nowhere else in all Switzerland is there to be had so
near and unimpeded a view of so great a stretch of big mountains. Eiger
and Monch and Jungfrau and Silberhorn, and the amazing precipice of the
Ebnefluh are all spread out immediately in front, with only the narrow
valley of Lauterbrunnen interposed between you and them. Their size and
nobility of form when thus seen close at hand is almost overwhelming:
almost you join in the worship of the mountains and hills that so
visibly are praising the Lord.
Utterly different, yet in its way no less sublime, is the immense
panorama of big peaks as seen from Montana. Here again (though perhaps,
strictly speaking, you are in the Rhone valley) there is no impression
of being in a valley at all, so lofty is the shelf on which Montana
stands, so swiftly the ground plunges into the Rhone valley proper
below. But this is no narrow cleft as at Mürren, and the hills that
climb out of it on the further or southern side are miles away. But what
a row of glistening giants is piled up on those hills. The kings and
captains of all the Zermatt ranges soar skywards against the incredible
blue, Weisshorn, Roth-horn, Dent Blanche, Gabelhorn, Matterhorn are
standing in their immemorial stations, and in the west Mont Blanc, with
its guard of arrow-headed aiguilles, looks down over France and
Switzerland. Nowhere else, unless you climb the inhospitable peaks
themselves, shall you enjoy so immense a range of vision that contains
so many giants of the mountain world.
Utterly different again is the quality of the view at Grindelwald.
Unlike these other eyries Grindelwald is tucked away at the head of a
valley, and immediately above it rise the appalling presences of the
mountains. High and menacing above it climb the sheer walls of the
Eiger, not those sunny crags that face towards Mürren, but the black and
sunless precipices of the north and east. Further away are spread the
snows of the Wetterhorn, and the precipice to the north of it, over
which the wicked avalanches pour and thunder; while over the ridge just
to the south of the hotels the Finster-Aarhorn points its single
pinnacle to the sky. But there, long after the sun has set to the
valley, Wetterhorn burns in rosy flame, and the Finster-Aarhorn is
incandescent above the black night-beleaguered slopes. But splendid as
are these overhanging walls of rock, there is something to my mind of
imminence and threat about them. They are crushing.
Villars, again, in the Rhone valley, is neither of the type of Mürren
nor Grindelwald: it is of the Montana class, though with less austerity.
It lies among pine woods and gentle slopes, and its high southern-facing
shelf has a wonderful charm and amenity. Below it the hillside tumbles
swiftly away into the Rhone valley, and opposite is spread an entrancing
panorama. The Dent du Midi, one of the most distinguished of
mountain-forms, dominates the nearer distance; behind, much closer than
at Montana, rise the prodigious aiguilles of Mont Blanc. If you walk but
for ten minutes either up or down from Villars towards the east, a gap
opens out, and you shall see the most part of the Chamounix range, and
the vast dome of Mont Blanc itself. Magical are the wonders of cloudland
spread out before you in the Rhone valley below. Sometimes an ocean of
cloud, solid as if made of grey marble, and to all appearance as level
as the sea, is spread from the promontories a little below where Villars
stands straight across to the hills on the far side of the valley. It
seems as if some cloud-boat would put out from behind a cape opposite
and glide across this grey sea. Or again, the valley will be full of
cloud in form of breaking waves, and tossing crests throw themselves
against the hillsides and are shattered into wreaths of cloud-spray. No
boat could live in so turbulent a water. Then, as the sun declines to
its setting, rosy beams of fire pierce this wonderful sea, and it is
shot with flame, and lit from within by a glow that baffles all
language. On another day and for many days together not a speck of mist
or shred of cloud hangs above the valley, and it is mapped out at your
feet 2000 feet down and half a dozen miles away with the clearness of
etching. And sometimes, I am sorry to say, when the weather is behaving
morosely, the cloud comes up from the valley and envelops Villars
itself. Then we take our skis or toboggan and flee up the hillsides
through the pine-woods, all encrusted with the miracle of hoar-frost,
into the unobscured sunshine that lies like a benediction on the heights
of the dazzling Chamossaire.
Switzerland, as regards its winter resorts, may be broadly divided into
districts, such as the Engadine, the Oberland, the Rhone valley, and the
strip of country between Montreux on the Lake of Geneva, and Spiez on
the Lake of Thun, and pride of place must certainly be given to the
Engadine and Davos, which are the cradle of winter sports. And the
following are (at present) the chief hill-stations, with the sports for
which they are famous.
(i) _St. Moritz._--This is the highest and probably the most populous of
winter resorts. It is situated 6090 feet above sea-level, and is eminent
for its rinks and toboggan-runs; namely, the Cresta or ice-run, spoken
of already at length, the bob-run, and the village-run for luges. Rinks
both for skating and curling are numerous, and below the town lies the
St. Moritz lake, and further off towards the Maloja pass the Sils lake.
The bandy-rink is one of the largest rinks in Switzerland; bandy is
played here every day, and numerous skating contests are held. Owing to
its height, the winter weather, as a rule, lasts here till well into
March: indeed it is not till March that the big events happen on the
Cresta.
Round about St. Moritz are other smaller winter resorts: Celerina, with
a fine skating-rink, lies a little below the end of the Cresta run, and
further down, towards Chur, is Samaden. In the other directions, towards
the Maloja pass down into Italy, is Campfer, with rink and greater
length of sun than even at St. Moritz, from which it is distant about a
mile and a half. The ski-ing also is much better there than at that
place. St. Moritz and all these other smaller centres are fortunate in
the number of hours of sun that they enjoy: they are less fortunate in
the wind that rather frequently blows up from the Maloja pass, a chilly
and disconcerting current of air that not very infrequently starts to
blow shortly after mid-day. But there is probably no place in
Switzerland which enjoys a larger proportion of perfect winter days, and
in none are the rinks more carefully made and preserved. It was one of
the earliest places in which the pursuit of winter sport began to
develop, and from the earliest days the St. Moritz school of English
skating was renowned for the strictness of its requirements. Of late
years the International style has greatly developed there, owing
probably to the very large number of German visitors who annually go
there. But there is enough ice for everybody, since many of the hotels
have private skating-rinks of their own, and there is no reason why the
two schools should not flourish side by side. Just round about St.
Moritz itself there is not any very extraordinary display of Alpine
scenery, for the larger peaks are not visible therefrom. But there are,
in addition to the winter sports already mentioned, innumerable
excursions to be made, and the lake-skating, when the chronology of
snow-fall and frost is propitious, is a tremendous though usually a
short-lived attraction. The journey from England can be luxuriously made
in the Engadine express, which reaches St. Moritz in the middle of the
day after which the voyager has left London.
(ii) _Davos_, in an adjoining valley, is now closely linked up to St.
Moritz by train, so that it is accessible from it without a long detour
by rail, or by crossing on sleighs the Fluela pass. It is rather over
5100 feet above sea-level, and, as already recorded, was probably the
earliest place at which an attempt was made, by Mr. John Addington
Symonds and a few friends, to construct an artificial ice-rink. This
they did by industriously working the handle of a pump which stood in a
meadow. Davos was originally known to the world as a resort for
consumptives and the place where the open-air treatment was first
scientifically adopted. There are to-day many sanatoriums for patients
there, and readers of this essay may have heard of a false and wicked
report that in consequence the whole native population is now riddled
with consumption, and that there is a certain risk in staying there. No
more absurdly malicious and unfounded statement could be made, and there
is probably far more risk of catching consumption by walking down a
London street than in staying at Davos. For since the dry cold of this
wonderful valley is fatal to the bacillus, it is hard to see how it
could be supposed to spread! In addition, to ensure a double security,
the most stringent regulations are enforced and every requirement of
hygiene insisted on. Visitors, therefore, can go to Davos with precisely
the same security as to any other place.
Davos is excellent alike for its rinks, its ski-ing slopes, and its
toboggan-runs. Of the latter there is the excellent Klosters road for
luges and skeletons, which leads from the hills above Davos down to the
village of Klosters, where tobogganists find a train neatly drawn up
close to the end of their run, in which they can return to Davos, if
they will, or to Wolfgang again to make another descent. For this is no
affair of a few hundred yards: the course is several miles in length.
Lately a first-rate bob-run has been constructed from the Schatz-alp
down into Davos: this is served by an electric railway for the ascent.
Just below Davos, on the level land at the basin of the valley, lie the
skating-rinks, three in number, an enormous public rink, the rink
constructed by the English for purposes of English skating, and the
curling-rink. Here all manner of important competitions are held:
European championships in the International style, speed skating
competitions round the circumference of the large rink, and for English
skaters the annual Davos bowl. Indeed, Davos has had more to do with the
formation of the modern school of English skating, especially in the
matter of combined figures, executed large and fast, than any other
place, and there is scarcely a single skater of any eminence in this
style who has not “studied,” so to speak, at Davos. Usually the ice is
of very good quality, but a better surface would probably be more often
attained if the management would resort to sprinkling more, instead of
letting a flood make ice for several days’ use. Above the town is a
lake of considerable extent, on which occasional skating can be had. But
a commoner phenomenon than the skater on that lake are the horse-drawn
sledges which are loaded with solid blocks of ice sawn out of the frozen
surface and taken away to make puddings with instead of figures on. The
valley is gloriously free from wind, and extraordinarily healthy with
its very dry cold air and abundance of sun.
(iii) Between Chur and St. Moritz lies a high upland valley some 4800
feet above sea-level, and reached from Chur by a drive of some twelve
miles, which, however, include 3000 feet of ascent. Here is situated
Lenzenheide, one of the new winter resorts opened by the Public Schools
Winter Sports Club, which is responsible for so much of the increased
sporting population of Switzerland in winter, and has developed many
fresh and suitable centres. There is a good skating-rink, curling-rink,
a toboggan-run, and unlimited expeditions for skiers on country
admirably adapted for the sport. Like Davos, it lies in a very sheltered
valley, and is singularly free from wind. It is a four and a half hours’
sleigh-drive to Chur, while St. Moritz is two hours distant.
_Oberland District_
(i) First among the Oberland resorts, by virtue of its age and
established attractions, must be mentioned Grindelwald. It is one of the
lower winter centres, but, as has already been mentioned, the limitation
is largely discounted from the point of view of skaters and curlers,
because the rinks during the months of mid-winter lie practically
entirely in the shade, and thus preserve their solidity. And if Davos
and St. Moritz must be called the cradle of English skating, Grindelwald
has no less earned the title of cradle of scientific ice-making. For
years the Boss family, who own the Bear Hotel, have studied this
intricate and delicate question, and their methods are beyond doubt
productive of the best possible ice. Grindelwald, it is true, is not
liable to exceedingly low temperatures, and thus the ice does not often
become of that very hard and brittle quality which results therefrom;
but, though the Bosses have not had to contrive how to deal with these
unpleasant conditions, they must be considered the parents of the school
of scientific ice-production. Originally Grindelwald was exclusively of
the English school of skating, but it has now passed into International
tutelage. Indeed there was hardly room for two schools; for excellent as
is the quality of the ice, it is certainly defective in area, and the
rinks should be increased in size or number, for even the Bear rink,
which is the largest there, is but of very moderate extent, and cannot
hold many skaters in comfort. There are curling-rinks of the same
superlative quality of ice, good road toboggan-runs, both for luges and
the bob-sleigh, while in every direction almost (except that of the
Eiger precipice) there are admirable ski-ing runs. It is situated 3450
feet above sea-level, and is reached by a light railway from Interlaken.
(ii) But if instead of taking that portion of the train from Interlaken
that branches off to the left up to Grindelwald, the voyager disposes
himself otherwise, he will be carried straight up the Lauterbrunnen
valley, until he arrives at that village. On the right the incredible
funicular ascends to Mürren, while a cog-line, lying in loops and curves
up the hillside to the left, brings him to Wengen, which, like Mürren,
has lately been opened up as a winter resort by the Public Schools
Alpine Sports Club. It faces the Eiger, the Monch, and the northern and
precipitous face of the Jungfrau, and is admirably sheltered from the
north and east. It stands about 4500 feet above sea-level, basks for a
long day in the sun, and is excellently equipped in the way of rinks for
skating and curling. There are two rinks, one about 8000 square metres
in extent, the other half that size. Here, as at Grindelwald, the
International style “hath the pre-eminence.” The cog-railway by which
the village of Wengen is reached continues up the Wengern Alp, where are
excellent ski-ing slopes, and you can take a lift, instead of climbing,
up towards the Scheidegg, from which the skier can descend to
Grindelwald. Wengen was opened originally for the winter season in the
years 1909-1910, and has already grown enormously in popularity.
(iii) Opposite Wengen (or rather a little further south) and on the
other side of the Lauterbrunnen valley, stands Mürren, at an altitude of
5500 feet, 1000 feet higher than Wengen. It has only been opened lately
as a Swiss winter resort, and is blest with many natural and artificial
excellences. A curling-rink adjoins the large skating-rink, and the ice,
made in the “Boss method,” is wonderfully good. Here the Continental and
English skaters may be seen side by side, and the two schools flourish,
as is reasonable, without the smallest friction. For the skier there
are any amount of expeditions, and the very large extent and variety of
the northern slopes above Mürren, combined with its height, render it
safe even in bad winters from continued thaws: it owns also (for the
more daring) one of the best jumps in Switzerland. This year (1912) the
railway has been continued to the top of the Allmendhubel, from where a
bob-sleigh run will start, and will give skiers a lift to the upper
snows. The inter-university ice-hockey match has for the last three
years been played here. Apart from its excellent faculties for sport, it
is a place of unrivalled natural beauty ... but perhaps you have heard
enough about the view. It is excellently shielded from the northerly
winds, and its height, as in the case of Davos and St. Moritz, gives it
a reasonable chance of immunity from thaw.
(iv) On the other and northern side of the Lake of Thun, and looking
across the lake and the Interlaken valley straight at the Monch and
Jungfrau (I am sorry to introduce this lady and gentleman again, but
they cannot help dominating Oberland resorts) stands Beatenberg. It lies
below the 4000-foot level, being only 3750 feet above sea-level, and in
a warm winter (like that of 1911-1912) has the penalties of its day-long
sun rigorously exacted from it. For the skier there are admirable runs
above it on the Amisbühl, and there are good skating and curling rinks,
and an artificial toboggan-run. But Beatenberg is distinctly a place to
be visited in _severe_ weather, in which the conditions there are ideal.
But from its comparatively low altitude and its enormous abundance of
sun, it must necessarily be among the places that soonest feel a thaw.
It is an exceedingly picturesque village, and the lake below and the
Oberland beyond make a charming panorama. It is within an easy
sleigh-drive from Interlaken.
Slightly away from the Oberland lie two other attractive
resorts--Kandersteg and Adelboden. Of these Adelboden is reached by a
short train transit from Spiez on the Lake of Thun, followed by a
sleigh-drive. It is essentially one of the high valley places, as
opposed to the high “shelf” villages like Mürren and Wengen, and has
admirable ski-ing expeditions to be made from it. The skating to be
obtained there is not of the best; it has not “caught on” as a skating
centre, and the rinks, when last the writer was there, were not up to
the mark of that which the skater who goes to Switzerland for the sake
of skating is entitled to expect. Skaters, for some reason, have not
been enticed there, and thus that inter-breeding of good skaters and
good rinks seems not to have taken place. But it lies in a high valley,
the altitude being about 4500 feet, and both tobogganing and bobbing are
catered for. Undoubtedly it is charming in situation, as all these
upland valleys are, but, apart from the ski-ing expeditions which can be
made from it, it does not boast any special attraction.
Kandersteg is approached also from Spiez, and lies high on a valley base
leading to the Gemmi pass. It is lower than Adelboden, being only 3800
feet above sea-level, but is capable of extreme frigidities, since it
lies in a northward sloping valley. But though it has been opened to
winter sports only six or seven years, it is already a sort of Mecca for
curling, and for the curler it is already a classical name. For the last
eight years there has been instituted an International Bonspiel for
curling, in which Scottish, English, Canadian, and Swiss teams have
taken part, and out of these eight annual events the contest has been
held four times at Kandersteg. Indeed the curler who has not been there,
excellent though his prowess may be, has got his Swiss St. Andrews to go
to, and there is probably no place that has had so many different
nationalities so often intent on winning a cup as Kandersteg. On the
first occasion of the institution of this bonspiel, twenty-eight rinks
were competing, and all curlers who have been there will acknowledge
“the atmosphere” that surrounds it. At the approach of the bonspiel a
holy hush dominates the valley. Curling is in the air, and the great
event obscures all other interests. A skater of the highest eminence
might make his appearance, a skier who could negotiate the most
incredible jumps, a tobogganer who could ride the Cresta backwards might
be announced, but all these masters of their craft would be looked on as
amiable aliens if the bonspiel was at all imminent. At such a time there
is no talk but of curling. The immediate ski-ing is not very good, but
there are excellent long excursions.
This line from Spiez terminates at Zsweisimmen, and at Zsweisimmen
begins a light mountain railway which traverses the upland valley
southwards, and debouches at Montreux on the Lake of Geneva. This valley
itself is of an average height of between 3000 and 4000 feet, but on
either side of it are lines of hills of considerably greater altitudes,
which abound in admirable ski-ing slopes. Zsweisimmen, Saanan, and
Gstaad are all first-rate centres of the sport, and there is skating and
tobogganing, including bob-sleighing, to be had. But the _clou_ of all
these places is the ski-ing, which is excellent both in quantity and
quality.
Further on towards Montreux stands Château d’Oex, an exceedingly
charming little place with a good skating-rink. It is not more than 3200
feet above sea-level, and thus the visitor cannot expect the greater
security in the matter of frost that the higher places afford, but the
ice there is often excellent, and in an average cold winter his
enjoyment of it should be uninterrupted. After that the line passes
through Les Avants, which is about the same height as Château d’Oex.
Here there is a rink, and facilities for tobogganing and bobbing.
Finally, at the level of about 3600 feet, Caux, with its palace of a
hotel, overlooks the lake itself, much in the manner that Beatenberg
overlooks the Lake of Thun.
We are now on the Lake of Geneva, at the upper end of which begins the
Rhone valley, which extends right away up to the Simplon pass and the
tunnel into Italy. Here are situated three winter resorts, opened and
controlled by the Public Schools Winter Sports Club, and a hill-station
called Leysin, which, however, in the main, is a place of out-door cure
and sun for invalids. These other winter-sport centres are Montana,
Villars, and Morgins.
Of these Morgins lies on the south side of the Rhone, at a height of
4600 feet, and is in a well-sheltered basin. A light railway goes up
from Aigle to a small village called Trois Torrents, from which Morgins
is reached by a sleigh-drive. It is surrounded by excellent ski-ing
slopes, and there are good expeditions to be made. This year (1912-1913)
it has also started into ardent activity as a nucleus of skating in the
English style, and has a very fine rink of about 10,000 square metres.
Lying as it does on northern slopes (since it is on the south side of
the valley), it is far colder than places of corresponding height facing
south, and thus in the matter of the permanence of its ice and snow. At
mid-winter the hours of sun are rather short, about four.
Opposite, on the north side of the Rhone, stands Villars, on a shelf of
the mountain-side rather than in a valley. It is reached by a
mountain-railway from Bex on the main line, and has an altitude of 4200
feet. Climatically it is absolutely ideal in a decently cold winter, and
the big hills which shield it to the north and east afford several very
good ski-ing expeditions. It has not, however, from a skier’s point of
view, the limitless scope of Davos, and it is in the main as a centre of
English skating that it has become so popular and widely known. The rink
is in extent second only to the public rink at Davos, being about 17,000
metres in extent, and is maintained on the principles of ice-making
which have come from Grindelwald. But at Villars the whole expanse of
the rink lies in the blaze of the sun, and, as at Davos, there is a
restaurant immediately adjoining. Of this big ice-surface a certain
part, of adequate size for practice and combined figures, is reserved
for those who have passed the National Skating Association’s Third Test,
or the lower of the two Villars tests. This, then, forms a club-rink for
English skating, which is the only school that at present exists at
Villars. There, rink and skating alike have quickly grown big from the
small beginnings of some seven years ago, and annually a large number of
good skaters spend a month there. Elsewhere on the rink is a strip
reserved for curlers, who have also another small private rink. For
tobogganers there is provided both an artificial snow-run for the use of
luges, and for skeletons a very good ice-run, not, indeed, of the
arduousness of the Cresta, but fast and well banked. In addition
bob-sleighing can be had on the mountain-track up to La Bretaye, and
there are the usual suitable slopes for luges. The place has now been
open some eight years, and yearly the four big hotels are crowded with
visitors. Nor is this to be wondered at, for, apart from the excellence
of its provisions for all manner of winter sports, Villars, set in its
pine-woods and faced by the splendid open view across the valley, is
possessed of an extraordinary charm of situation and natural beauty.
On a similar northern shelf of mountain, but higher up the Rhone valley,
and also higher up in the air, stands Montana. It is reached by an
amazing funicular from Sierre, and is 4900 feet above sea-level. Behind
and above it and around it stretch limitless ski-ing slopes, and there
are any amount of expeditions to be made from it. There are two good
rinks: one for curlers, another for skaters; and after a considerable
period of Laodicean apathy, Montana seems to have made up its mind to be
of the English school. But up till lately it had put its chief energies
into ski-ing and curling, and had not pursued skating in that tense and
scientific spirit which it deserves. There is a fairly good artificial
ice-run for toboggans, and another snow-run down valleywards, and plenty
of those quiet, hard-trodden paths down which the amateur tobogganer
likes to ramble. There are two lakes which, when the snow has made an
agreeable arrangement with the frost, can be used for skating, and in
summer, when the sun has come to an understanding with the snow, a fine
golf-course is found to reveal itself. But all winter long the sun
blazes on Montana, while its altitude and the cold of its nights
preserves its frozen mantle. Of the view I have already spoken: there is
something to be said for a view in the intervals of falling-down, and in
the meditation and quiescence which such falls sometimes entail.
[Illustration:
PLATE XL
A PRACTICE GROUND]
[Illustration:
PLATE XLI
CROSSING THE ROAD ON THE CRESTA]
[Illustration:
PLATE XLII
TOP OF KLOSTERS RUN, DAVOS]
[Illustration:
PLATE XLIII
THE START, SCHATZ ALP RUN, DAVOS]
[Illustration:
PLATE XLIV
BOBBING ON THE SCHATZ ALP RUN, DAVOS]
[Illustration:
PLATE XLV
SKATING-RINK AT VILLARS]
[Illustration:
PLATE XLVI
AT LA BRETAYE, VILLARS]
[Illustration:
PLATE XLVII
“BLOW, BLOW, THOU WINTER WIND”]