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Yes, it's annoying as hell. They pretty much scratched Mon-Tue-Wed from weekday skiing, it now feels like a weekend, at times even worse because nobody's filling the chairs, people feel free to ride in pairs when there is a mile long line behind them, and the 6-pack is of course standing still, saving Blue the electric bill and attendants salary. Boo the Blue!

Oh, wow, it's one of those storms that rush all of NJ/NYC to ski only to find there is nothing there.

I was late. I was so unbelievably, inexcusably freaking late! First slowdowns on the parkway (Where are all these people going to, isn't it still pandemic?), then stuck behind a movers truck on a one-lane road (Really? Moving? Have you seen the house prices lately??). GPS was showing that I was being 2 minutes late, then 4, then 6, ahhh! I'm gonna have to park in the last row, take all the stairs, miss the rope drop and wait in a terrible, impossibly long line just to do a few runs and then it will already be time to drive back. I remembered how the snow report threatened not to open two lifts citing that "the attendants needed a well deserved rest". I keep hitting the steering wheel cursing at the truck driver and wishing him all the worst. Eventually I'm at the base of the mountain, thermometer is reading 1F and I'm thinking to myself if I'm gonna see negative numbers on the way up, but nope! I'm going up, and the numbers are going up... Inversion! Everybody knows that inversion is bad. It sucks. It calls for a lousy day of skiing, no new snow, perhaps even fog?? All wound up I'm finally in the parking lot, late, so late... A day totally gone wrong. Money down the drain. At least a barrel of gas same way. But... There is nobody there! A few cars at most, I don't see any people... Whoah... Is the mountain closed? Are all people standing in line somewhere down there already?! IDK... Two snow canons are saluting me when I step from the parking lot on the snow. I get into the lodge, yeah, there are some people there, but they're all relaxed, changing, no rushing, I breathe in, out and... reboot. It's as unbelievably good as I remember it. Every time I get to this place it's like I have to forget how I usually ski and rediscover this parallel universe where skiing does not feel rushed, and yet you manage to do uncountable number of laps before it suddenly hits you... it's 4pm already! The snow was perfect, pristinely groomed carpets in the morning, changing into chalky slopes in the afternoon. From green to black, it's all the same, smooth, no ice, no cookies, no marbles. Sun all day long, so welcome in the morning due to the low temps and definitely insufficient closer to 4pm when most of the slopes drown in shadow. Very few people, I never had to wait in line and never had to share a quad with anybody. Hell, I even rode gondola all by myself a few times. Chill, so chill. Anybody wants a piece of paradise? It's still there, and not too far. Just don't get behind a movers truck when you race to the finish line.

Yeah, skiable in the sense that a skier is generally able to go down it. But most of the time I've been on it I found it to be either worse than any other open trail on the mountain or a plain torture to navigate. I ski it once, just to see what's new, and end up never coming back on the same day 'cause it ain't worth it. Looks like from the reports it was a real gem on Monday, too bad I've missed it. I hope that once it stops being a novelty they'll realize that with the way how they make it, most people will prefer not to ski it. Meaning snowmaking money down the drain.

Why? Does TCS suck again? It's interesting how they finally find $$ for snowmaking on a trail and then leave it not skiable half of the time.

Greatest news ever is that they've been loading both expresses since about 10am, so a little bit of suffering on periodically stopping quad with an inevitably growing line, and life became beautiful. Grooming was impeccable on some trails like Main, Paradise or Lazy, but with plenty of cookies on others, worst one was probably Sidewinder, Switchback somewhat in-between. They've groomed TCS as well, so now it's way nicer, compared to how it was two days ago with bare ice on the right hand side and indescribable piles on the left, but grooming was far from perfect, with the bottom half being so uneven. Great morning. Sunny but coooold. Had to stop and buy toe warmers about an hour in.

This is going to be a boring summary post. I was in Switzerland once in summer, and it's as beautiful in winter as I remember seeing it in July. Well, the lakes are perhaps less blue, there are no flowers, sheep or cows on the slopes, but the mountain scenery around Grindelwald is hard to beat. I'll definitely want to come back there again some time. Travel-wise, I loved the train access. For the three of us it ended up cheaper to go by train than to rent a car, and the convenience is hard to beat. On the night of departure it snowed hard, but all we had to worry about was how to drag our stuff over fresh snow 100m down to the train station. After that it's a comfy ride down to Interlaken where, chances are, there will be just rain. There are way too many ways to buy train tickets for my liking. Putting all discount cards aside (which I think are not worth getting for a single trip), one is still left with the choice of buying a Point to Point ticket, a Saver Day Pass or a Supersaver Ticket. The first one works on any train on a given day between the two destination, the Saver Day Pass works on a given day on just about any train except for some mountain trains, and Supersaver Ticket is a time- and route-specific discounted fare that works only on the trains departing at the specified time. The relative price of all tickets varies all the time, I didn't quite grasp the logic except that Saver Day Passes become gradually more expensive the closer you get to your travel dates. We ended up buying Saver Day Pass, to have the freedom of taking any route when we arrive and leave. sbb.ch (Web site and an App) is where we bought tickets, planned routes or checked live updates due to service disruptions or just because we ended up in the wrong place and now needed to take a different train. sbb.ch covers both trains and buses, lists departure time, platforms for trains, stops for buses, and bugs you on your way if there is a change coming soon. Between ZRH and Grindelwald there are at least two changes (one in Bern, one in Interlaken), but sometimes the app suggests jumping a train in Zurich or Spietz, saving a few minutes. We preferred a more relaxed, slower ride to hauling skis and bags one/two extra times. Typical connection time is 7-10 mins and for us it always involved going from platform to platform through a tunnel or via an overpass. Still, even overloaded with skis and luggage, this was manageable. Tickets were always checked in the trains between Zurich, Bern and Interlaken and were never checked between Interlaken and Grindelwald. The way how they do it is by scanning QR code in sbb.ch app, print-at-home paper ticket and then matching it you our ID, a US DL works just fine. As far as lodging is concerned, we were picking between a whole house near train station in Wilderswil (second station from Interlaken toward Grindelwald, about 20 mins by train to the nearest lift) and a spacious studio on the main street in Grindelwald, both costing about the same. Both options would actually provide reasonably convenient access, and trains in Jungrfau regions are free with a valid skipass, but Grindelwald is of course a nicer place to stay at, it has the atmosphere of a ski town, whereas Wilderswil is just a quiet residential area with a train station on the way up the mountains. Two thumbs up for staying in Grindelwald, one thumb up for Wilderswil. There are three access points for the slopes in Grindelwald: First - a separate ski area accessible by a gondola lift from the main street. You get there by walking or taking one of 4 buses (free, thanks to hotels and airbnb charging you 4.70 CHF tourist tax pp, pd). Terminal - a modern hub with 15-min lifts reaching Kleine Scheidegg and Mahnlichen. It's accessible by two buses and is a one train station, 3 min away from Grindelwald on the way down toward Interlaken. Kleine Scheidegg - half way between Grindelwald and Wengen, accessible by a separate train departing from Grindelwald station via Grund and going further up the mountain. Travel time 30mins, leaving every 30 mins. It's a nice trip, especially in summer. And we were the only passengers in our car when we took it to Kleine in early morning. Unfortunately we never got to the farthest Schilthorn/Murren area accessible from Lauterbrunnen, so I can't say much about it. Of those three that I've seen, I liked First the most. It's disconnected, requires an additional bus travel if you don't stay in Grindelwald and are arriving by train, hence less people, but enough trails of all kinds, and they were in far better condition than those at Kleine or Mahnlichen. Trails around Kleine are too narrow, crowded and scraped, especially in the afternoon. Same is true for the loooong trail that goes back along the train tracks to Grindelwald. Interestingly, the trail following the tracks in the opposite direction, i.e. from Kleine to Wengen is much quieter and hence pleasant. It actually makes a great loop, taking train/gondola from Grindelwald to Kleine, then taking long trail to Wengen (nice car-free town!), then lift up to Mahnlichen and skiing down to Grindelwald. Mahnlichen can be busy too, but it has more trails, they're wider, and people disperse nicely across the slopes. What works against Mahnlichen is that this the main place that Wengen people go to, and it's just a single gondola ride away. Snow was great there. Around our visit snow was in the forecast every day, but in reality it snowed about half the time. Up the mountain the coverage was 100%, and since most of the snow was fresh, it was easy to try going off-piste. IDK if it's a norm or we just got lucky, but I do know that e.g. in Dolomites, which are touted for having the most number of sunny days, and hence are a more reliable destination for a quick skiing trip, we once arrived to brown slopes with only man-made trails. As far as COVID is concerned, unless you have a EU vaccination certificate, Switzerland requires visitors to purchase a Swiss cert. It can be done by scanning US CDC card, uploading image to some ch website and paying 30 CHF. Once you do, it gets loaded in a Swiss Covid Cert App or can be downloaded/printed as a PDF. This certificate was scanned diligently in every restaurant on the slopes before allowing us in. Besides certificates one must also have a 24-hour antigen test or 72-hour PCR. It was an absolute nightmare getting tested around holidays in NJ, but on the way back the antigen test was done in the Terminal for 40 CHF pp, took about an hour to wait in line and get the results. Airlines in JFK asked for both test and vaccination, passport control in ZRH checked vaccination as well.

It snows again, but we’ve got to go… At least we aren’t driving 👍

Today was amazing. It snowed last night, the forecast was iffy, so I checked webcams first thing in the morning and decided to go to, we’ll, First again. Second in line with only a girl with skis and a dog waiting ahead of us. It still snows a little, and the viz isn’t great, I can hardly see surrounding mountains, but it is what it is, and the gates open with two minute delay again… We’re riding up, getting past first station, and viz gets worse. Reaching second station, and it’s total milk. Fog is even inside the station. I pull the phone to check back on the cams, and yep it got worse on top as well, but at least I can see something on screen! At the final station it does look better, the problem is that the wind is howling, snow is blowing across, gaiter freezes solid, and we still can’t see anything for a safe run. Next chair lift to the very top is not running, so we’re taking the ridge walk again. Nothing to see out there, for there are clouds everywhere. By the time we’re back on snow I start feeling like those folks scaling up Eiger in North Face. But at least I have a way down. Chairs up aren’t spinning yet, and the attendant says that it’s gonna take at least another 30 mins, so we decide to ski down to the previous station. No viz, but the snow is awesome! It seems like there are 6” of fresh snow lying on groomed surface, so we’re just floating down while carefully watching the markers so that we don’t fall off the trail. The trail is also somehow shielded from the wind, so we don’t feel like frozen popsicles anymore. Got to the station, then up, then down again, it just felt sooo good… Some people started to form a line at the bottom of that delayed chair lift, we didn’t want to waste time waiting, so continued skiing and fantasizing about how great it must be up there… Finally the lift opened up, we hopped on it, reached the top, let the skis on the surface and immediately cursed. It was all frozen cord with snow just blowing across. In complete disbelief, half skiing, half scraping we proceeded down thinking “how can it be so shitty here when it’s so good only a little bit lower, snow has to change at some point”, but alas, before the thought even started to process, I suddenly hit an unseen pile of blown snow and flew head first. Soooooft!!! Later throughout the day we’ve found uniformly deep trails, icy spots and even some very decent groomers with at most an inch of new snow. The weather cleared up and went bad again. Viz fluctuated from “I can see everything around” to “I think there was a drop after this turn, where is it, a shit, here it goes!” It was a day of wildest skiing ever. From “I probably should just go back right away” to “Damn, is it time to get tested already??” And hardly any people, the locals are so spoiled!

There used to be a view…

I do find local trains fascinating. We travelled from Zurich to Bern in under an hour on a non-stop train. It just glided over the tracks. Second train from Bern to Interlaken followed a lake shore, and the scenery was amazing. Third one was actually two trains in one. A few stations up from Interlaken the first half diverted to Lauterbrunnen and the second one continued to Grindelwald. At some point it switched to cog drive. Finally, the local trains that go toward Kleine Scheidegg use only cog drive, and the incline is considerable. IC trains between Zurich, Bern and Interlaken look alike. They have a special bike/kids car with tons of space for bikes and skis downstairs and a freaking kids playground upstairs. On some trains when doors open there’s a little step that automatically flips and covers the gap between the car and the platform so that you can easily roll a bike or a suitcase in and out. IDK if anyone here ever took NJT or LIRR trains. Sadly, they’re a dinosaur clunky dirty junk in comparison. Actually there is no comparison. So yeah, Swiss trains are a big attraction on this trip. Busses are only average.

It was a looooong day today. Made a decision yesterday to go and check out Mähnnlichen, so walked to the train station in the morning with the idea to ride Interlaken train one stop to the Terminal where gondolas start, but then realized that another train to Kleine Scheidegg was leaving a few minutes earlier, and spontaneously decided to give it another try. It turned out great. Sunrise ride up the mountain in a completely empty train, then likewise hardly any people on the trails, in other words Kleine Scheidegg has totally redeemed itself during those few morning runs, and one hour later we skied down to the Terminal and proceeded to Mähnnlichen. It is a very different area, with wide groomers, and though there were already plenty of people who ascended both from Grindelwald and Wengen (Mähnnlichen is easily reachable from both), they’ve somehow spread out, so it was manageable. But I still think that First is the best crowd-wise. We looped those high elevation groomers for a while, then got a little bored, so had lunch (Swiss or EU COVID Cert is required to eat inside), somehow got ourselves back to Kleine and ventured on a long loop along rail tracks to Wengen. It’s a similar kind of a trail that is going in the other direction to Grindelwald, but it is far less travelled, so we just zoomed along, got really embarrassed when ordering drinks in some place along the trail only to find that it’s cash only, and we had only a few franks in our pockets, but otherwise had a very pleasant leisurely ride to Wengen. It’s a place worth exploring. The trail gets right in the middle of it, so from trees and slopes you literally end up crossing the streets and getting to a point where there’s a skating rink on the left and a gondola back to Mähnnlichen on the right. Rode up, paused for a drink watching how everybody was scrambling before incoming snow, skied slopes half way down to Grindelwald, realized that we can’t see shit and took gondola to the bottom. Phew.

Top of the morning to everyone

Lol, this place goes totally dead at 8pm. Granted, there was serious partying going on in the Terminal around 4pm, but now…

Well, Kleine Scheidegg sucked big time. Beautiful vistas, a 30 minute ride by train zigzagging up the slope, and a total circus on top. Sooooo many people, so few and so narrow trails, totally scraped to some frozen base. There was one trail going all the way down along the rail track, absolutely unreal views, but it’s narrow, green and is the only way to go down except for a gondola or train ride. So folks of all abilities end up flying, pizzaing, standing or passing. Thinking of either repeating First tomorrow morning or trying Mähnnlichen.

No idea, all I know for sure is that there’s a bottle of champagne in the fridge, but the rest is mystery.

Turns out, the snow isn’t happening until tomorrow afternoon, so today is a beautiful sunny day. Figured we’d try the smaller disconnected area served by First lift in the morning. Only one bus stop away. Could’ve walked really, if it was not for boots. Got there 10 mins ahead of opening time, but the doors stayed closed until 8:05, which was extremely annoying, but then, only 3 stations away, was the skiing area that we were after. Beaaautiful, albeit very windy. Spent some time on the ridge walk while they were opening further lifts. Now back at home eating and preparing to take a train to Kleine Scheidegg to ski until the closing time.

Yessss

Super-easy change from plane to train at the airport. Picked up luggage, fired up SBB.ch, which produced a few routes with the fastest one just 10 minutes away, reached the escalator down to the numbered platform from the app, and that’s really it. Different trains arrive and leave every 5 minutes, the platform is insanely long, and initially we had hell of a time trying to figure out where exactly we are supposed to wait, esp. since there are 1st and 2nd class carriages, but then came the moment of enlightenment, it appears to be all encoded on the bottom of the board with ABCD naming platform zones, and numbers above - carriage classes. Train came, we went in, beaaaautifulIy empty upstairs, figured I’d carry the stuff there and sit, since it’s about an hour till the next change at Bern, and while I’m huffing and puffing, almost ready to drop down and sleep, I get to realize that conductor is waaaay too chatty, almost like telling a goodnight story, first in German, then in French, I’m thinking, you’ve got to be kidding me, what’s there to talk about?? And then comes the turn of English… There’s a freaking accident somewhere on the tracks toward Bern, so, would you all please just leave at Zurich bahn and then search for alternatives. Wtf! The app starts showing cancellations as well, suggests to take a bus (sic) to get to some other station and take a completely different route, but luckily it soon comes to senses and shows a train an hour away, this time with three connections, but interestingly promising to get us to Grindelwald only 40 mins later. Of course, this train is packed 🤣

Woohoo, the most spontaneous, untimely, borderline inappropriate and irresponsible sprint for Jungfrau skiing region and back (at least for me, hopefully) is under way. Triple-vaccinated, twice-tested, with tedious (and not free!) paperwork for Switzerland certificates and entry forms, as well as the drive, checkin and loooooong security line are all behind our backs now. Three days of skiing and four nights of stay in a village of Grindelwald where we are supposed to arrive via a 3 hour train ride with 2-4 changes, depending on the route that sbb.ch will pick for us when we clear security and claim our luggage in Zurich. Each change is 5-10 mins only, which is going to be exciiiiiting! Rewatched North Face for the scenes from Kleine Scheidegg at the bottom of Eiger, for we’ll hopefully get there as well. It’s been snowing in Jungfrau daily for a few weeks, it’s going to be snowing there every day we’re there, I’m sure I’ll hate every minute of it.

That's what happens when someone takes a vacation from skiing and reporting! Nah, there wasn't any real ice on the slopes.

I find it totally unfair that after so extensive snowmaking efforts, nobody cared to post a report here, so here goes. If you want a brief summary - it was awesome! The morning started with rain where I live, turned to clear, then to fog on I-78, then back to clear and once more to dense fog around Nazareth, but no worries, there were blue skies awaiting on top of the mountain, reflecting nicely in the thin layer of ice covering the parking lot. Yeah, it was somewhat scary to walk. I missed the rope drop because like my season pass on the opening day, I found my other guest card "cancelled" today, and it took them ages to sort it out in the system, ugh. But conditions were great! Grooming was best or second best of what I've seen this year, firm and frozen at first, but that contributed to surface holding up very well until noon and possibly beyond that. Both Main Street and Burma lifts were spinning, both covered with a layer of ice in the beginning. There were definitely more people than last week with some lines forming at times, but still never felt too crowded on the slopes, now that Burma's open too. It definitely looks much more like true December, with thick base and lots of freshly blown white snow all around. Let's hope they'll overachieve on promises and open something else by Friday!

Well, I'd prefer Lazy, but still better than a school hill.

"WE'RE REOPENING TOMORROW, 9am-9pm, with 7 trails including Burma Road!" Yay