Grindelwald Maennlichen Kl.Scheidegg - Switzerland

[missyd]

Here is my trip report of February 6. 2010. The weather forecast was not good for saturday.
They said it may have some sunshine in the west of Switzerland. Grindelwald again I decided.
I know the slopes so if there is flat light I know where I am. I set the alarm clock at 4:30!
Looking out of the window I saw the moon shining through a layer of fog. Yesss! The weather could
be good today! The 2.5h drive started at 5:40. Later as I wanted but after 1 week of working with
the flu made my body rather slow. So I had a late start. The journey was uneventful and there
was not too much traffic on the freeway.


^^ I was held up 3 times by closed railroad crossings. Thats the rack railway coming down from Grindelwald. Roads where snowcovered
But not too slippery so driving up wasn't a problem. I arrived at the Grindelwald Grund parking. Only some 20 cars and 4 buses where
parked already .... very strange. Weather was good ... not a bluebird day but OK for skiing. But this will change as you may reading
through my trip report.

Please click on the pictures for bigger size!

Now let me present you the actors of this ski day ...


^^ My Renault Kangoo that drives me everywhere and my savior of the choppy sea slopes: my Lotta Luvs! A very trusty combination.

Lift ticket for the day is $59. Not much if you consider the nice panorama and all the possibilities for skiers.


^^ Isn't idyllic in the morning. Fresh snow 5-10" and some sunshine. Temperature in the valley was lower than on the mountain!


^^ Gondola ride to Maennlichen. The hut is a special stop only for people living there.I just love the forest with snow.


^^ Maennlichen Gondola on the way up. Some huts used as stables in the summer.


^^ Snowcats just finished their job. Most slopes where groomed. But 1-2h after opening of the chairlifts all slopes
where like choppy seas. As I arrived on top the chairlifts where closed so I had to wait a few minutes.


^^ Typical weather situation for this part of the swiss alps. Grey clouds and below some blue sky. Very nice.


^^ This is the Maennlichen chairlift. I rode it 4 times. I did some offpiste skiing on this slope.
But the powder was rather heavy and my legs started to burn after a few turns.


^^ Maennlichen GOndola to the right Maennlichen chairlift to the left. The slopes are very easy. In distance is the First
resort barely visible.


^^ Fresh powder and the Tschuggen mountain.


^^ View of the Maennlichen. To the left the gondola and right the chairlift. In between on top the restaurant.

[missyd]

^^ Panorama from Maennlichen. In the middle is the Schilthorn famous for its 007 James Bond Movie shot there.


^^ Panorama from Maennlichen in direction of lake Thun (under fog) and Berne.


^^ This knob is called Lobhorn ... its actually 4 peaks ... see the shade! This week a freerider lost its life in an avalanche there .... freeriding with an
avalanche risk set very high!


^^ Maennlichen top station. Gondola from Wengen ends here. A chairlift, gondola from Grindelwald and the groomed snow to the
left is for airplanes ... yes sometime airplanes with skis land there! There is a playground for kids and other activities. A place full of skiers/visitors.


^^ Laeger chairlift near top station. All chairlifts but one are of the newest design/technology and very very fast.
Eiger north face in the background.


^^ The slopes going down from the Laeger chairlift.


^^ Panoramic view from top of Laeger slopes. In the middle in the distance is the place I went up with the swiss postal bus!


^^ Tschuggen mountain in the middle. Eiger and Moench to the left. The light is still very flat.


^^ Very nice .... powder everywhere.


^^ One of the Laeger slopes .... many possibilites from this chairlift.


^^ As the temperatures where not very low I decided to take some pics from a chairlift ride. This is the Laeger chairlift.

[missyd]

^^ The Tschuggen is always visible. The slope itself is an easy one.


^^ Farther up you may see all these little hills and valley that makes the slopes here so interesting.


^^ I decided to change to the Kleine Scheidegg part of the resort ... I am looking down from the Gummi chairlift.
Choppy seas everywhere! Sadly the double black Gummi slope was not groomed and I do not go off piste there as the ground is
only rocks. No I wont risk my Lottas for an off piste ride.


^^ Looking up from Gummi to Honegg chair.


^^ Jep it exists ... 6p express chairlift with orange bubbles its called Eigernordwand (Eigernorthface) .... my gosh its ugly!
They built it last summer (visited it 3 times to take pics of contruction). I prefered the very difficult T-bar lift ...
sadly its gone forever.


^^ Top of Nordwand chairlift. Spectacular panoramic view from there.


^^ Not a slope for people with vertigo .... I do not like that slope much. Its a double black on top and blue farther down.


^^ View from Eigernordwand chairlift to Kleine Scheidegg. The chairlift visible is the Lauberhorn. Most parts of the Lauberhorn
mountain can be skied on off piste.

Having a blinding headache I thought some rest in a restaurant would be OK. I arrived at 12:00 in the Restaurant
and I found a table on the terrasse in the sun with a fantastic view. I had my coffe, some chips and something sweet.
I did rest 1/2h. The restaurant isthe Eigernordwand .... I go there for lunch/snacks if I have time ... in summer they serve
wonderful local dishes. In winter its self service ....


^^ View from the restaurant. You can see the from left to right. Hotel, sports shop, rack railway station. Not many skiers
today. I saw this place bustling with tourists in summer! To the top left a rack railway goes to 'the top of europe': The
Jungfraujoch!


^^ Beginners slope ... Eigernordwand chairlift behind.


^^ Eiger and Moench ... below the rack railway and foothpath/tobboganning run down to Grindelwald

[missyd]

^^ Sports shop, snowbar (tipi) and train station. The mountains are the Jungfrau and the Silberhorn (Silverpeak). On the saddle you can see a rectangular shape ...
This is the top of europe station called Jungfraujoch. Fantastic place to visit when the weather is sunny. As can see ... its finally a bluebird day!!!!!


^^ Top station of Lauberhorn chairlift. I did some offpiste here.


^^ Choppy seas slope ... my gosh! Thats a black run. I skied there for some time.


^^ on the Lauberhorn slope


^^ On the way from Lauberhorn chair to Wixi chairlift. The slope is on top of a cliff. The start of the Lauberhorn downhill
race is there. Together with a bar and the Wixi chairlift top station.


^^ I am standing near the Russi Jump. i could have gone down the downhill race slope but as conditions where rather icy
and my time limited I didn't take this slope. I went left to the Wixi chairlift.


^^ The red security nets are for the downhill race. Eiger to the left and Moench to the right


^^ The downhill race passes near the blue hut. Schilthorn in the distance.


^^ Halfway down the Wixi slope there is a bridge over the rack railway. Its easy to go over. Just enough speed an a nice S-turn.


^^ I am on the Fallboden chairlift. This is a very slow lift with fixed chairs. I like it because you get some rest riding it.


^^ To the left you can see the Fallboden slope

[missyd]

^^ A nice place to do off piste skiing. But today no fresh tracks possible! And the fresh powder was rather heavy and tiring
today


^^ on the Fallboden chairlift

^^ On the Honegg chairlift. I wanted to ski on the Honegg slope ... so I went up the 6p Honegg chairlift.


^^ Looks rather icy .... its a easy slope many beginners take.


^^ Maybe the slope isn't as icy .... ?


^^ Lauberhorn mountain with chairlift top station


^^ Honegg slope was too icy for my liking ... so maby the slope on the Tschuggen T-bar lift could be better ... I'm on the
slope to the Tschuggen TBar


^^ I just love this slope!!! Its the only real tree ride of the resort. And the slope had only few icy patches.


^^ Just nice .... I wasn't alone ... I waited for a break in the strings of skiers/boarders coming down. To the left the slope
goes down directly to Grindelwald Grund train station.

I went in direction of the Tschuggen TBar ... my favorite of all lifts here.


^^ Sunset it under way ... fading light makes skiing more difficult.


^^ Tschuggen slope into the trees


^^ Tschuggen TBar lift ... built in the 60ties ... the last remaining TBar lift! The clock shown 15:20 .... Lift closes
at 16:30 ... plenty of time to do some runs here! Liftride and skiing down the slope needs 10-15mins.

¨
^^ Here I will be skiing down in a few minutes!

[missyd]

^^ Tschuggen Tbar lift top station. I love tese old stations. The slope itself was empty. I skied there for some time mostly
alone! Wonderful!!!


^^ On the schuggen slope. Wtterhorn in the distance. As you can see the MAenlichen resort is on the northern face of the
mountain and therefore in the shade very early. Icy snow conditions are usual here. Its was like this already 40 years ago!


^^ snowed in stables for the summer ... here htey will milk the cows and make some of this nice Grindelwaldner cheese! Mhhhhh!


^^ I love this slope ... its my favorite and I ski it always at the end of the day when all skiers are gone.


^^ Sunset with the old Gummi chairlift building ... yes the first Gummi chairlift started here and the top station was near
today top station. I can't understand why they moved the new start station more to the top of the mountain making the gummi only a
few 100m long! Anyway ... I soaked in the nice atmosphere and the quietness of the mountain!


^^ Eiger and Moench in the evening sun .... lovely!!!


^^ Zoomed in pic of the Moench


^^ Eiger Moench and Jungfrau .... the 3 mountains that made Grindelwald famous.

Ok .... its 16:15 and ski patrol will do their last run at 16:30. Time to ski down to Grindelwald Grund. I do not like skiing
behind the last patrol .... to risky.


^^ on the slope down to Grindelwald. A nice slope!


^^ in the fading light .... sunset .... a wonderful day skiing in Grindelwald!

Its was a wonderful day with good snow and very little people on the slopes. Slopes where a little bit too icy (and some rocks
could be seen) for my liking. But the fresh powder and fresh air where more important than the grooming of the slopes.
It wouldn't have been so nice without my Lottas!

I did the mistake of thinking it would be cold in the alps. I had to open the ventilations zips in the afternoon. I should have worn my
North Face overall instead of the warm Salomon pants and jacket ... never mind!

As said before ... thats about the maximum I can ski in one day.
Total driving car: 5h (~ 500km)
Total skiing: 7h
Total lift rides: 26

For more informations about the slopes: (pdf version)
http://www.jungfraubahn.ch/de/Portal...idegg_0506.pdf

[missyd]

For those who are interested in seeing Grindelwald every day .... try out this 360° webcam olcated on the roof of the Krichbuehl hotel.

http://kirchbuehl.livecam360.com/flash/main.php

Not much snow left .....