Snow, snow and more snow.

My front door today 10th December 2012

A Wengen Winter Wedding Day!

Bride and Groom take the vicar skiing

Coffee with the Best Man and Bridesmaids

Marcus the Vicar is also allowed a coffee break from skiing

Thankfully everyone made it back to the village in one piece, with plenty of time to get dressed up.

Horse and carriage to the church

The Wengen Marching Band did a great job playing the music in the church.

We sang carols.

The deed is done

Ski School colleagues form an archway for the Bride and Groom

50% off Skipass

I've just heard that Jungfraubahn are offering good reductions on skipasses if booked 21 days in advance.

Here's the link  http://shop.jungfrau.ch/en/skipass/

It's still snowing!

Ski Fit?

After my two full days of skiing I have no muscle aches or pains, just the soft tissue damage from the boots. This is because of two major reasons: I do my best to keep fit and I use good technique for my skiing.

What's my fitness programme? I hike, bike and climb throughout the summer. I have a daily stretch and back strengthening routine, incorporating some yoga positions, and while at home in the UK in November I joined a gym and weight trained every other day for three weeks. 

But the real trick is to find an exercise routine that you enjoy.

It makes a big difference to your skiing holiday to be as physically prepared as possible. 

An older gentleman skied with me ten, fifteen years running til well into his seventies. He is a tall, heavy set man who 'admits' to being 17 stone. The first few years with him I found rather worrying. Every four or five turns he had to stop to wipe the sweat from his brow and catch his breath. I was convinced he'd have a heart attack. Technique wise he skied a reasonable parallel turn and had many years of experience on skis. His goal at this point was to be able to ski top to bottom of Wixi lift, without stopping. My advice, get a personal trainer at the local gym, and go at least weekly, throughout the year.

The following years, he'd lose two stones through regular gym visits between Christmas and his ski trip in March. 

The skiing goal was attained.

It's time to get fit for your skiing holiday!

The Ski Season has begun.

We skied this weekend.

 Lauberhorn, Arven and Eigernordwand lifts opened for the ski instructors CPD (Continual Professional Development) course. Truth be told, they probably wouldn't have opened were it not for us 200 instructors wishing to keep our licenses up to date. Saturday was clear blue skies, today cold and snowing. Even some powder. There were a few crazies off piste yesterday, despite lack of a decent base.

My shins and calves are sore and bruised, it was painful to put my boots on this morning. A relief to remove them this evening. How does anyone ever enjoy a weeks holiday on skis? I lathered on the arnica cream last night and this morning, and will continue to do so for a few days. Home made of course.

The English equivalent would be daisy, an old English name being Bruisewort, which has similar properties to arnica. According to Mrs M. Grieve (A Modern Herbal, 1982, pg 247) who quotes Gerard,  'Bruisewort' is an unfailing remedy in 'all kinds of paines and aches'.

Thankfully, I now have a week to recover before the area actually opens for real. A fantastic start to the season.