OUR LITERARY CORNER

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 14018, 15 April 1911, Page 7

OUR LITERARY CORNER

SWISS WINTER SPORTS CENTRES.

HOW TO CHOOSE ONE

<STY . lAI.LY WRITTEN >OR "THE rBK? < *.".>

CB* Constance A. Barmcoat.)

ST. MORITZ. February 20th. Many New Zealanders now seem to st-iv oil thi.-. *>Ide of the world during the ••inter, and not a tew go to Switz-r-Id.-iit for a time, to some sports centre. 11-,. mimbi-r of these places increases r.uj yt'ar. and as each lays the utmost «m -•> on it> advantages and attractions. <m*i- forgetting to mention its disad- -, i-itages and drawbacks, anyone visitu'; Switzerland in winter lor the first ...".,. probably lights only by chance on the kind of place best suited, either to hi- requirements or his purse. For it i. n.ns.sisc to pretend that, all these i v. inter reports are. equally good. Some arc excellent tor certain sports, and not _'• al! good for others. Some are too !,.-.\, and. unless it be a very hard uii.':rr, they have often not enough ,' " snow or even no snow at all, while their ii:ik_ are either bad, or. as I have , st-m them, mere mud-puddles. .-*oino resorts, again, are too sunny— 1 too "-unny, that is, for the ice to be good throughout the day, for in a coun- ;'-. trj . no colder than Switzerland, in an ordinary winter, either a certain number (A d_ily hours of sunshine must be fore- ',) gene, or the ice must be sacrificed. The Mm cannot blaze on tho rinks all day "! and not make them soft, except in a *' -cry high, cold place. Furthermore, <-. some resorts are very gay socially, others h ranch quieter —a recommendation in the e\es of some people, and a great drawbat'!: in the eyes of others; and some plaeej are very much dearer than "> others, not only as regards hotels but as regards the kur-tax and other e*:tr.is. not to speak of the dress rel % quired. I tlo not think the expensive- & 7 m->> or inexpensiveness of a place ■*; altogether a guide to its goodness or badness as a sports centre. For inV .stance, in my opinion, for those to }; whom money is a consideration, St. ' Moritz and other Engadine resorts are "V: simply not worth while. They aro ~|" much" deeper than other places, and N y not proportionately better—at any -J nte not for sports. I ,- I have now spent two winters in / Switzerland moving about the chief ' - winter sports centres, and I have made ' it my business to note their different 1 characteristics, their advantages and disadvantages. My experience may, >' ' therefore* be of benefit to others who are thinking of spending part of next winter in the Alps. First of all, they must- make up their minds betimes whether they do really wish for an Alpine winter holiday, or not, especially if they select a very popular place, such as Adelboden, or if they wish to havergf-ad rooms, and to stay in an ■"' ; Jioirl. and not merely sleep in some ; t rbalel or dependance and go .to an. * . 'hotel for meals—an obviously incon- ■■■ 'renicnt plan, especially for ladies with <| ;.' 'long evening, dresses to hold up out '■# '*. .of the snow. . , '$ • > It is not uncommon for rooms in •< ' .'leading hotels to bo reserved from one V . 'year to another, and many of the best ~' , /aro often taken by September or Oc•■l~ " .tober, at any rate for Christmas and \ .New Year. Now Christmas and New -]v .Year. I may say at once, are not the • best tirao for a Swiss winter holiday, . ■_ '.and should be avoided by anyone who •* 'imtNibly can avoid them. Christmas weather in Switzerland is proverbially 'bad. Even in this last winter of extraordinary fine weather, Christmas Day - was slightly wot and very sloppy, with • - it thaw. It was the one day. I •think, during the two months I spent in the Alps, on which I put up an umbrella for rain, though I used ono occasionally for snow. At or soon after New Year, a break very often ' - -.occurs in the weather, and the •snow and ice are never in such good cont " dirion then as from about the 10th or i, , '-January onwards until tho middle or \ --'- end of February. In the latter montn, - . however, tho sun begins to get rather - ' strong during the day for the ice-rinks. "' 'Moreover, the hotels at Christmas and 7 New Year are more crowded than ao any other time, and there is conse- "' quently less chance of securing rooms on reasonable terms. All Swiss hotels. 7 'X- 1 may say, charge more highly in '" winter than in summer. '. "'. This year there have been more winter in tho AOpg than ever ' "before, partly, of course, on account of ' ' the wonderfully fine weather. From New Year until past the middle of February there was not a wet day, and : \ only a very few misty ones. There :; wero intervals of snowy days, of *■~ course,- but tho snow was needed to v make the sports conditions good, and * • no one dislikes snow in the Alps. Day ' after day tho Bun rose into a cloudless siy of a* wonderful blue, and day after day it set in a eky either again cloudless or flecked with tho fleecy fine wea J ' ther clouds which the Swiss call "fish ; ,- "ckwds." Day after day, too, there i *~ere wonderful sunset effects. I Only a year ago, in tho Bernese i Oberland, at any rate in the chief re- | ' torts, _uch as Grindetwald, there were aon* but English visitors in winter. Now there is a small but a marked proPortion of visitors from other parts ot _ : Switzerland, from France, Belgium, Gttmanv, and even Russia and tho ' tnited States. Of course tho Eugn'.-tna •■ winter visitors have always been cosmopolitan, the Germans being '«» by far tho most numerously represented nation. The \ only places in Switzerland where t-we who wish for an entirely English , sst of visitors can find what they de- . ,' ?'«, are those the hotels of which are 7 ' j* the'bands of Alpine Sports, Ltd. 1 wr Henry Lunn). Among these places • *re Villars and Montana, both above too Rhone Vnllev, and both pretty re- ■ - torts, Montana in particular having the •jepntation of being very expensive: Loi-erhcide, Wengen, Murrcn, and •wend others. Except by booking - , though Alpine Sports it is impossible *«o go to most—not Quito all—of the : while in these places in winter. rho oldest Swiss winter resort, and TOb which still holds its own, is Davos, : » which people have been going in i *urter for some thirty years or more. ■•£» course it has always been greatly • fv$ Uen ted by consumptives, and for ': *» reason it is avoided by some peo- ' ■ r*'. Nevertheless, for weeks this win- " it has had over 5000 visitons: and -•; «f all important ski-races it always - "J* 3 *-* distinguishes itself. It is one * w the highest resorts in Switzerland, i*W, except for the consumptive taint, •JfrM-ably one of the best. ~ ot. Merit- must in many ways be - -™w*ted tlie queen of the Swiss- winter ".».?• It has a more brilliantly fash- - I.r**ble and cosmopolitan crowd of visi- %& , more really handsome first-

ORIGINAL AND SELECTED MATTER.

NOTES ON BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

class hotels than any other place. Its best rink rtho Kulm rink, open only to thos>e staying at the Kulm Hotel, which is the English hotel; has probably the best ice iv .Switzerland —indeed, it is so alarmingly smooth that a novice can scarcely skate upon it at first. Novices, hoivever, are not at ail wanted upon the Kulm rink, and had much better keep off it. On the other hand. St. Moritz is by no means, in my opinion, the "mo_t beautitully situuated Swiss winter report, the mountains around it being far less imposing than those around Grindelwald, or those facing Murren. It is, besides, a very artificial place, and altogether far too much of a little town in tho Alps. There aro fashionable shops, where probably anything could be bought or made, provided the buyer could pay heavy enough prices; fashionable tea rooms (one of which, tho only one with really good tea, is kept by an English lady), exquisite florists, whose windows in midwinter are full of carnations and lilies and roses —in short, there is here in miniature everything characterising a fashionable watering place. But the village it.seif, or so much of it as is net entirely overlaid by immense hotels and expensive shops, is rather dirty and unattractive.

A great drawback of St. Moritz, to my thinking, is that there seem to be no good second-class hotels., There aro either absolutely first-class and very costly hotels, or hotels of the third and fourth order. Personally, I have never been so uncomfortable in any winter resort as at St. Moritz. I pay far more than I have usually paid at other places, and get far less for it. The lowest price for ivhich Cook's will book anyone to St. Moritz in winter is £11 on a twenty-five-day, second-class ticket and this is not in one of the most expensive hotels.

Another drawback of this muchrenowned winter re.sort is that occasionally what is known as the "Maloja wind" blows—a bitter, not to say piercing wind from the Maloja Pass. It cannot blow very often, I think, else the reputation of St. Moritz as a winter resort would be speedily and irretrievably ruined, but it happened to be blowing when I arrived, and it continued blowing for several days. People went about wrapped in furs to tho tips of their noses, but nothing seemed quite to keep out the wind. Furs, I may say, are worn verylittle in most Swiss winter resorts, and tho simplest of clothes are the rule for day wear for ladies. I seldom saw an elaborate or extremely fashionable ccstutno in a winter resort till I came to St. Moritz. Here, however, are people in all manner of costly furs: in velvet, fur-bordered skating costumes, and other ''confections" which never came from any but the first and most expensive of houses.

I have never seen quite such _;ood skating as here on the Kulm rink. Two Germans, a man and his sister, professionals from the Berlin Ice-Palace, dance about the ice with the utmost perfection of grace 'and lightness, waltzing very rapidly, running on the tips of their skates, and performing other feats of which few are capable. The skating is mostly in the Continental style, not the English style, that is, one foot is often lifted very high, and there is a good deal of pirouetting, but none of the ugly-jerks and twists of the body which to mc, spoil English skating.

~No place in Europe, of course, can touch. St. Moritz as regards its iceruns. It was a bitterly cold day when 1 first saw these runs, and they were consequently excessively hard, so that the speed attained on them was positively alarming. No ono can begin upon the famous Cresta run, owing to the sharpness of the curves and its great dangerousness, but winding through the village is what is called the "novices' run," which is quite difficult enough for most people; and on this everyone must begin. It is comparatively seldom that any but a "skeleton toboggan" is used here —that is, a small cushioned toboggan with steel runners, on which the rider lies, face downwards. The speed attained by a good rider on the Cresta run, when it is hard, is often 70 miles an hour — even more, I believe. Italians are posted all along tho run, which must be banked up with snow very high, especially near the curves. This snow is. iced over till it is perfectly hard, and slippery as glass. When a ''skeletoner" jumps on his toboggan and starts headlong down the Cresta, a bell rings all down the course; the Italians wave a red danger-flag and close the barriers at the places over which, when no one is on the run, pedestrians aro allowed to pass. Presently a scraping is heard afar off, long before any runner comes in sight. The scraping grows louder and louder, and then, what looks liko some sort of black and white or grey and white spider or insect rushes past, swaying from side to side, often flying several feet up the high iced-over banks. Nothing but the extremity of the speed attained keeps the spider from going over backwards.

This extraordinary object is a "skeleton toboganner," and before you have realised that he has passed, he has rattled and bumped and scraped .down to the end of the run when the •■way" he has got on takes him flying up a very steep iced incline. Imagine what a force it must be to send a bteel-runnered toboggan with a, heavy man on it up a very steep incline, iced over, and therefore like glass. At the top of the incline the "skeletonei runs on for a considerable distance, and then either tumbles into the snow, or rolls or jumps somehow off his toboggan. His elbows and the part of the arm immediately below and above them, are protected with large leather pads, stuffed with some sort of wool, very thick and soft. His knees are similarly padded, and on to hi.s boots he screws firmly some sharp iron-spiked toe-caps, with which he brakes, and also to some extent guides the toboggan. Needless to say, h© sometimes turns a somersault when taking a curve, and is pitched out, alway on his head, so that cases of concussion of the brain, sometimes fatal, are not rare. I have seen a few women "skeletoning," but only on- the novices' run, and they certainly did not look graceful. They do less skeletoning." however, than formerly. I believe, because the runs have now been made so steep and so extremely rapid, and the curves so very swift and dangerous. Near St. Moritz is Canvpfer, which I should say was a dirty village; and Celerina, wluch is a distinctly expensive place. Pontresina is not very far away, and near Davos is Klosters, with another very famous run. All these are good winter resorts, but not one of them is inexpensive. The Swiss winter sports centre which seems to mc to offer most advantages to the generality- of people is certainly Grindelwald. There are hotels of th© first-class, with private suites, where millionaires stay; there are several second-class hotels, moderate in price; and there are also ono or two ''pusseries," 7 or 8-franc a day places, of course mostly frequented by ladies. Grindelwald possesses one of the very best and largest rinks in Switzerland, and altAffcther there are about a dozen skating and curling rinks. The natural toboggan runs (not iced) aro good, and there is one iced run, which is quite fast enough and curved enough for most people. The ''skeleton tobog-

ganer'' is not unknown here, but he is not nearly so common an object as at Ht. Moritz. The sKi-mg is excellent — in tew places is it better, both for oegmners and for runners capable of touring. The mountains surrounding Grindelwald are, I think, finer and more impressive in their different aspects than those surrounding any other winter resort in Switzerland, but they certainly do, until about the middle of January, shut out a great deal of stfnsbine from tlje village itself. This, of course, is good for the rinks, which too much sunshine spoils. Even at St. Moritz I have actually walked on my skates through slush before I could reach the. hard ice. I am aware that most people cry out for sunshine in a \\ inter sports centre. It is very pleasant, certainly, but unless a place be both high and cold, the rinks and runs, except perhaps in the very severest part of the winter, are bound to suffer if there is a very great deal of sun noon them.

Adelboden, quite ono of the most popular winter resorts now, is rather tiresome to reach, as there is n tenMile sleigh or diligence drive to get there from the nearest railway station. It is pretty —few winter resorts are more so, or have a more charming village street: but it is not nearly so finely situated as Grindelwald, and I do not consider it nearly so good a place for sports in general, while it is undoubtedly far more apt to s-iffor from insufficiency of It is, in fact, rather too warm. Nevertheless, to people who care very much for the social side of life in winter resorts, Adelboden would appeal strongly. It is quite one of the most expensive place« now: and this winter it has been crowded for many weeks—overcrowded.

Ostaad, on the electric railway between Montreux and Zweisimmcn. is a much smaller place, but one which I should choose in preference to Adelboden, and indeed, to many others. It is beautifully situated, has at least one first-class hotel, plenty of sunshine, very fair rinks, and particularly good conditions for ski-ing. I consider it quite one of the best Swiss -winter resorts.

In, or rather above, the Rhone Valley, in a side valley, is Champery— a remarkably pretty place, far less spoiled and over-exploited than most Swiss resorts. In a> cold winter, when there is no lack of snow or frost, I think this would be one of the pleasantest places which could be chosen. It is near Champery that the women wear men's clothes" have worn them for generations- past, when toiling about through the deep snow to look after the cattle in the high mountain chalets where they are stabled in winter. The Champery women are mostly very handsome, and they, and not the gentlemen, their husbands, seem to bear the brunt of the burden of life. In the actual village, however, one does not see them. They do not wish to attract attention to themselves, iike the harem-skirt wearers.

Then there is a much less-known place, Sainte-Croix, in the Jura, which is, I believe, quite one of the best places, perhaps the best, in Switzerlandfor skirunning. Champery, I should say, has the best natural toboggan run 1 havo seen. It is pretty fast, but I should not have thought it was dangerous, though I know of someone who overturned upon it and broke his ribs. Caux, and the neighbouring resorts above the Lake ot Geneva, are really too low and too warm to bo suited for winter sports, but this winter a great many toboggan races and bobsleigh races havo been held in this district, and there have been a great many accidents, several of them fatal.

I have not now mentioned two winter resorts which are very generallypopular—Engelberg and Andermatt, the latter 'being particularly good for skiing, and the former for ice-sports. It was at Engelberg that Mr Rudyard Kipling stayed this winter for the sake of the skating. An excellent skater in" English style is Mr E. 'F. Benson, the novelist. He'seems to go about from winter resort to winter resort, often, being a judge of skating competitions in English style. I have seen him judging one at Villars. Ho certainly seems thoroughly at home on his skates.

Thero are a number of other and less-known winter resorts, such as Diablerets (two years old), St. Cergues (one year old), Kandersteg, Arolla, which is coming much into favour, 1 believe. Many of the Swiss resorts, however, are, to speak plainly, too low and too warm for good sports, unless during a very oold, frosty winter, such as that just over.

In order, therefore, not to be disappointed in a holiday which cannot be very cheap, and may easily, with the many extras, be very expensive, great care should bo exercised in tho choice of a winter resort Do not go too soon; do not insist on too much'sunshine, unless you can afford St. Moritz, Cclerina, or another Engadine resort; and especially consider what sports you most wish for, since no ono place, not even St. Moritz or Grindelwald or Davos, has the best conditions for every sport. Perhaps, in order to give some notion of the relative cost of some of the winter sports centres. I may mention the prices of the 2o 'ay second-class tickets of Cook's. Theso tickets, of course, mean travelling in a conducted party; it is impossible to go more cheaply, except in a Polytechnic party,, which, of course, no first-class hotel will take, and which some winter resorts even refuse altogether. A 25-day ticket to Adelboden, second-class, costs from £10 upwards; to Celerina, from £11; to Champery from £8 10s; to Davos, from £0 16s: to Engelberg. from £9; to Grindelwald, from £10 os; to St. Moritz, from £11. In some cases afternoon tea is included, in others These prices may be somewhat altered by next winter; but it is not likely that they will bo lower, especially as tho cost of necessaries is rising steadily in Switzerland.