Stations which may boast of a large and well-kept skating rink, a curling pond, well-laid toboggan and bob-sleigh runs, a rink for hockey, and plenty of good ski-ing slopes, with hotel accommodation for an unlimited number of visitors of either sex, are a modern achievement of no mean order in primitive out-of-the-way Swiss mountain villages, buried under anything from 3 to 9 feet of snow.
There is a marked difference between the stations patronised by the English—or visitors from the capitals, whatever their nationality—and the stations frequented by the local people for sport or holiday purposes. Those two classes avoid each other very effectually, though unconsciously for the most part, and without any pointed intention so to do.
The former class depends on “central heating” for comfort. So exclusively do they depend on this and so steadily do they flock to the best accredited stations, that they often fondly imagine themselves to be the only sportsmen active in winter. How often has the writer been asked, at Villars, for instance: How is it that we English are alone seen on ski in Switzerland? This mistake is easily accounted for, because those who get that impression do not go far enough afield to correct it. If they did, they would soon find out what an extremely small proportion of those who run on ski are English. A little thought will show that this is quite natural.
Ski-running facilities stretch, as it were, in an unbroken line from Scandinavia through central Europe straight down to the Maritime Alps, and from the Vosges and Dauphiné in the west to the Carpathians in the east. The number of ski-runners recruited over this immense area is immeasurably larger than anything the British Isles (where there exist no ski-ing facilities worth mentioning) can produce.
The whole of Central Europe is, as it were, caught up in the meshes of a huge net of Alpine associations and skiers’ clubs. These hold periodic competitions and meet in international congresses, commanding a degree of public attention and drawing to themselves an interest the magnitude of which passes quite unnoticed in the United Kingdom.
In a rather ill-considered manner, winter visitors to Switzerland like to crowd the resorts which have become famous for their suitability in summer. This is not quite the way to set about the thing. Winter stations should be sought out for their own characteristics. Several low-lying centres are not nearly so suitable in winter as in summer. Besides, many which could be favourably reported upon by specialists, have hitherto failed to be introduced to the public.
Winter sports may be divided into two classes:—
1. Those which depend upon nature alone.
2. Those which depend upon nature artificially aided.