As, upwards of 7,000 feet, no winter stations have as yet been thrown open, the useful range of Alpine climate is as follows:—
1. Under 3,000 feet (such as Mont Pélerin, above Vevey, and Ballaigues, above Vallorbes).
2. From 3,000 to 4,500 feet (these stations are the most numerous and the most frequented).
3. Between 4,500 and 6,500 feet (at this altitude some people begin to experience breathing and heart troubles, mental excitability, and insomnia).
Stations situated in this last and highest zone afford excellent sport. Such are, for instance: Mürren, Montana-Vermala, the whole of the upper Engadine, Arosa, Davos, &c. They are the ski-runner’s paradise. Pontresina, particularly, is one of the very finest centres for long excursions on ski. But, while some other parts are rather too flat, the Pontresina district does not abound in short, easy runs.
At from 7,000 feet and upwards, the climate is that of a glorified North Pole; alternative spells of beautiful blazing sunshine, and of stormy, snow-laden, piercingly cold winds. In winter the temperature of the air is always low and, practically speaking, there is frost above the snow-line every night even in summer. But, in the coldest January weather, the sunbeams are poured forth in such arrays, for weeks at a time, from cloudless, windless skies, that one’s sensation of bodily heat, between sunrise and sunset, may be quite overpowering.
All those allurements would perhaps, as in former days, still count for little, but for the transportation of the ski from their dull, northern home to that house set on high which opens its southern frontage, as a balcony 200 miles long over the plains of Italy.
This chapter would not be brought to a fit conclusion if its last lines were not the means of enabling the reader to make himself proficient in the bare rudiments of the ski-ing craft which brings the High Alps in their winter garb within reach of human gaze.
The beginner should purchase ski made of ash, and somewhat shorter than the reach of his arm when extended above his head. He will find the Huitfeldt binding most convenient, with the improved Ellefsen clamp patented under the name of Aspor.
Previously to using your ski, oil them repeatedly at intervals of a week, and give the oil (if possible hot linseed) plenty of time to sink into the wood. Then rub lightly some dry paraffin-wax into the grain of the wood. Each time after using your ski, clean them and rub them down with an oily cloth or sponge.