2003 - the DHO

Wengen Season Report
Paul Zvegintzov
ii A ftcr three months you might be fit to go back to your normal job". Little
l r did the doctor realize the exact nature of my job or the altitude involved.
Having carefully planned the date of my operation to fit in between my
summer and winter jobs I was not about to miss out on the skiing!
Maree and I arrived in Wengen on December 3rd to have a
short non-skiing break before the season started. The move into
the flat was unbelievably simple. My heart was very glad, since
in previous year we had to hump and heave our possessions
from the hut roof to whichever top floor flat the village had
rented for us. Fresh snow greeted us and the urge was too great
to miss it! For the rest of the season my ticker behaved
impeccably despite a couple of heavy falls, when luckily only my
nose suffered! Thank you all for your good wishes.
Wengen had little or no snow until early December, when a
couple of feet gave the pistes a good covering right down to the
village. There followed a long period of extremely cold clear
weather when the cannons were able to work to their full
capacity.
During December, with a few more snow falls and apart from
one day of heavy rain, the pistes above Wengenalp were in
fantastic condition and Mannlichen had excellent firm snow
cover to middle station. Sadly, below that the Tschuggen run
and Brandegg to Grund were incomplete
although, as soon as it was cold enough, the
first two had ten cannons each working
flat out.
January arrived with the village streets snowless
and the run to the village closed; although
the cannons were hard at work even behind
the Brunner hotel! More to the point Sacha
Zvegintzov and Lisa were due to get married
and leave the church by horse and sleigh.
Thankfully, two days before the 60 guests
arrived, the heavens opened and Wengen and
the pistes could not have looked better. We
had a fantastic party at the Belvue Scheidcgg
with a special train at 2am.
Mid January provided a fantastic piste for the Lauberhorn
double downhill and slalom races with ever greater crowds and
festivities. Hospitality tents seemed to grow like mushrooms.
The Inferno race the following weekend proved a great success
with the finish in the middle of Murren. Max Davies gathered
the largest team so far and all finished without serious mishap.
Maureen Fanshaw was awarded the new trophy for the "Best
Effort".
,
At the end of the month the D.H.O hosted the British School
Boys Championships with an excellent course provided by the
Wengen race organisation. Sadly the weather closed in and,
after an unpleasant first day, the second race day was cancelled.
The race was further blighted by an unfortunate leg injury to
Richard Berry which happened whilst he was supervising the
course. We hope he is fully recovered and that next year will go
without a hitch. This race meeting was resurrected by Richard,
a few years ago, to match the School Girls Championships. The
club was able to provide some redundant cups, in particular the
Halford Hewitt schools cup. Such a race involves a massive
amount of administration and organisation to gather, house and
control a hundred school children and parents. Richard, Inge
and their parental team are to be congratulated on their success
over the past few years.
In early February more and more heavy snow followed, with
the result that an avalanche wiped out some of the railway
pylons just before Wasser Station and the general danger closed
the mountain just in time for McMillan Week. By the Thursdaythere
was still no skiing on the Gummi side of
the mountain. The race was postponed until
Friday when luckily, with only two hours
before the start, the Tschuggen piste was
opened but with no time for a practice run!
During the previous few days the pisteurs had
worked daily on the run and the condition was
as perfect as I have ever seen it. Sadly two of
the expected three Ashes contenders were
unable to be in Wengen this season. Hopefully
they will all be there for next year or more
importantly 2005 for the 80th anniversary!
The snow was now set for the rest of the
season with fantastic powder to start with,
followed by some 7 weeks of wonderful
sunshine in February and March. Despite the early bad
weather, we managed to run every race including the Roped
race, which luckily did not, as before, end in injury and
divorce!! The Railway Cup was the usual hilarious alcoholic
party with the "speed trap" being used to fiddle the results.
Luckily the trap did not include a breathalizer!