Algernon Blackwood

“ The scenery and the air intoxicate; the lights are ever changing; the wintry grandeur of the bigger peaks about you, and, above all, the peace and silence of these trackless fields of snow, combine in a memory of sheer joy and beauty. ”

“ Lucky that man, though, and wonderful his circulation, who can keep his feet warm, even inside three pairs of socks, until the time comes for starting downwards. And numb toes cause many a fall in the first fifteen minutes of the descent, to say nothing of the abominable pain when the blood returns. Which latter detail applies to fingers too⁠—and hence that extra pair of woollen gloves. In spite of the blazing sun, it is often a painful business fastening on your ski again. ”

“ It is greatly to the advantage of skiing that you can get an immense amount of enjoyment from it without being an expert. There is more pure fun in learning how to ski than in any other form of sport I know. ”

“ But as you rise to meet it, the heat increases, and by the time you do meet it, blazing down upon you in full dazzling splendour, you are probably perspiring as though you had played a single at tennis in the month of August. ”

“ In less than a minute you stand shivering to the bone. And now, according to endurance and desire, you climb still higher⁠—there is always something higher that entices dreadfully, to many a man’s undoing⁠—or else find a place for lunch. Of course, there is no water; but the oranges have their value, and by increasing their juice with snow stuffed into a small neat hole, prove generally sufficient, till water is found again on the way down. ”

“ Nowadays, in a Swiss winter hotel, there is always someone who will guide the novice in his selection and steer him away from needless danger; and it is unnecessary here to enter into endless detail on these very important points. ”

“ Having got your instruments and having practised near home sufficiently to be able to balance with a reasonable speed and steepness, able to turn a little too, in case a horrid tree rushes suddenly towards you (as a tree invariably does) , it is time pack a knapsack with chicken and oranges, chocolate, and peppermint lozenges for the inevitable thirst⁠—and start at dawn for a rousing trip among the lonely heights. ”

“ A hot bath takes away the stiffness. You have learned more than you perhaps imagine. And next morning, full of life and zest, you start off again upon another trip⁠—and probably fall a little less, or possibly a little more. ”

“ For the work involved in picking one’s self up after innumerable tumbles is about the most exhausting kind I know. It ends by sorely trying the temper into the bargain. Falls follow one another so inexcusably. ”

“ Nothing really keeps the wind out, but the paper vests are best, weighing a few ounces and taking up no room, but costing⁠—some eighteen francs at that. Dawn, of course, is nice and late⁠—somewhere about eight o’clock⁠—and the valley is icy cold, for the sun rarely tops the summits before eleven. ”

“ The explanation lies partly, however, in the fact that brain and muscles are both tired, and that slopes you could have easily negotiated earlier in the day now present insuperable difficulties. The prolonged effort to keep true balance is an exhausting business altogether, and the beginner is wise to restrain his ardour during the ascent and be content at first with a reasonable height. ”

“ That the mercury stands probably 10deg. below freezing-point you simply cannot believe, for the air is soft and balmy, and the warmth is so pervading that the idea of bathing may even occur to you. Only the glittering icicles that hang without dripping from the branches, and the silence of the torrent beneath its lid of solid ice, persuade you that the cold is actually intense. ”

“ They seem beyond all understanding or explanation. The speed, by its demoralising effect upon nerve and judgment, account for a hundred or so, but the other hundreds seem simply caused by the mountains out of pure spite. ”