LAUTERBRUNNEN, about 3,000 feet above the sea. People who know
Switzerland well may wonder why I include Lauterbrunnen in my list,
but I have often wondered equally why no one makes it a centre for
Ski-ing. Though the sun may not shine there for long hours, the fact
that it lies at the junction of the Berner Oberland Railway, the
Mürren Funicular and the Wengern Alp Railway seems to me to make it a
very possible Ski-ing centre.

There are good hotels, and the Herr Gurtners, whose home Lauterbrunnen
is, may be depended upon as two of the best Ski runners in Switzerland
and two of the most active pushers of Ski-ing, to do their utmost to
help any British runners who decide to try Lauterbrunnen.

All the Mürren, Wengen and Grindelwald runs are within easy reach of
Lauterbrunnen, and if the railways will sell special tickets, the cost
of the journeys should not be prohibitive.

To my mind, the fact that one could stop at Lauterbrunnen after a day
over the Scheidegg would be a great comfort, as the last journey up
to Mürren or Wengen is apt to be tiresome after a long run, if often
repeated.

In any case it seems to me that runners might do worse than write to
Herr Gurtner at Lauterbrunnen and ask for particulars, at any rate for
the Christmas holidays, when most of the popular villages are very
full and the hotel rates are high.

Good Guides are available at Lauterbrunnen.