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Winter Sports in Switzerland Although Switzerland has been known at all times and in all seasons as a tourist's paradise, it is really during the winter months that the country has a truly breathless array of delights to offer. Beginning in December and going right through until April, Switzerland provides the most satisfactory combinations of opportunities for winter sports of any country in the world. There is something for every taste -- skiing, skating, tobogganing, hockey. Even for those people who do not indulge in sports, Switzerland in winter is an ideal vacation sport. With its wealth of resorts, its hotels and pensions fitted to the needs of every pocketbook, its sun which lends to the days an almost summery warmth, it is really what it has so often been described as -- Shangri¨la. Pine woods, singing birds, blue skies and lovely snow¨decked mountains -- who would not rather be in Switzerland than in the grey, foggy cities of the rest of Europe? It is no wonder that whereas, once upon a time, everyone took his vacations in summer, winter vacations have now become even more popular. It is not only that one's thoughts turn to the idea of a winter vacation in Switzer, land when the first snow falls, it is that from one year to the next such a vacation has become the dream of thousands of people. As a matter of fact, the whole development of Switzerland as a winter sports centre is of fairly recent date. At the turn of the 20th century, the only famous Swiss centres open in winter were Davos, St. Moritz and Grindelwald. Skiing, now one of the world's most popular sports, has come into its own only since the First World War. In the early years of the 20th century, skating was the aristocrat of winter sports and the skiing pioneers were contemptuously referred to as « plank¨hoppers ». However, in those days even skating was not the complicated and difficult sport it has since become. All Swiss resorts have the same general facilities to offer: Ski¨schools, an ice rink with an instructor for fancy skating and hockey matches on the week¨ends, ski¨lifts or mountain railways to the high mountains with their more difficult runs and walks or the opportunity of watching various compet¨ itions for the non¨sportsman. There are also many excellent curling rinks in Switzerland -- a sport which seems rather mild and strange to the uninitiated but whose addicts are as passionately devoted to its delicate intricacies as the most enthusiastic skiers are to the sport of their choice. The minute the first snow falls in the mountains, the stations of every Swiss city are alive on Saturday afternoons with week¨end skiers. And from then until long after the daffodils are out in the valleys, nobody thinks of anything except where and when they are going to ski. But although the Swiss themselves can think of skiing in terms of a weekend of sport, for the skiers coming from other coun, tries, it is a question of selecting the months when there is the greatest chance of having ideal snow and weather conditions. Unquestionably the month of February is the safest month to choose. In February, there is certain to be snow everywhere. It is the month when there is the greatest chance of having a series of sunny days -- but if sun is more important than anything else to anyone planning a vacation in Switzer¨ land, March and even the early weeks of April are apt to be ideal in the higher resorts. Although the season opens everywhere around the 15th of December, snow conditions are apt to be uncertain until Christmas and the month of January may be pretty cold. However, anyone choosing a moment when the snow and weather conditions may not be so ideal, has the advantage of finding the mountain railroads less crowded and the slopes more to oneself. The selection of a resort is purely a matter of individual taste -- not only as far as the social life is concerned but also for skiing. Davos, St. Moritz, Wengen, M¨rren, Kleine Scheidegg and Zermatt are the choices offered to the experts. But Gstaad, Villars, Arosa, Lenzerheide, Engelberg, Grindel¨ wald and Klosters -- to name only a few among many -- all have their special attraction. And Arosa in particular is a favorite with the Swiss themselves. In all the resorts there are ski¨schools with instruction given in at least three languages and classes ranging from beginners up through the racing classes. These schools have expert instructors and give courses with reduced rates for a certain number of lessons. The regular school hours are usually between ten and twelve in the morning and two and four in the afternoon. And although some enthusiasts attend both morning and afternoon sessions, most people choose one or the other. There are also children's classes, but humiliating as it is for the adults, children learn so much faster that they shoot through one class after another with disheartening rapidity until they reach the racing class, often while their parents who started skiing at the same time as they did are still stemming cautiously down the « nursery slopes » whose gentle graduations still seem like cliffs to them. The ski¨schools also give tests which are rewarded by bronze, silver and gold medals. By the time the gold medal has been achieved, the recipient is ready to enter the ever increasing class of good skiers. But still there is a wide gap between being just a good skier and an international racer. Ski¨racing is a very special sport, for not only does it require great athletic still but it also pre¨supposes a certain attitude of mind. Peter Lunn, himself an international racer, has vividly described this attitude of mind: « On the day of the race itself I would climb to the start in a condition of appalling nervousness, wondering why on earth I endured such misery and wishing never to race again. I do not think this nervousness can be described as stage fright because everybody seemed to suffer from it before the straight race but nobody did before the slalom one had to compete solo in front of a very large crowd. The conclusion from which is that a very large part of one's nervousness before the straight race was simply due to physical fear. The racer had made up his mind to follow a particular line and that line in¨ evitably entailed certain risks. It is true that the racer had almost certainly taken exactly the same line in practice, but there he had been able to choose his own moment and brace himself for the effort. But in the race he had to start at the exact moment the starter told him. He was no longer a free agent but was caught in the toils of a remorseless organization. I was never one of those who found that all nervousness departed as soon as the starter had said « los ». I was always uneasy on the top slopes, in fact I was always uneasy until I had faced the worst slope of the course. This normally came about half¨way down and could be considered the crisis of the race. If I held my line there, I was filled with such confidence and happiness that all subsequent hazards seemed easy. « In other words, a ski¨racer feels all the same emotions as a beginner when faced with his first difficult descent, somes thing which ordinary mortals lose sight of when they stand watching racers coming down the mountains in perfect form at breakneck speed. 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