Adelboden ski lift runs on last winter's stored snow

On the last day of October a ski lift was running at around 1,950 metres on the Tschentenalp above Adelboden, carrying skiers along a 450-metre ribbon of snow that lies between green alpine meadows.

The snow under their skis fell last winter. For almost ten years the piste team has gathered natural snow at the end of each season and kept it through the summer under an insulating cover; this autumn they started preparing the strip in early October with about 27,000 cubic metres from the depot. Alpine resorts typically manufacture their early-season snow with guns, compressors and sub-zero nights. Piste and rescue chief Bruno Oester says the Tschentenalp's stock is pure natural snow — considerably cheaper than the artificial kind.

The small slope is primarily reserved for junior ski racers, and the snow band has now been opened to the public for the second time: Saturdays since 24 October, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., at 50 francs a day, free for Alps Pass holders. On the last October day the crowds stayed away and only the region's ski youth were on the snow. Seraina, 12, from Adelboden made five descents and found the surface hard, increasingly icy and quick. Oester says the strip is nothing for beginners — its current stretch is a red run with World Cup conditions — and a young racer told him the facility currently offers the best training conditions in Europe.

Hikers out for the view stopped at the sight of the white band. One visitor from Biel called the contrast spectacular; a fellow hiker from the Biel region, there for the outlook and the fresh air, said he would not venture onto the narrow strip himself. Elisabeth Hari, 79, of Adelboden, can no longer ski because of knee problems and enjoys the piste from the edge — she reckons the weekly opening is good for the whole valley, the restaurants and the railway included.

The raw material for the entire operation arrived with last winter's weather.