Too much was happening right up to the Christmas of '61 to be able to think about a skiing holiday that winter. And we should be going back home to the UK in the autumn of '62. So it would be "Now or never" in '61. Actually it would have to be in the first weeks of January'62, as that is the cheapest time of year. From February onwards the prices steadily climb as the weather warms up. (
AFAIK, this holds true for all resorts in the Northern hemisphere).
People didn't organise their own Holidays Abroad at that time - the package holiday companies had the trade all to themselves. "Abroad" was a strange place to most of the British public. You needed someone to support you out there. Erna Low (now apparently the longest running UK ski company) was a major player in those days. We organised a heavily discounted all-in package for two weeks in Gargellen (Vorarlberg, Austria) with them. I can't remember what it cost, but it can't have been much.
I would suppose that travel was then the major cost of a ski holiday from the UK. Ryanair and Easyjet were far in the future. And in the "dead" season in mid-January, the hotels were desperate for guests at any price which would cover their costs - it was unthinkable to close for two or three weeks, for the whole village depended on you - you
had to keep going.
So when Erna Low got a customer who would make his own way to the resort and back, they could cut a very good deal for us indeed. The ski, boot and kit hire shops had all the stuff on the shelves;
anything is better than nothing for them, same with ski lift Passes. Actually, we kitted ourselves out locally in GK or Holland, and we bought our own boots. These were not far removed from the modified Army boots I'd had in Kashmir, for cable-bindings were still in general use, you needed a flexible sole to allow the heel to rise for "
lang-lauf" ( the level "Nordic" cross-country travel) still on the menu. The only other difference was: they were laced-up with "hooks & eyes" (like a skating boot), to allow you a tighter lace-up over the instep.
We were booked into the Hotel Madrisa at Gargellen. I can't recall any other large hotels in the village then; today there seem to be plenty of them, but for some reason you have to hunt for the Madrisa by name - they don't seem to need to advertise widely. First problem would be to get there.
In Germany in 1961 (and everywhere else then in Europe as far as we could see), the answer was simple - chains ! Chain up the driving wheels, and your car will keep traction in most of the snow you'll meet. And we didn't even have to buy a set. One of our fellow ATCs had a pair of the same tyre size as ours; the camp, town roads and autobahnen were kept open by the authorities, so he wouldn't need them. We borrowed them for the fortnight. But the road police wouldn't allow you even to attempt a mountain road without chains, you'd be turned back at a check-point at the bottom. As 30 mph is about the limit with them fitted, we drove down the autobahn with them in the boot, and fitted them at the base of the climb.
Anyone intending to use chains needs to practise putting them on first - in the warm and dry ! I picked my chains up at the Tower and fitted them on and off the spare until I'd got the hang of it - and then tried it on the car. Early on the Saturday morning we packed ourselves, ski kit, all our woolies and Mary's toboggan into the car and hit the road.
And the rest of the story will have to wait till next time. (what did we do about frost prevention in our CH system ?) Can't remember, maybe we had to have it drained down by the Station Engineer or
someone must have kept the boiler going.
Goodnight, all,
Danny 42C.
Keep the home fires burning !
PS: Today is the second anniversary of my first Post. Never thought it (or I) would last that long !
Eheu ! fugaces labuntur anni ( Alas ! - how fleetingly the years go by).....D.