Gaining An R.A.F Pilots Brevet In WW II

[Danny42C]

Danny feels the pull of the Eternal Snows again (Part II).

The journey down went quite smoothly, the autobahnen were clear and dry. We topped up with coupon petrol at the last German BP tankstelle and crossed into Austria (at Bregenz ?) as dusk was falling. After another 40 miles, we turned off for Gargellen. I stopped at a clearing and put the chains on (of course you had then to drive on another couple of hundred yards, stop again and check to see if you could "take up the slack" and tighten them another link or so).

Passing the police check-point, we started the five-mile climb up the valley (our village was right up at the "vale head" - the end of the road - so there'd be no through traffic). It was surprisingly easy. Dipped beams lit up the snow banks and the surface like daylight. We were on snow now, but the 403 purred on quietly at 20 mph, with the clinking rhythm of the chains and the squashy front Michelin 'X's (normal pressure eighteen psi) giving a perfect grip on their fat paws. I can't remember meeting anything at all coming down the hill; it was a "piece-of-cake".

It wasn't hard to find the "Madrisa", I imagine it was the largest building in Gargellen (then); it took up one side of the little town square, with the onion-domed church opposite. In darkness now, we found the front door and went in to a warm welcome (in every sense). We soon unpacked, I took the car round to the car park at the back. We fed, bathed and settled down Mary (now two years old), had a good meal and retired thankfully for the night.

The hotel was in two parts - the old original wooden building facing the square (we had a balcony room), and a much larger newer extension behind. Dinner had been enjoyable. Gargellen is a very low resort (less than 5,000 ft); the snow had been patchy, a day or so the previous week it had actually rained . Prospects looked poor. But our arrival had brought good fortune - during the night there was a six-inch dump of snow on the balcony rail. Breakfast (in bright sunshine) had been cheerful.

The little church was packed to bursting, which was just as well as it was absolutely freezing. After Mass, we came back to our room. Bent on a siesta to round off lunch, we were busily engaged in settling Mary down for her sleep, but hadn't heard the village band assembling on the long balcony outside the room. The moment she at last dropped off, they let rip with a rousing selection of Tyrolean tunes. They played for another half-hour, then we could all have our afternoon snooze.

But very first thing that morning, I'd met Snag No.1. It seems that in Austria then there were two separate domestic electricity supplies - AC and DC (but both 220v). The old part where we were was on DC, but the new building AC. My razor was dual-voltage, but only AC. So in order to get a shave, I'd had to go down into the new hotel hall, where the only available point was in the telephone kiosk. It was a minor annoyance: we had little else to complain about.

(Perhaps I should mention at this stage that DC was in common use in older properties in the UK until well after the war; most elecrical devices in those days had to be "AC/DC").

Of course, there was no ski school on the Sabbath (although I think the ski lifts were working). Now what lifts they had then, I find it hard to remember. There would certainly be T-bars for the nursery slopes, and I know there was a chair-lift for the higher ones, and the was a gondola lift for the summit. I believe it is now possible to link runs over the top with the high Klosters snow fields, but I don't think you could do it in our day.

(Klosters [Switzerland] is only 10 miles away as the crow flies, but, IIRC, about 80 miles by road, as you have to go right down to the bottom of one valley and up the next).

Although it was obvious that the hotel catered mainly for family groups, it was rare to see pre-ski age toddlers and I don't think the hotel had a crèche. Mrs D. had elected not to ski, but to enjoy the time with Mary, watching me risking life and limb on the mountain. I probably collected skis, poles and Lift pass on the Sunday afternoon (which can't have taken long, for we'd our own kit and boots). The day continued fine, the forecast was good. We should see what the morrow would bring.

This will have to run into Part III now.

Goodnight, everbody,

Danny42C.


Let it snow !