Heidi Alm

Superb snowshoeing today in the gentle 'warm' airs. The foehn wind has been at work eating away at the snow. Still plenty around, but more is needed for the New Year skiing. But it makes for excellent walking and terrific clear views.

The fire brigade were out in force. I never knew it takes over 100 fire fighters to get a skidoo out of a lake, but they all seemed to be having a great time chainsawing the ice and setting up boards and tackle. I bet there is a good party up there this evening. At least it was a nice problem solving issue rather than a tragic accident, so they could all be very relaxed about it. ... NEWS UPDATE - in fact they pulled out a 4 ton piste basher (€50000) from 12m water using flotation bags and it took them 8 hours work before they got it back up to the surface at 7pm.