Inside Tracks

Night sledging on the Rinerhorn

Every cloud has a silver lining and with no guests in Klosters this winter we were able to try a few new things that we normally just don't get the time to do. One of the highlights of this exploration was night skiing and sledging on the Rinerhorn, which takes place every Wednesday and Friday evening throughout the season.

The Rinerhorn is situated on the other side of Davos to Klosters so it was easiest to drive there rather than take a train and bus. As we parked up the snow started to fall lightly which added to the atmosphere. We decided to start with skiing and headed up the mountain on the gondola. Most of the other people there I noticed had sledges and I wondered what they knew that I didn't. I still wondered this as we swooshed down the piste back to the bottom. There was virtually no one on the slope and our little group weaved down the mountain like a myriad of shadows in a surreal game of Mario Race Carts. We know the piste well and it is a decent length run down all below the treeline and what was not to like? Nothing! it was completely brilliant! So we headed up for another.

Exhilerated, we stopped at the bottom at the little bar, which in spite of Covid restrictions was allowed to open for takeaway drinks and snacks, and once refreshed went into the rental shop to try our hand at sledging. Not long after we were lined up at the top of the run ready for the off. It has been some years since I last sledged in earnest and I had heard from my children that this track was completely brilliant. The heart rate started to quicken.

We were off, hurtling down the slope and into the first corner. My wooden sledge was responsive to my efforts to steer and I shot through the next few corners building up pace until the track levelled off a fraction. A moment of respite to catch my breath and wipe the snow off my goggles. The slope then steepened again and it was like a roller coaster, twisting and turning down the mountain, clinging on round every corner. The track was well made and the corners banked so not much breaking required, which proved famous last words as I rounded a particularly sharp left hander! The delay as I reacquainted myself with my sledge was momentary and a couple of hundred meters later we regrouped with grins etched onto our faces where we had to dismount to cross a little road. We were now expert sledgers (obviously!) and we headed into the darkness once more for the final third of the run. This was even more thrilling than what had come before, as the run was a little bit steeper and the speed faster. It was a complete buzz.

I now know the answer to the question I had posed myself earlier in the evening. When it comes to being under floodlights, it is a case of skiing good, sledging better! We headed up again, and then again, until the mountain closed at 11pm, which came around far too soon. Needless to say, we were back the following week for more nocturnal adventures!