Spring Skiing and a round of golf in Engelberg, and an experience never to be forgotten

It was always a dream of mine to spend a morning skiing and an afternoon playing golf and I already knew of several ski resorts where this was possible only it all boiled down to perfect timing where both sports would be available simultaneously. Ironically this all came about last year when I attended one of the Swiss Tourist Office’s dinners for ski journalists and was seated next to Nadia Sommer from Engelbersg’s tourist office who revealed that Engelberg not only had a wonderful golf course but also summer skiing on the glacier of the local Titliest mountain some 12,000 feet above sea level. To my amazement Nadia suggested coming to Engelberg to ski and play golf and that’s how I ended up flying Swiss Air from Heathrow to Zurich in the middle of May. This trip started with a ridiculously early morning flight that left Heathrow at 6 am  – how I managed not to miss this flight is a miracle but just under an hour and half later I landed in Zurich and in no time boarded the 9.15 train to Luzern where I changed onto a local direct train to Engelberg travelling first class all the way, what bliss! (thanks to #Swiss Tourism), finally arriving in the resort around mid-day. Hotel Schweizerhof, where I stayed, is conveniently a short walk from the station and about a fifteen minute walk to the cable car that takes you to the top of the Titlist mountain in a rotating cabin. As an alternative mode of transport there’s also a punctual ten minute (free) bus service that leaves from the station every twenty minutes. This time I had decided not to bring either skis or golf clubs so didn’t need to lug them around preferring to walk everywhere and hire equipment locally, which in both cases was top of the range gear.

On my first day I met up with Nadia and Tara (a Finish golf journalist on the same mission as me) in the small cafe next to the cable car and rented skis, boots, and even a helmet, (these days is de rigeur), from Intersport Ski shop opposite the cafe. Once fully equipped we all boarded the rotating cable car and although packed with tourists rather than skiers, we managed to admire the incredible views on the way up in sunny skies.

Once at the top, we made our way to the viewing terrace to take photos before putting on skis and starting, albeit tentatively, to ski down this mostly black run heading towards the middle station about an hour’s ski away. Fortunately Nadia was very familiar with the run and we duly followed her tracks in tandem. Conditions were perfect for mid-May, soft snow soft and a light covering of powder plus excellent viability only after skiing a third of the way down we noticed menacing white clouds rolling up the mountain from the valley below soon enveloping us in a total white out.

Skiing in white-outs is not a favourite with me which is why I found these conditions very scary and not what I had bargained for. At times all I could see were my skis in front of me and the dim silhouette of Nadia’s red ski suite ahead of me. We decided the best was to slow down and continued skiing methodically avoiding if possible unexpected moguls only this mode of skiing proved far more tiring. It was when we next stopped for a short rest in the middle of the thick white cloud that I suggested to Nadia as we followed her, she yelled instructions like guides do with blind skiers in the Para Winter Olympics,.This worked wonders! With Nadia telling us when she veered left or right and when slopes become steeper or flatter enabled us to ski the rest of the way at a much faster pace finally arriving at the middle station thankfully in one piece. This was by far one of my scariest ski experiences!. Two hours later after changing out of ski gear into golf clothes and collecting hired golf clubs, we were playing a calming game of golf on Engelberg’s delightful albeit mountainous golf course with views of the glacier that we had just skied down in the background. Although a little exhausted from our epic ski, I still managed to play a full 18 holes, even parring the par 3 tenth hole, which proved to me, skiing and golf do go together.   End