When to bother

Seasons

I will not tell you the mountain is “magical year-round.” Some weeks it is a gift. Some weeks you paid to stare at the inside of a cloud.

Worth the slot

Clear, cold, and midweek. After a snow, if the boardwalk is sanded and you have boots. Larch season, if you can stand the crowds and you go early. Late May when the valley is green and the ridge still has dirty snow in the hollows — that contrast is the one I miss from the crew years.

When clouds ruin it

If the forecast is a lid from 2,000 metres down, stay in town. The cabin can still run. You will still be in grey. Photographs from last year’s sunshine are a poor argument with today’s ceiling.

Winter wind

January and February chew at the rail and at exposed skin. The evening run in winter is a specialist’s idea of fun. I dressed for it because it was work. You do not have to.

Larch week

The gold is real. So is the lot. If you only come for the colour, take the earliest timed entry you can get and accept that everyone else had the same thought. I do not go on those Saturdays anymore. I already saw them from the inside of a tool trailer.