Stephen Senn 's Skiing (and other
outdoor) Pages
Downhill Skier
An actor in a theatre of snow awaiting his queue.
The
Devil's Outdoor Dictionary
If you are looking for the Glasgow
SJS Telemarking Lurcher's
Gully 1984
Serious Ski Stuff
The serious links below are
highlighted in blue. They are external
to this site. The links highlighted in brown
are to other pages at this site.
In addition to enjoying
most forms of skiing actively I am also an armchair skier. If
you want to know about World Cup Skiing
then this a good site.
On the other hand if you
are actually looking for a practical website that will help you plan your next
ski trip then why not check out Richard Sinclair's ski resorts http://www.sno.mobi/ guide and ski holidays on yourmobile phone site? (Please note that this
link here does not constitute an endorsement of the 'phoning while skiing'
habit: telephone manners would go rapidly downhill if this were to become
common not to mention that fact that ringing on runs would run rings round any
reasonable approach to mountain safety. However, one can imagine the
conversation: not I am stuck on a train but I am buried in an avalanche.)
My skiing has been carried
out mainly in
Other resorts I have skied
at in Switzerland include Arosa,
Verbier , Flumseberg, Davos, Samedan, Kandersteg and Melchsee-Frutt, the latter being a good place for
cross-country skiing and having, in the nearby mountain of Rotsandknollen,
a very fine destination for a ski-tour. My most recent downhill skiing trip was
to Wengen.
My first ski-tour was
undertaken at age 13 using Alpine touring equipment. At my school, Aiglon College , this formed a regular part of the winter
activities. Since then I have toured extensively in the Alps, Scotland and
Scandinavia, since 1982 mainly on cross-country equipment. (The Haute-Route from Chamonix
to Zermatt ,
which I did in 1989, is an exception.)
I lived in Scotland 1978-1987
(returned to Scotland in 2003) and became an enthusiast for cross-country
ski-touring after having gone on a ski-tour with Dave Dytch
and Raymond Simpson in 1982 in which Raymond, with Nordic equipment, left Dave
and me, using Alpine equipment far behind.
Raymon Simpson and Dave Dytch on Glas Maol.
View to Glas Tulaichen
(with prominent corrie centre)
and Beinn A'Ghlo (left)
Together with the Tayside Nordic Ski-Club and (occasionally) members of the Ancrum Mountaineering Club, I climbed quite a few Munros on skis. The 1983/84 and 1985/86 seasons were
especially fine, although both started late and in 1986, although January,
February, April and even the beginning of May were excellent, March was a dead
loss. Particularly memorable ascents during my time in Scotland were those of Ben
Chonzie (1984), Monadh Liath (1984), The Monadh Mhor (1984), Ben Wyvis(1985) (An
exceptionally good tour in March in an otherwise barren season), The Round of Glen Isla (1986), The Drummochter Hills (1986), Bein Iutheran Mhor (1986), Lochnaga from Glen Doll at the end of April (1986)
and Beinn A'Ghlo (1987) (exceptionally, this was carried out on
Alpine rather than Nordic touring skis). An account of a ski-tour I made in May
1982 on Tom Buidhe is given in High 6,
36, 1982.I returned to Scotlkand in 2003 and left again in 2011 and came back again in 2018 but have not managade as many tours as I did in my first stint. I also visited Scotland a few times during periods I did not live there, for example between Christmas 1995 and New Year 1996 where, with my wife Victoria, I had a very fine few days ski-touring in the Angus Glens.
I have also been downhill
skiing in Scotland, in particular at Glenshee but
also at Cairngorm and at The Lecht. Although such skiing in
My first skiing trip to
In 2000 I had a very
fine ski-touring holiday in Iceland
and also managed a ski-tour in the Jura .
In April 2003 I went skiing in Canada,
Lake Louise. This was mainly downhill skiing but I did manage a cross-country
tour to Moraine Lake.
Over New Year 2005/2006 I had a skiing holiday in Romania
with my son Mark and in 2007 had a fine ski-tour in Arctic Norway . Since then I have been on
a cross-country skiing holidays in Akaslompolo Arctic Finland (2010) and a weekend in Norefjell,
Norway (2011), THe Swiss Jura Haute Route (2015, The Black Forest (2016), The Czech Republic (2017 & 2018) (the first of these was a rare Alpine style tour in the Giant Mountains) and Dinner Plain, Australia (2018). More recent ski-tours in Scotland have been on Ben Vuirich (2020) and in the Pentlands (2021)
Setting off up Beinn Vuirich 6 March 2020
I have been a member of three
Scottish ski-touring clubs Tayside Nordic Ski-Club
SJS on Beinn Iutharn Mhor April 1986
Less Serious Ski Stuff
These are various pieces
written at one time or another for High
Magazine or the Tayside Cross-Country (later
Nordic) Ski Club as well as some verse contributed by McFake.
Miscellaneous Prose
May, Skis and Tom Buidhe
(1982/1983) (With kind permission of High Magazine .)
Ticks in the Tables (1984) (With kind
permission of High Magazine .)
The Devil's Outdoor Dictionary
Ben Chonzie Cross-Country(1984)
A High Level Route Diary (1989)
Letter from Switzerland 1991 (On tour in Jotunheim)
Letter from Switzerland 1992 (On tour in the Rondane)
Fire and Ice(1993)
Hardanger Hot-Dog (1994)
Letter from Switzerland
(1994)
Letter from Switzerland
(1995)
Jurassic Park (2000)
Steamy days, steamy nights(2000)
Rovings in Romania(2005-2006)
Land
of the Midnight Senn (2007)
SJS Telemarking in the Cairngorms: Geal
Chearn of Glen Feshie 1986
Scotty McFake's
pages
The Ballad of Glen Shee
The Song of the Tayside Tourer
The Telemac
SJS Telemarking near Geilo 1998