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THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 1981
t
Features
Summer ski enthusiasts gather in Switzerlam
United Press International
- ST. MORITZ, Switzerland — To diehard
' skiers, summer is a joyless season that occu
pies the time between trips to the nearest
slope. To many sun worshippers, winter is
when tans disappear.
.i ; But both sets of enthusiasts come together
ibeginning in June on a Swiss mountaintop
nearly two miles above sea level in the Orisons
- range of the Alps.
On a recent clear, balmy day at the
Diavolezza ski area in Pontresina, a T-shirted,
i ' blue jean-clad skier cut a lazy turn in the snow,
,-depositing a wake of spray a few feet from a
, -woman who wore shorts and a tanktop to more
..fully absorb the sun’s rays.
several times a day right at the base of the
Diavolezza slope. A cable car journeys to the
chalet and ski lift, rising through the cloud line
to treat its passengers to a breathtaking panor
ama of snow-capped peaks and grassy valleys
filled with grazing oxen and sheep.
“Skifahers” — the German word for
“skiers” — arise early for the trip from St.
Moritz to Diavolezza. They have to.
Such incongruous scenes are common in
the middle of summer at Diavolezza— Italian
for “the Devil’s region” — a short hop by train
from St. Moritz, the chic winter retreat for the
By noon, the ski lift, which opens at 8:30
a.m., grinds to a halt, because the intensity of
the sun’s rays at 9,827 feet for only a few hours
turns the snow into a mushiness consistent
with hot oatmeal. The cable car remains open
until late afternoon, however, allowing the
skiers to shed their equipment and catch some
rays before returning home for a sauna and
dinner.
someone like me,” said a silvery-haired, mid
dle-age man who journeyed to St. Moritz
while on vacation from his job as a lawyer with
the West German Justice Ministry in Munich.
“I’m not one of the best,” he said as we went
up on the Tbar lift together.
In the winter, he said, the snow “hardens
up and you have to be better. There are also
big cracks in the ice that throw you off. You
lose your balance.”
The locals are more accustomed to year-
round skiing. Cornelia Perreten, 20, an in
terior designer from Gstaad and Bern, who has
Advice offered for suinmt
ski trips to Swiss Alps |
By the next day, the glacier’s sub-freezing
underground temperatures make the slope
ready for another day’s collection of skiers.
The summer slope at Diavolezza,
running about a half-mile in a
straight line, is less challenging to
intermediate and advanced skiers
than the longer runs on American
slopes.
Even with the relatively short summer
hours — most winter slopes close down the
lifts at 4 or 4:30 p.m. — summer skiing in
Switzerland is a unique experience.
The snow at Diavolezza is powdery, free of
icy slopes and the hidden rocks and frozen dirt
that mar many Northeastern U.S. slopes even
at the height of the season.
Even with the relatively short
summer hours — most winter
slopes close down the lifts at 4 or
4:30 p.m. — summer skiing in
Switzerland is a unique experi
ence.
United Press International
ST. MORITZ, Switzerland — Tips based on this
reporter’s summer ski trip for those who also would
ski the Swiss Alps this summer:
—Dress lightly but completely. It’s cold enough
at night to keep the slope frozen but hot enough
during the day to cause sunburn. A thick parka or
down vest will be too warm, even if worn over only a
T-shirt. The T-shirt is fine only if you coat all exposed
areas generously with suntan lotion.
—To savor the spot where the Greek bilni
go in the winter — at close to half the pricu
summer — consider staying in St. Moritz,wit
more variety in hotels and restaurants than Pie
na or other towns near Diavolezza.
:y
Guccis, the Uziellis and the Rossis — as in
Martini and Rossi.
A Rhatische line train from St. Moritz stops
The summer slope at Diavolezza, running
about a half-mile in a straight line, is less chal
lenging to intermediate and advanced skiers
than the longer runs on American slopes. But
the lack of lift lines more than compensates for
this.
“Actually, it’s better here in the summer for
been skiing since age 3, said summer skiing is
“not for everybody—but great for kids, begin
ners or for someone who doesn’t know the
mountains.”
As for herself, though, she called it “too
boring. ”
But Diavolezza is one of several slopes in
the Grisons that do stay open in the summer.
Others are: Corvatsch, which is open from July
to October; Stilfseijoch, open from May to
November, and Vorab, open from June to
November.
—Bring good, safe skiing sunglasses that allow for
adequate ventilation. It’s too hot for goggles. Skiing
without eye protection in the Alps is like begging for
a case of snow blindness.
—Many of the hotels and dining facilitiesut
ly open in the winter are closed or undergo
novation. So it is best to call ahead. Evensui
scaffolding surrounding some of the buildint
carpenters’ saws buzzing away, the placehasi
of being behind the scenes on a Hollywood!
getting ready, in this case, for the yearly appea
of the jet set.
—Bring boots, skis and poles to the slope. The ski
area at Diavolezza has no on-site equipment rentals.
Bring your own equipment or rent in a town such as
St. Moritz, which has several ski shops.
—Strap on a knapsack or “banana” sack. The
mountaintop chalet at Diavolezza lacks the lockers
found at most U.S. slopes so it’s best to bring some
thing in which to stow belongings — passports,
money, snacks. There are lockers at the base lodge
but it makes your belongings inaccessible while
skiing — or stopping for lunch.
—In St. Moritz, the budget-conscious Hi
might schedule a dinner at the EngadinaReite
where a sign announces, with some jusij
“the best cheese fondue in the Engadineni
—Traveling to and from the slope, briiji
knitting, a portable Scrabble game or a ltd
Diavolezza, the cable car’s arrivals and dep
are timed to coincide roughly with the scUf
the train line. But trains throughout Switztii
and especally, it seems, on the one tbali
through St. Moritz and Pontresina—areok
plicably late.
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United Press International
ABERDEEN PROVING
GROUNDS, Md. — Gung-ho
officers and grizzled sergeants
accustomed to the Army’s spit-
polish tradition may have trouble
getting used to the suede brush
approach of the “brown boot”
Army of the ‘80s.
In a grove of locust trees at this
test base, 32 members of today’s
volunteer force are giving new
meaning to the term “foot sol
dier.”
Since mid-May, the 27 men
and five women have walked in
small circles five days a week, up
to 15 miles a day, all to test a new
suede-like brown combat boot
that never needs shining.
The Army wants to know
whether the boot, made with a
fiberglass toe and the cowhide
leather turned inside out, should
replace the standard, black com
bat boot most American soldiers
have worn since about 1959. The
Army isn’t switching to suede for
style, or to avoid the need for a
shoe shine. Soldiers, after all,
have been spit polishing for nearly
as long as armies have used
leather.
The Army has determined that
an enemy can pick up the shine on
the old black boots with infrared
detectors used for nighttime sur
veillance. And there are other fac
tors.
The Army is testing not only for
comfort, but for durability under
various conditions, for mud reten
tion, for water resistance, for
drying time, traction and even for
how long it takes to lace them up
or to take them off.
So those 32 soldiers keep walk
ing, in rain, heat and humidity.
They have been bombarded by
black flies, chewed by mos
quitoes, attacked by wood ticks
and surprised by a black snake.
If there’s any notion that these
pedestrian sacrifices mean mar
ching comfort for generations of
soldiers to come, it’s obscured by
blisters that some have on their
toes and heels and insteps.
Virtually all agree the mono
tony of the one-sixth of a mile cir
cular obstacle course they must
walk every working day until Sep
tember is the hardest part.
“If the course was longer, it’d
be better. But now, Tm just think
ing about getting out of the
Army,” said Sgt. Gerry McElroy,
25, a six-year veteran from Levit-
town, Pa., who said she joined up
to be a tank turret mechanic — not
walk in circles.
“If I had a choice, I’d take the
brown boot,” she said. She found
the test boot developed by the
Army’s Natick Research and De
velopment Laboratory in Mas
sachusetts easier to break in, more
flexible and generally more com
fortable.
“It’s like going from a Volk
swagen to a Cadillac — there’s
that much difference,” said Sgt.
Lynwood Johnson, 29, an
armored personnel carrier driver
from Harrisburg, Pa.
“I would say ultimately the
(test) boot will be definitely
approved,” said Doug Swain, the
boot project director at Natick,
although he said he doubted the
first pair will be issued until at
least December 1983.
The Army spends $80 million to
$100 million a year on boots. It
buys up to 3 million pair at $32.50
a set. That price is about to go up
to $37. The new brown boot would
cost the Army as much as $45,
Swain said.
“But it should last longer and
be more functional and, all things
considered, will probably end up
in the long haul to be less expen
sive.”
The infantry is testing the boots
at Fort Benning, Ga. Marine re
cruits are marching in them in San
Diego. They are getting cold
weather wear in Alaska, and de
sert wear in California.
At Aberdeen, the test group
wears the standard black boot half
the time, the brown boot the rest.
Each lap of the course is sup
posed to be equivalent to a mile
walked in combat. The troops
march up inclines and down, on
sidewalks tilted to the left or to the
right, up short flights of stairs from
which they jump into sandtraps or
onto rocks.
They walk through mud holes
and gravel pits and on concrete
sidewalks imbedded with sharply
The Army wants to know
whether the boot, made
with a fiberglass toe and
the cowhide leather
turned inside out, should
replace the standard,
black combat boot most
American soldiers have
worn since about 1959.
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pointed stones. They walk
through ankle-bending chunks of
bricks and sometimes through
water.
They started with 40 to 50 laps a
day and were up to an average of
77 by mid-June. The goal is 90.
Most of the soldierstiyli
the summer heat by stars
.iltoi (I.n break and lire. |
lunchtime. To pass the fa
woman carries a radio. H^Sfe
the men walk together, fc .
anything from current« /\
whether a couple they ? &&
should have children, ml
"Lots of guys like to; J^OJtt
around, but 1 like totakeuiB
talk with people and jk
them," said Johnson, whoa SP ec (.;
found the walking “bettr formation
busy work and a good wyt A&M Univ
weight.” ment, ha;
, awards for I
The oldest walker is 3^ a s anne
old Mary Kinard, a heavy College Sp
ment driver from Benton.:tor’s 0 f
Sgt. McElroy said tic
boots caused blisters at fe y Y^. miI ? c
said brown boots bendeas ® ' str j c
have a better “grip," butfi# 0 / 00 *-
test boot’s so-called "speediry 1 ^ “
system probably takes loiP iexas ‘
Johnson said the brow) ’ District
take a third the time to bnir entire stab
the black boots do to pok Louisiana,
seem to soak up rain afcsippi.
fast. B
Swain predicted somt awarc ] s are
old-timers will have diffk i; j 1 jg) u , st |_ 1()
justing to a boot their fa'tion direct
longer have to shine. work i s j uc l
“There will be an W'meclia. Put
tag, probably large red content, de
saying, ‘Do not attemptl»r Cammoi
this boot as the polish will Informatio:
the water resistent cha%&M S i nc
tics • numerous
The test group has bee his career,
ing long enough to prompt
the troops to quietly iok
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