After slipping and sliding around on the village nursery slopes for a day or two under the guidance of a good instructor, beginners will quickly develop the skills and confidence to progress onto the long blue runs starting higher up the mountain.

The Jungfrau ski area is ideally suited to intermediate riders who can roam freely all over the area on some sixty relaxing red and blue runs. Some of these runs are pretty long. The longest is an 8km belter from Oberjoch down to Grindelwald. And the more adventurous can take on sections of Wengen’s famous downhill course, the Lauberhorn, which is reputed to be the longest on the alpine skiing world cup circuit. While taking a break from your own active endeavours, it’s possible from certain mountain restaurants to observe climbers scaling the infamous north face of the Eiger. An intriguing and sometimes terrifying pursuit in itself – I just mean the watching.

With twenty-two runs graded difficult by the local tourist office you would think you were headed for paradise. However, not everyone will find all these runs a huge challenge. That said Wengen is no pedestrian either and offers some interesting off-piste routes which are easily accessed. Also with a mountain-scape surround as is you would be right in thinking that there was some rewarding touring to be had here. But staying on-piste Mürren on the other side of the Lauterbrunnen valley has some testing challenges that are steep and can be technically demanding depending on the conditions.