The last lift up to the Diavolezza ski area is empty except for me and Patrik - and the lift operator, who starts sweeping the day’s debris out of the telecabin doors as we swing high above St Moritz’s freeride haven.

Day 3, 4pm.

A quick blast down through powder fields (which are in amazing nick considering the last snow was two weeks ago) and we catch the last bus for the 25-minute ride back to St Moritz rail station.
 

We hop on a train, roll into Davos 90 minutes later, and check into the Terminus Hotel right opposite the station. Easy. Peasy. We could get used to this…
 
Day 4
Davos is famous for hosting the annual World Economic Forum (27-31 January, 2010), and for being the largest ski resort in Switzerland (it’s a proper town - population 15,000). Klosters is just down the road of course and is frequented by Chaz Windsor and the Princes from time to time. But who cares about that? It’s 8.30am and it’s snowing. Time for some low-visibility skiing practice. I’m quite looking forward to this.

Remember kids, no pipe-smoking in the lift queue ok.

 10-metre visibility, sometimes less. Weight over the middle of the skis and feeling my way, knees bent to absorb the invisible bumps and undulations. As Patrik struggles with the unseen terrain, I follow the piste markers as they emerge one-by-one from the gloom. It’s grim but fun. Cornelia - our guide for the morning - has pulled into the restaurant because of the conditions, but we’re keen to carry on. It’s a little masochistic as we regularly find ourselves polling (walking in boarder Patrik’s case), due to the flat light and unreadable ground.

Then it all goes wrong, and to be honest this pic doesn’t really do justice to how I’m feeling at the time. Reading the piste markers 90 degrees wrong, I fly between two markers and off the edge of the piste and into the arms of a sizeable crash. I’d probably have got away with it if it wasn’t for a walkie talkie in my pocket being thumped into my ribs. It hurts. And the lump half way down my left side tells its own story. Patrik has a feel and reckons it’s broken. I can’t say I disagree. Besides the considerable discomfort that’s making me want to puke, I’m wondering if this is the end of the line for our little train trip. Patrik’s doing a good job of being positive and hiding his fears too…
 

“What’s your favourite hospital?”  was one of  Simon Amstell’s opening gambits in a bid to spice up celebrity interviews. Well, Davos hospital would be well up the list for me. Friendly, fast, non-judgmental, and slightly comedy as skiers with skis walk out of elevators next to doctors and nurses. It even has its own ski room outside.

The doc says my lungs are fine, but the X-ray shows a break…

All photos: Patrik Lundin

…right here. Rib 8. Mmm. It’s not hurting too much, except when I move or breathe. So the fun of Davos was short-lived.
 
Next comes a hop on the train to the Disentis resort and the decision… do I ski again or not?

Read more about Steve's great Swiss train odyssey on his previous blog