Modesty versus hygiene

"Just imagine, you will soon be sitting in the sauna! "my husband tried to encourage me to endure the cold with this form of wishful thinking as we sat on the chairlift with our hands cupped over our faces trying to protect them from the fierce wind which was blowing. Yes, we really were absolutely freezing as usual on one of those old types of chairlifts without a hood and we were about to be blown down the slope on our snowboards with the wind howling around us. The thought of the sauna as a form of après ski seemed then very attractive .

Actually I have never really been a particular sauna fan and most often find a way to avoid them for various reasons .....here's why .

Years ago on a trip to San Francisco Hilary ( former colleague and now sister -in-law ) and I were invited to a sauna by some trendy young guys. Of course we had no idea about saunas but were eager to find out so off we went and duly entered the club, changed into our bikinis and waited for the sauna experience. By this time our hosts had disappeared but plenty of other people seemed to be in the sauna area ( without any clothes on).There did not seem much trace of the Pilgrim Fathers amongst this crowd and most likely they were descendents of the Scandinavian side of the great melting pot of cultures which we so love in the United States . At that point our English upbringing which had tried to make us lady like and aspire to modesty did not go that far as to allow us to sit around naked in a club. Oh no... Gradually some of these men came up to us and asked us whether it is usual in Great Britain for people to sit in a sauna in a swim suit (notice the American word here). As we had never been in one before we hastily replied "oh yes, that's the usual thing to do." Well we obvously realised that we were in the wrong film here with all these naked people and decided to make a hasty retreat before getting ourselves into another scrape . Our hosts had already disowned us as two prude English girls .. no fun to be with - definitely losers and definitely not cool enough for this hip SFO scene .

As I related this incident to my Swiss boyfriend of the time ( now husband on the chairlift) he really laughed at the scene of our faux pas and offered to take me to a sauna on my next trip to Zürich. He explained here that it is viewed as most unhygienic for people to sit around in nylon or other types of man made swimwear which will become drenched in sweat. The whole idea is to let the sweat drip out of your skin and then shower it off in cool water . It is cleansing for the body I was told . Although I had some reservations with visions of concentration camp gas cells I decided to have another go this time at Alpamare where there is a separate sauna for ladies so the modesty thing would not be too challenged.

Well now knowledgable about the sauna culture, I hung up my bikini outside and stepped into the little chamber . Of course when I sat down I quickly had to jump up again , the wooden slats were burning hot for my tender bottom . By this time the other ladies were scowling at me .. and I could see they were all sitting nicely on their towels . My towel was somewhere far away in a locker and impossible to retrieve. So rather than admit defeat I stood in the corner with my back to these people and bared it out for about three minutes. Done. Sauna experience over for ever, never again . For years and years I never wanted to go in one again and always found an excuse to avoid them . Modesty ruled and I decided not to part again with my "textiles" as swimwear is referred to in this part of the world. I even saw a sign in a Black Forest hotel requesting guests to enter the area "without textiles " and it always makes me smile . I can't imagine such a sign in an English hotel - there would be an uproar . Or maybe times have changed ? Are there such signs advocating hygiene?

Well times here have changed more recently as more and more Swiss hotels have started to offer spa areas for their guests in a bid to keep the guests from wandering off to Austria where "Wellness" hotels are very much "en vogue" especially for winter holidays.

Nowadays going into a sauna after a day on the slopes seems the ideal way to get warmed up and I have found out the perfect way to keep everyone happy. Let's say you do not have to lose your cultural identity either way. Nobody will wrongly categorise you if you follow these steps. You just leave your " textiles" outside on the peg and wrap yourself up in a big big towel , without offending anyone. The towel should however be big enough to put under your feet, no sweat should drip onto those wooden slats remember -and as the towel is to stretch up to cover you from top to toe it may involve a rather unusual posture. Ah well three minutes is enough to get warm ... Just one thing- don't forget to take off your gold jewellery otherwise you will end up using inappropriate language ! It gets very hot too!

Now however we have found the answer to the modesty versus hygiene debate we are on to the next question which adds a further dimension to the whole experience . Here it is.

" Just imagine sitting here in this sauna and not being able to open the door to get out", mused my ever imaginitive husband during our melting down phase one evening. We were looking at the thermometer registering almost 90 degrees . Yes, unbearable really, totally crazy to do something so extreme .

As we airliners know safety is the number one priority and our wish is please sauna builders construct a safety button inside the sauna to alert the outside world of melting / fainting guests !xxx one not so resilient but willing to try out sauna user or Kluser !