I don't ski. I have this image of gliding out onto the slope and slowly sinking into the snow as my weight proves too heavy for the skis (heavy bones you see). So the Alps and their frequent deep snowfalls are not really my scene.

However, the Alps in the summer were something else. The week before I was in Davos they had a foot of snow, but in the unseasonably hot autumn when I drove up the mountain, it was gone. The Alps were green and the skies blue with patches of white lingering where the sun didn't reach. The roads twisted and turned up the slopes, each bend opening another vista of beauty - grassy slopes unmarked by hedges or fences and behind grim rocky peaks reaching upwards into the crystal clear air.

Small towns and villages are linked by the roads, although new dual carriageways are being carved, drilled and constructed to bypass them. These roads attract motorcyclists and driving teams such as that led by Jeremy Clarkson (BBC TV programme, Top Gear), who like the thrill of driving around hairpin bends. The Swiss of course enjoy their famous efficient rail system which seems to manage to run whatever the weather throws onto the line.

Although Davos straggles along the valley, the Grischa is in prime position right across the road from the railway station linking it to Klosters, a short ride down the hill. Convenient though the rail head is, the hotel was chosen for Top Gear HQ because one of the attributes of the hotel is its garage parking.

As much as Davos can be said to have a centre, the Grischa is it. Just along from the Town Hall, opposite the rail station and across the road from the new police station, none of these will prove its prime attraction. No, the prime attraction is its position at the bottom of the main ski lift up the mountains.

This entire area is littered with ski lifts, but the ones opposite the Grischa operate all year round. In summer they are used by walkers and paragliders who take the lifts to the top of the mountain to hurl themselves off into the void. Repeatedly.

Me? I feel the same way about paragliding as skiing - put me on one and it will fold up and plummet to the ground...