Arguably the most amazing aspect to life at KISC is the fact that you’re living and working with people from all over the world. The “permanent mini-jamboree” may be a cliché, but it is a very real part of the KISC experience.
We’re a bunch of internationals living in a high and enclosed valley in the Bernese Oberland, but we’re certainly not cut off from the outside world. There’s trains connecting us to the north and south, two cable cars and one gondola in the village allowing for quick access to the higher alps, and besides all that there’s plenty of activities going on in the village all year round.
This is all good, because from the point of view of someone coming from outside Europe, you don’t want to be (or even to feel) closed in. This is where bikes are especially important. They’re a relatively quick, cheap, and easy form of personal transport, and they’re also a very environmentally friendly way of getting around. Not only do you not need to use any fossil fuels for the trip, but the extra physical activity is healthy and highly enjoyable too. It’s great that KISC offers the staff free bikes to use whenever they like, because it frees us up to go and enjoy the outdoors whenever we can. They're particularly useful for getting to and from our local ski slopes though the winter
Sure, sometimes there’s snow and ice on the roads, but though this requires some extra care it’s not too much of a hassle to navigate over safely. There’s also other cars and buses moving about the village, but the drivers of these vehicles are all proceeding with caution too so they’re no great danger. There’s really no significant reason not to use bikes to ride around Kandersteg.
Sometimes being environmentally friendly means putting in a little extra effort for the good of the planet. In this case it’s the opposite; riding a bike to the slopes is a far more attractive option than other forms of transport – the environmental friendliness of this means of getting around is a bonus. The most appealing feature is the independence it provides, you can go whenever and wherever you like.
Unless you’re a European who brings their own car to KISC, bikes are pretty much the only option for personal transport. Bike riding can become a habit, a habit you can take back home. Because if bikes can be a good option for getting around town in the middle of winter in the Swiss Alps, then why don’t we use them more in our more comfortable lives in our home countries?
