The Winter Wonderland Of Les Mosses

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Schwingen In Switzerland

We went to Les Mosses, near Aigle and Chateau d’Oex, in the Lake Geneva region, to watch a sled dog race. This charming, picturesque, plateau is situated in a mountain pass. As a result, it is surrounded by mountains. Covered in snow, it is a winter wonderland. We almost expected music to fill the air and Santa’s elves to appear.

While it isn’t exactly extreme, and doesn’t have much nightlife this resort offers plenty of activities year-round. It has a reputation as a good family resort.

Pimp my stroller, Les Mosses edition

In summer, it has nice pedestrian, hiking and mountain bike trails. Lake Lioson is known for its fishing. In winter, well, take your pick.

There are T-bars all over the surrounding mountains and beautifully uncrowded slopes.
It has almost 20 miles (32 km) of snowshoeing trails.
We saw cross-country skiers everywhere, enjoying the almost 27 miles (42 km) of scenic trails.
Believe it or not divers enter Lake Lioson in the winter for under-ice diving!
Les Mosses approaches learning how to ski from the viewpoint that it is also important to have fun, making it popular with families. As a result, it has a park with a moving carpet, drag lift, short gentle slopes and enormous inflatable frog. The park has obstacles, figurines and slaloms to encourage play.

Runners Who Eat Raw Meat, Run Naked And Sleep In The Snow…Dog Sledding (schwingeninswitzerland.wordpress.com)
Chamonix, Skiing In The Death Sport Capital of the World (schwingeninswitzerland.wordpress.com)

Snowshoeing, It’s Like Hiking But More Awkward.

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Schwingen In Switzerland

Last weekend, we went snowshoeing. The snow here is melting…quickly. We knew that we wouldn’t have too many more opportunities. If you need confirmation that the season is over, just take a look at the snow above.

St. Cergue is in the Jura the lake, where there’s only a thin white band of snow at the top.

We strapped up our hiking boots, went to St. Cergue and rented snowshoes, having no idea what we were getting ourselves into. Thankfully, some nice Swiss snowshoers helped us make sure they were on correctly. They let us try their poles. Not knowing ~~much of~~ anything about snowshoeing, we didn’t rent poles. Ooops. It was definitely easier with the poles, but we only went about four miles so we were fine without them. The lack of snow near the parking lot was more problematic.

Luckily, this was the only area where the snow was sparse.

We encountered a few other Swiss on the trails and learned that the usually reserved Swiss are pleasantly chatty on the trails. In Geneva, expats don’t always get the opportunity to have meaningful interactions and conversations with native Swiss. We learned a lot about the area from them. For example, these stone walls mark the borders of farms. They aren’t relics. In the Jura, they still build them!

When we weren’t chatting with other snowshoers, we enjoyed the peace and tranquility. It was a gorgeous day. It was a pleasure to be out in the woods and going “off piste” through the snow was a blast.

In this area summer farmhouses become winter restaurants that cater to the area’s snowshoers and cross-country skiers. We got a recommendation from a nice Swiss lady on the trails and she did not steer us wrong. The restaurant, Le Vermeilley, was fantastic.

It was a cozy room with wonderful traditional dishes and a nice proprietor. After a nice lunch, we headed back.

We’d expected snowshoeing to be more difficult than it was. I want to try it again next year. He wants to do some cross-country skiing more. We have friends who snoeshoed at night under a full moon. That sounds like a rocking’ good time so I’m pretty sure I can talk him into it.

Some trails around there are only for cross-country skiers, no snowshoers. I guess we’ll have to try that next year.

Now We Understand Why Everyone Likes Megève

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Schwingen In Switzerland

We’d heard wonderful things about Megève and heard of its reputation as the “jewel” of French alpine ski resorts. It’s a major ski resort and there are good reasons for Megève’s popularity. We had a great day skiing there last weekend. The wonderful weather and virtually cloudless skies didn’t hurt.

It offers fantastic skiing, stunning views, lots of restaurants and just about every convenience you can imagine. Its location is idyllic in the “Pays du Mont Blanc”. Many runs have a nice view of Mt. Blanc’s summit. Many of the other resorts in the area, like Les Contamines, are above the tree line. Megève has runs cut through the trees. It was quite busy, there were so many runs that we never felt that it was never crowded.

Megève offers great skiing for all levels. Megève’s slopes are have more easier runs than Chamonix or Courcheval’s. Don’t worry though, there are plenty of red and blacks. While there is plenty for beginners, the upper intermediate skiing terrain predominates and there are opportunities to go off piste. Although, if you read yesterday’s avalanche post and watched the videos, you may not want to.

There are restaurants everywhere. The food, atmosphere and crowds vary. We got a later start on the slopes and just had a waffle (gauffre de Liege) at about 4:00. It was beyond tasty; the wonderful view of Mt. Blanc made it even better.

By the end of the day, the snow at low altitudes was turning to slush. We realized that if this weather keeps up, we wouldn’t have too many more weekends to ski. In fact, I’m posting this at six something on a Saturday morning before we take off to ski. As always, I’ll report back.

The slushy bit (and horses) on our way down

Danger!!!!! What We’ve Learned About Avalanches (schwingeninswitzerland.wordpress.com)
Les Contamines (schwingeninswitzerland.wordpress.com)
Mt. Blanc, The Tallest Mountain In The Alps (schwingeninswitzerland.wordpress.com)
Swiss skiing: Saas-Fee a delight in spring (thestar.com)
Domaine de Balme, Evasion Mont Blanc and Grands Montets (seclectic.wordpress.com)

Courmayeur

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Schwingen In Switzerland

Courmayeur is an adorable town nestled in the mountains. We have visited Swiss ski towns (Zermatt, Grindelwald), French ski towns (La Clusaz and Contamines) and now an Italian ski town. Each country’s towns seem to have their own flavor despite being geographically close.

Even non skiers could happily spend a day enjoying Courmayeur‘s charming, car free streets. Shops, bars and restaurants fill its stone buildings. Whether you want to buy upscale apparel, outdoor gear, art, antiques, modern design items, wine or any special Italian food, you can find it in Courmayeur. In the evenings, people stroll the narrow, but chic streets. People were shopping, window shopping, people watching and on their way to the bars for a drink (a football game was about to start). The activity gave the town a cheery, festive but relaxed ambiance.

No Italian town would be complete without a church and religious statues. They look even more beautiful when surrounded by stunning mountains and the shadows they create.

As the evening progressed, people settled into its cozy cafes and restaurants. The vivacity continues on into the evening as Courmayeur has a lively nightlife. On our stroll home we saw bars were still packed. We also saw a man walking his miniscule pooch; they were wearing matching shiny puffy jackets. Sorry it was too cold to get out my camera (I would have had to take off my gloves).

Courtesy of Courmayeur.com

Courtesy of wheretoskiandsnowboard.com

Grindelwhat? Grindelwald!

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Schwingen In Switzerland

When we were in the Bernese Oberland, we stayed in a night in Grindelwald (one option if you do Kleine Scheidegg or Jungfraujoch). We suspected that it might be a bit big and a bit touristy for our tastes. When you have views like these of the Eiger, who cares?

In the late 18th century, foreigners discovered the scenic town. The scenery is so photogenic that pictures of the vistas were widely reprinted. This made the village internationally famous (the Eiger is Switzerland’s second most famous mountain after the Matterhorn), which, in turn, brought more visitors.

In the 19th century, Englishmen came to the village to climb the alpine peaks around the valley, including:

Finsteraarhorn (4,274 m/14,022 ft),
the Wetterhorn (3,692 m/12,113 ft),
the Eiger (3,970 m/13,020 ft),
the Schreckhorn (4,078 m/13,379 ft), and
the Gross Fiescherhorn (4,049 m/13,284 ft).

It’s in the heart of the Jungfrau region of the Bernese Oberland (the Bernese Alps). In the summer, it is a popular base for hikers and a ski town in the winter.

I think this is technically Wetterhorn. Until the Eiger became more famous, it was Grindelwald’s iconic symbol.

Improvements in transportation infrastructure, the Grindelwald road (built in 1860-72) and the Bernese Oberland railway (connected to the village in 1890), transformed the difficult trip into a simple one. As a result, tourists to flooded into the village and many hotels/resorts were built.

A rack railway was built to Kleine Scheidegg in 1893; it was expanded to the Jungfraujoch in 1912. It is still in use. We watched it wind up the mountain from the balcony of our hotel room. One of the great things about Switzerland is that the mountains are so accessible. In the late, 19th and early 20th centuries, numerous ski lifts, cable cars, hiking trails and alpine huts were built. Today, Grindelwald’s economy of is virtually entirely based on tourism. Like I said, it’s a bit touristy, but with beauty like this, who cares?