I love the mountains and the snow and since living in Switzerland I have had many occasions to benefit from living in this gorgeous place and I never get tired of the view. But somehow on Saturday it was different, and I had the impression that the mountains were more majestic, the snow more bright, and the blue sky more captivating. We kept commenting on how it was like a complete winter wonderland, a scene from Narnia or some other equally magical tale...I have come to appreciate how different winter activities permit one to discover something different about the mountains, and this last weekend it was time for some snow shoeing. Unlike skiing, snow-shoeing is often done on small paths cut through the trees which gives a very different feeling to flying down a ski piste :)
A group of us went to a place called Les Paccots, and we did a 6.5km snow shoe hike. Half up the mountain, and the other half down the mountain! It was more tiring than I expected with a 400m gain in elevation (which, as calculated by a member of our group, is the equivalent of 149 floors). It was also much warmer than we expected so we all had far too many layers of clothing on! The promise of tasty Swiss food and much laughter kept us going upward and soon we arrived at a restaurant at the top of the mountain (side note - I am continuously amazed at all the infrastructure that supports all the winter (and summer) mountain activities here!) where we indulged in a selection of authentic Swiss Food - macaroni à la crème (a version of macaroni and cheese), croute au fromage, jambon et oeuf (a glorified ham & melted cheese sandwhich with an egg) and saucisse au veau (veal sausage with french fries). All very tasty and all very unhealthy, but we felt justified in our indulgence. And then we walked back down the other side of the mountain!
