Sunday 22 February 2015

Back from holidays in the Swiss Alps

Yesterday we arrived back from a sunny, warm one week holiday in the Swiss Alps, where 3 of us were skiing and I was enjoying the clean air, the quiet (lots of skiers but the village is car free, so all roads are white and only a few snowmobiles are around), walks, books and some knitting.

I marvelled at the constructions against avalanches that are scattered throughout the Swiss Alps and might be suggested to the UNESCO as culturale heritage as our dealing with the avalanche danger seems to be quite unique (Switzerland and the Swiss Alps are densely populated so just not being in the danger zone isn't always an option)...

On the way up in the gondola



Chalets

On the top gondola station

The Aletsch glacier - longest glacier in the Alps

The Matterhorn. Far, far away but still quite impressive


Wooden avalanche "stoppers"


Big "avalanche stoppers" - to be seen everywhere in the Swiss Alps

It was very warm - thawing everywhere


Lots of animal tracks - we saw some deer and lots of birds


My new snow boots were a perfect investment

On the perfect bench on my favourite walk
 
The view from our holiday apartment