Snowshoeing in a new place!

Yippeeee! A beautiful morning in superb conditions, I hope everyone is out playing in all this snow & discovering new areas!

Cabane Brunet

Sunshine & fresh snow before the Christmas & New Year's mayhem. A fabulous skin accross the valley from Verbier!

Les Paccots

Sooooooo much snow this is ridiculous! How anyone can keep from hopping around in it on snowshoes is beyond me!?!

Beautiful Powder

Ski touring in the 4-vallées, hidden spots & high avalanche danger makes for a well deserved beer at the end of it!

Sunday snowshoe

A beautiful tour in the fields between Verbier & Le Châble.

MOVIE Skiing Verbier in November

*PLAY MOVIE!
Watch the flick: Hans Solmssen, Stephen Hadik, Winslow von Maur, Bob Mazerei & little old me having fun before the tourist season starts.
*PLAY MOVIE!

Filmed by UIAGM Guide Hans Solmssen www.swissguides.com

Skin Mt.Fort Verbier

Skinned up to the top of Mt.Fort to glide down the back in fresh powder (ooohhhh first ones there)! Somehow we got all the way to Fionnay!
Yipppeee! Hope you are ready because the mountain sure is!

Verbier Powder

A first for me in November - put the skins on my skis right outside my front door! Broke trail up to Verbier in fresh powder, and cruised down to Le Châble with skiers/tellemarkers supreme Hans Solmssen, Stephen Hadik & Bob Mazzeri. Keep your eyes open for our U-Tube flik comming soon!

Skinning in Verbier

This is a trip we won't forget! To begin with I took the wrong skins & had to use the emergency medical tape to hold them on for the 900m hike. Then the snow machine tried to run us over during our pic-nic. We made a quick get away without spilling the tea, only to discover at the summit that A-V had dropped her camera! On the ski down we stopped at our disrupted pic-nic spot and found it!!

Thank you Anne-Valérie for pushing my head up above & out of the clouds & damp weather to the sun shine at 2700m! Yipppeeee!

Snowshoeing in Verbier

Such a gorjus day! The snow is powdery and the views are to die for! Even I, who live here, can't choose the best photo!!!

Winter has come to Verbier!

Dust off your skis & snowshoes it is dumping in the Alps!

Winter is comming to Val de Bagnes!

Verbier is getting its first BIG snowfalls & CherriesWalks is getting ready for winter dustying off snowshoes! Yikes, the flowers are retreating!
Hope you are all ready!

Morroco

It is very weird to visit 3rd world countries. All I can say is I am not comfortable being a tourist in places where every day life is so tough. I went there thinking I may one day offer tours to clients there, but what I return with is the desire to help them build functioning sceptic systems. Inshalah!

Sahara Flora

Palm trees that produce yummy dates, Tamaris trees or bushes that create shade, a lady bug, something fragile w/ flowers, poisonous & ingenious plants!

Morroco - The Sahara Desert

We traded the mules for 2 dromadaries for 7 nights under the stars in the Sahara, something I never really imagined I would do! Just so you know, we walked, this photo was taken for the Morocan with us!

Morroco - The Atlas Mountains

For 5 days we traversed the Atlas range through a river gorge with 2 mules. Amazing & totally different from what we are used to!

Balloons

At the top of Col de Balme we found a bunch of balloons from a wedding in Swiss-Germany! I am off to Marocco for the rest of the month to meet mules & camels! Keep the cheese ready for when I return!

Col de Balme

Well the last outdoor fondue was such a hit that it had to be done again! Oh yeah, and the hike was magnificient, views of Mont Blanc & Chamonix at the col. As well as alpine blueberries fresh off the bushes!

Entymology

Amazing amount of crickets are hopping around! These two were doing more than hopping... Cannot beleive I got this photo!

Verbier hike

Fresh snow on the mountain tops and fresh snow on our pic-nic. Life is gooooood!

Ever wonder...

what telemarkers do out of season in Verbier???
Simon - my Chilean friend is making sure we are not bored!

Ovronnaz

I have always wanted to go to the top of the ridge on the East side of Ovronnaz, but never really thought it was possible. What a view - the whole bas & haut vallais at your feet!

Fondue at St.Christophe

First low-altitude snowfall required a hike with a fondue in the snow!
Yippeee!

Guiding for Breast Cancer in Zermatt

Europa Donna & Zonta Club Morges La Côte organised for over 80 breast cancer survivors to climb a 4000 meter peak this week-end! An amazing feat and a beautiful day for everyone involved. I guided a high-altitude walk after watching the brave ladies set off from the Klein Matterhorn. We had a fabulous walk and built this 'pink ribbon' cairn to show our support!

Chute du Bisse & Pierre Avoi

A beautiful time of year to check out the fall colors of the Valais. Female crickets laying eggs in their holes which can be mistaken for hiking pole marks in the ground! We picked the right day!

Internation School of Zug

A beautiful day with 34 5th graders up to the Planards and Chute du Bisse. An unbeleivable amount of grasshoppers & crickets around. Do you know how to tell the difference between the two?

Tessin - Italian part of Switzerland

Beautiful old villages in the val Maggia (magic valley) with tons of water cascading down the mountains into the forests of wild chestnut trees. Who could miss this? And the weather is always warmer here than the rest of Switzerland - so the vegetation is a mixture of alpine & mediterranean with palm trees!
Amazing!
Oh and the pasta & cappuchinos are worth it too!

Gondo Gorges

Crazzzzy water! What a gorjus gorges to visit! There is a 3 day walk to do here.

Mont Blanc

Tour du Mont Blanc

10 days of splendid hiking around the Mont Blanc!
From Champex Lac to Chamonix to Courmayeur and back to Switzerland. Breathtaking views and chamois and fighting ibex - really something to remember for a lifetime. I am not surprised it is the most sought after trek in the Alps.
Hope everyone can do part of it one day!

Chamonix valley

The forest was lush & green today, just perfect for hidding from the shopping crowds and the heat. At the end of the day the Mont Blanc was still there majestically overlooking us all.

Yurt at La Dôle

We saw wild chamois, eidelweisses, the lac léman (lake geneva) and clouds. When we got to the yurt it was half blown over by the wind-gods so we opted for a romp in the hay!
Am still finding hay at the bottom of my back-pack...

Zermatt Matterhorn

4 unbeleivable days hiking around impressive views of the Matterhorn.
It really made me want to eat a Toblerone bar!!!

Hiking around Verbier

Up near the cabane brunet is a hidden secret lac that is perfect for pic-nics!
If that sounds good to you get the pic nic ready and let's go!

Gstaad

The Lauenensee is a beautiful lake just waiting for you to take the time to come and discover it. Nestled away in the pasturelands above Gstaad it is a real Heidi postcard!

Rochers de Naye

Just above Montreux is a spot worth visiting. The train can take you up or back down to see the impressive views down onto the lac léman (lake geneva) if you don't feel up to hiking up. But the flowers are worth the hike, and the alpine salamanders we saw all over make the trip increadible!

La Fouly

La Fouly has so many hikes to do it is always difficult to choose which one to do! This was an unforgetable occasion with martagon lilies all over the place. Looking at the mountain views and the flowers and the bugs...ayyyie, what a hard life!

Bisse du Trient

This easy walk brings you to the mouth of the Trient Glacier. An amazing spot where you can really see how the ice formed the valley and get a feel for how far the glacier has receeded. Beatiful and sad. Let's hope it doesn't all disapear too fast...

Mauvoisin

At the end of the Bagnes valley is the spectacular Mauvoisin dam. The alpine water it holds looks as though someone emptied powdered milk into it!
What a day for Australians who have been living through a drought for the past few years. I just wish they could take some of it home with them.