Compagnie Macadam!

Wow! What an epic last rando culturelle for the Verbier Festival.
On our outing we met a black tent...

Once you see what is inside you will never be the same again!

It was great fun to do these outings, I hope the Fest'Off can keep offering them to you all.
A l'année prochaine!

Verbier Fest'Off Communicating with Nature

Today I took the unsuspecting clients on the first ever CherriesWalks edition of 'Communicate with Nature' Workshop. It was a success! Bravo & thank you all for participating!

We went for a stroll into the forest, to get in the mood everyone chose a special place.

When we got back together again I blindfolded the group to continue the walk.
Once their sense of balance, smell, hearing and all got to develop I asked them to remove their shoes and walk barefoot for a while.

It was amazing and fun to see how everyone enjoyed new sensations and the forgotten 'art' of sitting quietly in a forest.

Blurb for the Fest'Off free outings Sat & Sun from 10-12 Verbier Tourist Office

Bring the whole family, all your friends, tell anyone & everyone about it!
Hope to see you this coming Sat & Sun.
Sunday will be a very very special outing!

St-Luc to Chandolin

From St-Luc we followed the old mule trail to Chandolin for a delicious rösti in the Cabane d'Illhorn. We managed to get there dry in the forest of arola pines & larches.

Here is what the arola (also known as the Cembro Pine)pinecone looks like.

It needs the help of a special bird, the spotted nutcracker to open it up and get to the grains.

It then buries the seeds in the ground to feed on in winter. Fortunately for the tree the bird sometimes forgets where it has buried its cache, (hopefully) allowing the seeds to germinate into a tree 40 years later!

Cabane Illhorn hiding in the trees - a surprisingly high treeline in Chandolin. This area has a special flora as it is so well protected. Which is why at 2000 meters Chandolin is the highest village in the Swiss Alps inhabited year-round. They have water & wood - the essentials for survival! The Illgraben cliffs also harbor interesting features that are well worth visiting.

Association Elements Verbier

Aujourd'hui on est allé visiter le géoparc dans le Haut Val de Bagnes en coordination avec l'Association Elements qui travaile dure pour promouvoir le dévelopement durable dans la vallée.
Une rando très tranquille et sympathique de Fionnay à Bonatschiesse. Pour le picnic j'ai invité le groupe à cueillir des plantes sauvages que nous avons dégusté en pesto sur du bon pain de sègle local.

Ensuite le gros sujet...la géologie de la région...gloups, par où commencer?!? C'est pas vraiment evident d'expliquer 4'500 millions d'années en un après-midi!

Merci encore à tous d'avoir participé. Et à vous autres je vous recommande vivement de faire partie des activités d'Elements!

At last some sunshine

This houseleek was particularly happy to have some sun to bake in today!

Fest off Verbier

I am guiding the Fest Off Culture Walks in Verbier during the festival.
They are free and open to anyone from ages 1-99. We start at 10am from the Tourist Office in Verbier and end at noon. Every Saturday & Sunday, and they are in Français & English (sorry not Swedish yet..)!
So far we have had a bit of all ages, even those who cannot walk yet!!
Thank you everyone who has participated.
They have been fun & different each week-end.

This Sunday we met two Tyrolian giant Trolls who had their pants half on and some stein mugs with who knows what in them join us. They followed my group into the forest above Carrefour to help us make a sculpture with natural objects (land art). They even had a sparkler in their bag that they lit up on our natural artwork!

We left Wurstel & Morille as they had a date with Biquettes

and continued our merry way into the lupin fields. Ahhh, the flora at the moment is awesome! Summer is beautiful in Verbier, even if I did walk in my down jacket and a wool hat!

Tour des Combins with the Rotary Club

The Verbier-St.Bernard Rotary Club organizes each year an outing for children who need to take a vacation!

We had a super fun time in the flowers & clouds on the way to the Cabane du Col de Mille - uhhh, before they got snowed on... This cabana is going to be renovated soon which will make rainy afternoons more pleasant to spend indoors. Although I am going to miss running 50 meters to the outhouse!

The second night the torrential downpour & snowfall did not join us, but we had an extra special visit from Pascal Tissères who is a geologist. He runs the Fondation Tissères in Martigny, which explains all the rock activity in the region and has a splendid collection of crystals. It is free and I recommend you visit it - certainly these days if you don't know what to do in our not so summery weather. Our 11 year olds astounded him by having remembered lots of things I had told them that day - I was highly impressed as well! Bravo!

Magnificent sunset on the Cabane Brunet with fresh snow around us!!

Verbier Music Fesitval outings with CherriesWalks

What a lucky bunch!

33 of us and a beautiful lab got to hang out in the sun above Verbier today in the company of Aurélien Donze who astounded us with his magic instrument from the ancient culture of 'Baborigènes'

Zinal

Epic 2 days up to the Arpitetta hut above Zinal at the end of the Val d'Anniviers. Definitely a 'wow' outing!

I was excited to do some high altitude hiking with chains & torrent crossings, wild ibex (bouquetins).

The hike back down the next day was wonderful, it looked as though it was raining in every other valley except for ours! The marmots were out in the sunshine and we were in the arrola pines checking out the big black cows (reines).

Absolutely stunning views of the Zinalrothorn, Weisshorn, Lo Besso and lots of rocks & tumbling hanging glaciers. The views were changing all the time.

Tour Mont Fort

Awesome to ride lifts with our bikes - although we had to add an extra 400 meters up hill ride at noon cuz the Nendaz lift was not open... The amount of terrain you can cover on a bike in one day is phenomenal. From the green fields to the rocky Gentianes col, it is all beautiful

Top of Pierre Avoi

After those freaky ladders to the top of our limestone bump in Verbier it was time for a rest in the sun under the watchful glaciers of the Massif des Combins. Really never could get bored of my back yard!

Walkin' & Talkin' in Verbier

Hiked up Creblet to check out Lac des Vaux. The sun was shinning, the water was glistening & the flowers were singing.

Nothing bad to say about a day like this - oh, and gummy bears for a picnic! Yahoooo!