Bonnes Vacances

The vacation season in Switzerland is currently in full swing. It’s definitely one of my favorite times during the year as the pace of work slows considerably since so many people are out of the office. Plus, the weather is beautiful and the sun is out well past 9pm so there are plenty of opportunities to get out and do something.

Though I’m not taking any true vacation this summer, I definitely can’t complain as I’m heading to Sardinia with Emilie for the upcoming three-day (Swiss) holiday weekend. I’m excited as this will be my first trip that is purely dedicated to relaxation and not non-stop sightseeing. The only tourist activities that we’ll be taking part in are sitting on the beach, eating and otherwise expending as little energy as possible.

Emilie came up with the initial idea for the trip and after doing a little research myself I was immediately on board. If one is looking to relax, Sardinia definitely seems to be a perfect place to do so. We’ll be staying on the eastern coast on the Gulf of Orosei (facing the Italian mainland) in a town called Cala Gonone. And the only negative that I foresee is our flight times – we depart at 6:15am on Saturday and return at 8:00am on Tuesday.

Trient - Part II

After lunch we decided to take a trail to the Croix de Fer (literally Cross of Iron). I took one of my favorite pictures along the way – the snow on Mont Blanc and the surrounding clouds seem to blend right into eachother.

While the trail itself wasn’t difficult, at times you were effectively walking on a ridge with steep drops on both sides. As long as you paid attention you were fine, but a missed step here or there would have led to a bit of a fall.



















Here are some pictures of Emilie standing at the summit.










We took a different route back down to Trient and it included equally beautiful scenery. By chance we had selected a trail that benefited from the afternoon sun, which was nice as there was a bit of a late-afternoon breeze with cold temperatures in the shade.




























There were some nice wildflowers on the way down, as well as some dairy cows near the bottom of the trail. I’m always amazed at how the cows are able to keep there balance on such steep slopes.










As we finished the hike we had a nice view of one of the glaciers in the area (or at least what’s left of it thanks to global warming).

Trient - Part I

Today Emilie and I went on a day hike in the mountains above Trient – a Swiss town not far from the border with France. The weather was beautiful, so we figured that a hike would be a nice way to spend the day outside. After the extreme hike from the weekend before, however, we planned to keep things rather tame today.

After arriving in Trient, I could tell that we had picked a nice area. Here are a few pictures taken while we were walking to the trail.



















The first part of the hike took us through dense forest and entailed a fairly steep climb with numerous switchbacks. Since we were covering a lot of vertical ground it was a bit of a workout, but we were able to take advantage of a couple of forced breaks along the way as some groups of mountain bikers were making their way down the trail.

The shade from the trees turned out to be nice, as it was very warm out by this point in the direct sun. The downside was that the trees didn’t allow for much of a view. Fortunately, there were some open areas that allowed us to get some perspective on where we were and take some pictures as well.










Once we finally got above the trees, the trail took us through a pass in the mountains. The views and general scenery were very nice.





























By early afternoon we finally made it to the border of Switzerland and France, where we planned to have the lunch that we had packed.










We decided to pick a spot on the French side, which provided a nice view of the town of Chamonix as well as Mont Blanc itself.










The lunch and the view were very nice, but after a while it started to get a little cold due to the wind so we went back over to the Swiss side. It was more protected from the wind and much warmer.

Rifugio Monzino - Part III

After arriving back at the refuge we had a late lunch and then relaxed on the deck in the sun for a bit.

Not far from the refuge we found a nice spot on the cliff overlooking the Brouillard glacier.










The hike down the mountain took all afternoon and was much longer than I expected based on our initial hike up. The most difficult sections in particular proved to be more of a challenge on the way down.

On the way up it was much easier to see the best path and the sturdiest places to grip / plant your feet. On the way down, however, you sometimes simply had to hope for the best. Plus, we were all connected by rope (each about 10m apart) – effectively employing the “if I fall, you’re coming with me” safety strategy – which was a bit restrictive at times.

About half-way down the mountain we came across some mountain goats that were clearly much more comfortable with the terrain than we were.










For the remainder of the descent, I was definitely running on fumes. Most of my muscles were dead tired and barely cooperating. And the large backpack that I was carrying felt like a ton of bricks. I couldn’t wait to get back to the car and by the time that we finally reached it I had officially hit my limit. Fortunately, the views on the way down were quite nice.

Rifugio Monzino - Part II

We were up early on Sunday and grabbed a quick breakfast. Right before leaving for the morning hike, the mystery of why the local dog spent so much time on the ledge staring at the ground far below was solved – marmots.

And after finally spotting one, he flew down the mountain intent on capturing it. But by the time he reached the spot where the marmot had been, it was nowhere to be found. And instead he came upon and even bigger find – a mountain goat. But the dog had no chance of keeping up with it given the rough terrain and gave up following a valiant effort.










The morning hike took us up towards the Freiny glacier. In general, the hike was less severe than the most difficult portions of the hike on Saturday.




















That said, there were still a few challenging sections, which included some boulder hopping. And given the uneven / unstable footing during some sections, all of us ended up taking a minor spill at one point or another.










After a couple of hours, we finally arrived at our destination – a ledge overlooking the glacier where we’d rest a bit and have a snack.











As we were enjoying the break there was a mini avalanche on the glacier. Though we weren’t in any danger in hindsight, at the time I was a bit on edge as I saw literally tons of ice crashing down in our direction. And the sound was like anything else that I'd ever heard.

The glacier was very impressive and the views of the mountains and valley below were well worth the hard work that the hike required.



















We even noticed some true mountain climbers halfway up the huge vertical face in the bottom right picture above. The following is a close-up, though they’re still hard to see.

Once we regained our strength, we made our way back towards the refuge for lunch. The route back took us through some snow and gave us a nice view of the Brouillard glacier as well.










Here's a view of Rifugio Monzino from above during the return hike.