Ahead of the game

Frogs have already laid their eggs in the ponds in Zinal

Spring has definitely arrived early this year. The swallows and martins flew in at least 3 weeks ago and up in Zinal the frogs have filled the little pond with spawn, the willows are in full flower and the Plats de la Lee has virtually no snow on it

Pussy willow in full flower

It's been about 4 weeks since we were last able to  cross country ski here

Green & Black

Crop of blackcurrants and gooseberries

It's harvest time for our fruit bushes and what a crop. We picked 9kg from the three blackcurrant bushes, and nearly 4kg from the two gooseberries. The rest of the afternoon was spent washing, top and tailing and freezing - keeping a few back top make some fool.

August fool

August Fool

- Stew some berries with sugar and a little water
- Puree, sieve and leave to cool
- whip some double cream and then fold into cooled berry puree.
PK

Tree-mendous!

Skiing the trees

The new year arrived with lots of snow - one memorable storm lasting practically the whole week. Things quickly filled in, and we skied the trees like we've never done before. That fabulous sensation of snaking down through the gaps, dropping onto pillows of deep, fluffy, forgiving snow.
As our ski buddy Ray said 'I could hand my pass in now, as it doesn't get better than that' - high praise indeed.

Tree-mendous!

2015's Weather

This has been one of the warmest and driest December's on record (here in Switzerland). Lots of blue sky days and no new snow. So what was the rest of the year like?

January 2015
















Started pretty mild, with rain to over 3000m, then strong winds and not much snow below 1500m. But the upper slopes had some good snow, and the month ended with a 2 day storm.

February 2015

A delicate start, with all the fresh snow on top of some unstable layers - the resort blasted practically every slope to make it safe. Temperatures rose for a mild half-term week. Overall some good skiing

March 2015 

Some great snow and skiing especially if you hiked

April 2015

Some great snow ended the season. However, the overall impression of the winter; not many big dumps of snow - just small storms.

May 2015

The winter snow melted away quite quickly, opening up the walking routes early.

June 2015

Beautiful warm weather, and the meadows were soon a mass of flowers 

July 2015

July was a heat-wave and a fire ban was enforced - this lasted well into August.

August 2015

No fireworks for the 1st August celebrations (despite heavy rain on the day). The heat-wave ended, but fine weather continued with an occasional summer storm bringing much needed rain.

September 2015

The hills were very dry and the grasses golden. Wonderful autumnal walking weather.

October 2015

The larch colours where stunning this year - getting more golden by the day. There was the usual early dusting of snow down to valley which soon melted away.

November 2015

Very little precipitation and the fire ban was brought back in. The autumn colours continued to look stunning. The resort delayed opening for skiers by two weeks - the snow finally arrived around the 20th.

December 2015

Sunny, warm and settled with no new snow. A huge high sat over this part of Europe forcing all the bad weather further north, across the UK and into Scandinavia. 

Redcurrant Jelly fest

We left redcurrant picking till later this year - what with all the rain this summer things took a little longer to ripen. But it was worth the wait. The berries were plentiful, large and deep ruby in colour. In total we picked 12kg of fruit - freezing 2/3rds and making 4 lge jars and 3 smaller jars of jelly from the rest.

12kg of redcurrants picked on just one day

The best jelly recipe.

It's an old recipe so I use imperial measurements as it makes life a lot simpler. Redcurrants are high in pectin so setting is never a problem - that being the case you can use granulated sugar.

• Wash the berries - there's no need to remove them from the stalks - discard leaves and other debris.
• Place berries in a large pan - for every 3 lb of fruit add 1 pint of water.
• Simmer gently for 30 minutes until the fruit is really mushy.
• Line another large saucepan with a cloth or jelly bag, and pour cooked berries into the cloth.
• Tie the cloth up, and raise it so the juice can run freely into the pan below.
• Leave this to strain overnight.
• Discard the contents of the cloth.
• Measure the juice extract. For every 1 pint of juice add 1 lb of sugar to the pan.
• Heat gently, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
• Bring to the boil and boil rapidly for 15 minutes.
• Test for set. (Take a saucer that's been in the freezer, drip some jelly onto it and leave for a minute. If it crinkles when you run your finger through it then its reached setting point).
• Remove from heat.
• Skim off scum with a slotted spoon.
• Pour jelly into clean sterilised jars. To sterilise your clean jars place in oven for 20 mins at 130 - remove from oven and pour jelly into warm jars. Put the lids on straight away.

Top 100

This is the 100th post on this blog so it seems appropriate to list (in no particular order) some of our favourite things to see, do and experience in and around the Val d'Anniviers

Things to see: 

Black-nosed sheep, gentians and edelweiss.

• Patch of gentians
• Black-nosed sheep
• Ptarmigan
• Edelweiss
• Sunset on the Besso
• Crocus poking up through the snow as spring arrives
• Meadows of summer flowers
• Marmotts running across the fields
• Ibex on the cliffs
• Waterfalls beyond Zinal in spring
• Golden Eagles

Walking routes:

Tour lac de Moiry, Lac Noir and up to Cabane d'Arpitettaz

• Up to Cabane d'Arpitettaz 
• Wiesshorn hotel to Zinal
• From top of Sorebois lift to Cabane Petit Mountet 
• Tour lac de Moiry
• Bisse walk in Vercorin
• Descent of Vallon de Rechy
• Crete de Midi
• Up to Cabane Grand Mountet
• From Bendolla south to the dam
• Chandolin along the cliffs
• Lac noir above St Luc

Best events:

Feeries Christmas Market, Sierre-Zinal race

• 1st August fireworks in Zinal
• Feeries Christmas market Grimentz
• Friday markets in August Grimentz
• Sierre Zinal mountain marathon
• Vercorin jazz festival
• Grimentz three day classical music festival 
• Marche des Cepages, wine and walking tour though the vin-yards
• Desalps
• Grand Raid – Verbier to Grimentz mountain bike race 

Food & Wine:

Locally cured sausages, home-made redcurrant jelly

• Fresh serac cheese from the alpine diary
• Vin de glacier from Bourgeois Grimentz
• Myrtle tart at Hotel Wiesshorn
• Wild alpine strawberries 
• Multi-grain bread from Salamin bakery
• Local cured dried sausages
• Redcurrant jelly made from the wild berries around the house
• Glass of white wine from the caves of Sierre

Favorite pistes to ski:

Illhorn red piste, Chandolin

• Chamois, Zinal
• Pas de Beouf to Prillet, St Luc
• Vercorin blue, from top station to the village
• Blue from Grands Plans chair past Etable du Marais, Grimentz
• Illhorn red piste, Chandolin

Things to do and visit:

Grimentz old town, moon light walk in winter, Hotel Weisshorn

• Histoic house, Zinal
• Walk through Zinal old town
• Centre of Grimentz
• Moon light walk in winter
• Sleep out under the stars on a summer's night
• Visit old flour mill in Grimentz
• See cheese being made in the mountain dairies
• Star gaze from the St Luc observatory
• Visit hotel Weisshorn – even better stay overnight
• Visit Tzoucdana cafe and see the farm animals
• Overnight in a mountain hut 
• Via ferrata below Moiry dam
• Snow shoe to the snout of the Zinal glacier and discover the ice-cave

Best off piste:

Down to the dam

• Down to the dam from Zinal
• Orzival
• Vallon de Rechy
• Variants around Chamois
• Off back of St Luc into Turtmann valley
• Zinal free-ride zone
• Vercorin trees
• Lona
• Pylon route 
• Middle bowl, Zinal
• Abondance
• Trees to Chiesso Blanc

Views to see:

Weisshorn, glaciers above Grand Mountet, sunset from Tracuit

• Sunset from Cabane Tracuit
• Top of Ilhorn over Rhone valley
• Col des Arpettes into Turtmann valley
• Glaciers from Cabane du Grand Mountet 
• Besso from Lac d'Arpitettaz
• Glaciers from Cabane du Moiry
• From Niouc the 'Imperial Crown'
• Weisshorn from bridge above Zinal 
• South from Barneuza
• South into Vallon de Rechy from top of Vercorin

Day ski-tours:

Basset de Levron, Bec de Bosson, Col du Pigne

• Tourno, St Luc
• Basset de Lona, Grimentz
• Cabane d'Arpittetta and on to Glacier de Moming
• Basset de Levron, Grimentz
• Off back Grimentz and over to Nax
• Glacier de Moiry and Col du Pigne
• Off back of Bella Tola

Favourite time of year:

Autumn colours, Zinal

• January – low sun and wonderful light
• February – early on, good snow and no people
• March – warmer and longer ski days
• April – spring snow
• May – crocuses appear through the melting snow
• June – meadows around the house are full of flowers
• July – higher alpine meadows come into flower
• August – lots of music and other events in all the villages
• September – warm days, no people and great walking
• October – larches turn golden and first snow on the peaks
• November – Zinal opens for weekend skiing
• December – Feeries market in Grimentz

Look back on winter 2014

As winter melts away it's fun to look back at some of the great days we've had this season....

Paws for thought...

Chamois tracks

Go for a walk in the snowy woods and you'll see tracks of the animals you know live there but rarely meet. You can see where they've scampered up a bank, walked around in circles following good smells, and scraped away the snow to uncover something to eat.

Squirrel, lynx, deer, & chamois prints

With freezing temperatures and snow covering the vegetation for the next 5 months or so it's a tough time for these animals. Conserving energy is the name of the game and for this reason resorts restrict areas of the mountain as no go zones for walking, snow-shoeing and skiing.

Foot-print chart from www.mountainwilderness.ch

Whilst not wanting to scare any of these beasts into having to run and use energy, you'll often see animal tracks overlying old ski tracks. Using the route where the snow is firmest they use less energy, so we believe both can co-exist in the same spaces. These animals become habituated to man and that we (in winter) are not a threat. With no natural predators the larger animals are culled each September by hunters ie the winter doesn't threaten their numbers. Unlike the hunters, who take only the beautiful and strong, nature takes the weak and those less likely to survive.

For more information on how animals behave visit www.mountainwilderness.ch.

Since writing this the canton of Valais have introduced 142 no go (to people) zones. These zones have been designed by hunters! (hum...) Some of the best and most easily accessed off-piste terrain is affected by this ruling, areas close to the resorts. You can find out more about where they are on the following website -  www.respecter-cest-proteger.ch  - closest to here is off the back of the Bella Tola in St Luc, into the Turtmann valley.

Water damage

Trees and islands have been washed away and a new river route formed

Early last week we had two days of heavy rain which caused the Navizence River to break its banks and carve out a new route for itself - something locals have not seen before. The force of the water was so great that bridges and islands were swept away, boulders the size of small houses moved, trees ripped out and banks eroded back. At its height the river flooded nearly the whole width of Le Pla.

Bridges have been swept away or left miles from the water

What's been left is (I think) a more beautiful and more natural looking river which meanders a broader route - new islands have been made and the banks re-sculpted.

Walking along what was the jeep track- now stripped down to the moraine a few feet down

Work has already begun to reinstate bridges, and jeep tracks - but it will be interesting to see what they can do to the route used in winter by cross country skiers. Currently the once wide jeep track is down to the width of a footpath and one of the crossing bridges now spans a boulder field - the river now takes a route several hundred meters away leaving you unable to cross from east to west bank.

Looking down Le Pla and the new look Navizence River

The deer hunter - (la Chasse)

Last night's hunter's moon rising behind the trees

For the last two weeks the hills have been alive with the sound of gunfire while shortly afterwards trailers drive by with hooves and antlers sticking out at all angles. Not a good time to be a vegetarian, or furry. Here in Mottec our local hunter Rudolf and his friends have had one of their best years, with the biggest red deer stag yet - a 12 pointer - several chamois, roe deer and marmots.

Now on all the local restaurant menus

Even if it's not your thing, this is a highly important annual event that helps keep down the wildlife population. Without any preditors (wolves are thin on the ground around here) these animals would get too numerous and would end up starving to death once the snow arrives, a bullet through the heart seems the better way to go - the hunters are all good shots. 

Alpine flower fest

Meadow of flowers above Mottec at about 2300m

Took a walk today up to higher ground above Mottec to photograph the flowers above 2000m. Here are a few we found - not all of then identified.

• Lousewort (long-beaked or Ascending)
• Arnica
• Lousewort
• Gentian
• Snow-in-Summer
• Pansy
• Primrose (Birdseye or Long Flowered)
• Trumpet Gentian
• Geranium/Cranesbill with insect
• Moonwort
• Alpine Pasque Flower
• Catsfoot
• Alpine Birdsfoot Trefoil
• Black Vanilla Orchid
• Orchid

On the way back down we came across some Alpenrose starting to flower.

Blooming marvelous

Everywhere is a mass of flowers - the field behind Chalet Edelweiss is no exception. This afternoon I took a stroll and photographed a few of the thousands of flowers.

• Bladder Campion
• Harebells
• Sweet Briar Rose
• Catchfly
• Globeflower
• Rampion
• Rhaetian Rampion
• Lily
• Scabious
• Geum
• Aqualigia
• Rockrose
• Buttercup
• Lupin
• Large Speedwell - to name just the above

Of course where there are flowers there are insects and butterflies equally as colourful and varied, as well as this Tortoiseshell I spotted Ringlets, Fritilarys, Whites and Blues - and that's just within a few hundred meters of the Chalet.

Tortoiseshell

Look back on winter

With less than 3 weeks left of lift accessed skiing I thought it was time to look back on some of the fantastic ski days we've had here in the Val d'Anniviers this winter... But it ain't over yet.

December: Storms brought record amounts of snow and we were cut off for 2 days

January: Heli ski conditions for everyone including our Mountain Tracks off piste week.

February: Freezing temperatures and fabulous powder.

March: Still finding powder within the domain or with just a short skin to hidden spots.

April: Spring snow showers and still skiing back to the chalet

We've got lots more postings and pictures on our Facebook page.