Snow angel

The Besso's snow angel

Can you see her? Go straight down from the left peak and she's lying on the rock. We've never spotted her before, but this weekend our neighbour pointed her out. Of course she's not always there -and she can vanish overnight.

Incase you still can't see her.....  PK

...she circled in pink.

Turning the clock back

Inside Zinal's 'Peasant-House' Museum

The villages of the Val d'Anniviers contain buildings dating back to the 16th century. Until 50 years ago life was lived in much the same way as it had been for hundreds of years. This film was shot in Zinal in 1967 but it could have been 200 years earlier.

Main living and sleeping room 

Part of the valley's charm lies in the old wooden buildings whose beams have been blackened by the weather over the years. Several houses in the valley have been preserved as museums and display collections of furniture, tools and photographs which show how life in the valley once was.

Cuttlery and wooden platters

Zinal's museum, pictured here, dates back to 1768. There's an outer store/workshop and kitchen area with steps that lead up to the main living room where the whole family slept in 3 truckle beds stacked one above the other by day. You can see daylight through some of the walls and even with the soapstone stove going, it must have been chilly in winter. You can imagine people living under those conditions in the middle ages but the fact that the last inhabitants lived here into the 1960s seems quite extraordinary.

Milking stools

Straw bonnet fixed to the mould awaiting final ribbon

Outside and downstairs is the cellar which was shared with the neighbour who lived above, and where the family stored their food and wine. Now it displays old photographs and a collection of agricultural tools.

Cooking corner

Tools, skis and workbench stand in the opposite corner to the hearth

Pebbles cover the floor of the 'cave' where more old tools are displayed 

Many thanks to l'Association des Amis du Vieux Zinal who look after  the 'Ancienne Maison d’Habitation, Musée'.  

In Vissoie and Ayer there are similar houses that can also be visited during the summer months: www.valdanniviers.ch/tourism/museums-exhibitions.html

Bar-e-Vox rescues Cabane de Tracuit

Just before Christmas a new bar opened in Zinal - the Bar-e-Vox. It's name is inspired by the Mammut transceiver the 'Barryvox' - used by many skiers and mountaineers to aid the rescue of avalanche victims. 

The old stove, baskets and shutters from the Cabane de Tracuit
(left: their original positions - right: their new home in the Bar-e-Vox)

The Bar-e-Vox has also done a bit of rescuing, and is the new home for several items from the original Cabane de Tracuit. Following the completion of the new Cabane last spring the old building was deliberately destroyed with these few pieces being saved. 

Tables, stools and honesty box now in their new home

Now you can have a glass of wine sitting around the same tables, on the same stools, 1600 vertical meters lower. You can see more pictures in our Facebook album.

Done and dusted...

Well it's as good as finished so today I took some pictures of our cosy new winter home.

Main living area with mezzanine 

We bought Le Mazot just over a year ago and for those following our blog you will know that it's been quite a renovation project. Here are some links to previous posts

(www.skizinal.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/le-mazot-new-project.html
www.skizinal.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/le-mazot-work-in-progress.html
www.skizinal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/and-then-there-was-light.html)

It's a small place but that made for bigger challenges in the design. We've kept many of the original features (most of which were covered with old 't&g' panels) and have reused lots of the original materials to help keep the character - old beams found under the floor went into repairing and filling in the outside walls as well as rebuilding the internal dividing wall, and the old 2" thick floor boards found under layers of rugs and chipboard have been scrubbed and relaid. We've insulated the whole building, replaced the old windows with triple glazed units, use a wood-burning stove to heat the place and have installed LED lighting through-out - all of which go to make up a cosy, eco, cabin.

Lobby and bedroom

Bathroom 

View from the kitchen across to old Mottec

Main living room with wood-burning stove and original timbers

As for all the old 't&g' that we stripped out - lots went into the construction of our new wood-store and all the little bits that couldn't be used are stacked ready to burn in our stove.

Monty and Eric - wood store builders

What goes up must come down - the désalpe

Leading the cows down with a bag of bread

Today was the désalpe - the day when the cows officially come down from the high summer meadows where they've been grazing since June (see the inalpe). It perhaps marks the end of summer but more often the start of an Indian summer. Today was no exception with wonderful blue skies and warm sunshine.

Tying on the flower headdresses - not that easy

It's a great day of celebration with an early start on the mountain and a mass herding of the beasts down to the villages. Help is needed to try and keep them from stampeding - best left to the experts and to stay at the back with the slow ones...

A variety of flower headdresses

Once down headdresses of flowers are tied between the horns in true Valaisanne tradition. Then the parade can begin. Each cow led by it's proud owner through the village - there's clapping for best milker, cheese maker and then the bossiest one (the Queen) whose kept the herd in check. At the end of the village it's time to crack open a few bottles and sample some of the summer cheeses.

Parading through Ayer

Bountiful balconies

'Geraniums' in Grimentz

Window boxes cascading with flowers is an expected summer site in alpine villages. Over in Austria they even give you a tax rebate to encourage you to plant-up your balconies. Here in the Val d'Anniviers the local commune plants tens of thousands of flowers every year - they hang in baskets along the side of the road, in niches and fill hollowed out logs next to fountains. Neighbours vie with each other as to who has the best display - some get creative with their planting - mixing blue and white lobelia, with yellow sunflowers, marigolds and nasturtiums.

Flowers fill every available vessel - including an old boot

Top choice of flower are the red varieties of pelargonium - easy to grow and lovers of sun they also tolerate dry conditions (ideal for those who forget to water their window boxes). However, it's quite tender and come the first frost the whole lot will be reduced to a brown sludge. Native to South Africa - this plant was first discovered and brought to Europe by English gardener and plant collector, John Tradescant, in 1633. Originally the pelargonium was classed as part of the geranium family, but as the numbers and varieties grew the two got reclassified into separate groups. Today there are over 200 species of pelargoniums and over 420 species of the hardy geraniums. Pelargoniums are not just pretty they are also valued for their oil and are used in perfume, medicine and aromatherapy.

Pelargoniums - top choice around here for window boxes

Inalpe

This weekend saw the 'inalpe' in most of the Val d'Anniviers villages. Locals would call it the official start of summer - the day when the cows go up to the high alpine meadows and milking huts. Traditionally the animals would have been herded up from Sierre on foot to their summer pastures - these days it's quicker, with most arriving by truck but the celebrations remain the same.

A benediction of the alpine meadows and cows followed by the journey up and fights between the beasts to see who's top-cow or Queen for the summer.  Here they stay, bells clanging as they chomp through the lush grasses and flowers, producing gallons of rich milk which duly gets made into tonnes of cheese. In September the process is repeated in reverse - the des alpes...

Bygone days...

The renovations of Le Mazot continue with our new front door now fitted, the bathroom semi underway and the kitchen standing in the corner still in it's boxes. However, we've been using it and have already had a week sleeping over there.

As we work on the old building, it is hard to ignore just what it must have been like 100 or more years ago. Recently I came across some wonderful old photos (www.notrehistoire.ch) of Mottec showing just how rough and ready it was...

One thing that is striking is just how many more trees there are today - no need to chop them down to build and heat your house with.

Old road to Zinal - you can see Le Mazot in its original location over in the far meadows.

The centre of Mottec - the old chapel is now renovated

Looking down on Mottec

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. 

Mottec fete 2012

The chapel dates from 1774

In 2008 we got involved in the first fete to raise money for a new roof for the St Laurent - the hamlet's second chapel. Four years on and the whole chapel has been completely renovated. Not just the leaking tin roof, but the damp walls and rotting plaster have all been repaired.

The fete took place in the centre of Mottec in front of the hamlet's other chapel

This weekend the second fete was held to help pay for it all. The two day event started with an official chapel opening complete with benediction, and went on to include lots of wine, music (everything from folk to karaoke), raffle draws and food. Hundred of people came  -  the total raised is still to be announced, but in 2008 the fete made chf 12, 400...

Snow shoeing by moon light

After all the snow storms, last night was still and clear - perfect for a snowshoe trip by the light of the full moon. We just went up into the forest behind Mottec, and saw fresh snow hare and fox tracks, everything was beautifully quiet and the snow sparkled just like the stars.

Coming back into the village everything looked magical and certainly worthy of a picture or two.

Berry berry lovely

It's a bumper year for redcurrants this year. All around the chalet bushes are strewn with strings of ruby's which glow in the sunlight. Although free and abundant, there's still a cost to picking them as the best bushes seem to be buried in fields of nettles. The other day we came back with 7.5 kgs of fruit. Having filled the freezer we started making jelly - can't wait for the next leg of lamb...

My first snow...

It was a beautiful day today so we took a walk through Zinal and found that the young calves had been let out to play and get their first taste of snow.

Haute Maurienne

It should come as no surprise that the Haute Maurienne is rather lovely and has some cracking skiing. One valley south of the Tarentaise - Val d'Isere, Tignes and all that - and bordered by the magnificent Vanoise national park, it's bound to be good.

Bonneval, at the head of the valley, is the most intact example of an old stone-built village you could hope for. Some of the buildings have been superbly converted into very nice places to stay but don't plan on driving to the door unless you're travelling by donkey.

If cross country skiing is your thing, you could hardly improve on the 80km of trails around Bessans where you can also shoot stuff (it's a biathlon centre). But why bother with the valley floor when there's great access to big peaks and glaciers in every direction? The pictures show our climb to the 3356m Signal du Grand Mont Cenis, followed by the descent - wild glacier, cliffy gullies and then open meadows - which brings you neatly back into the ski domaine and back to base after 1800 vertical metres of excellent skiing, and not another soul: we didn't cross another ski track all day. Also good were a couple of routes from Bonneval - a slightly hairy entrance into the Vallonet after booting up from the top chairlift, and the traverse across les Cordettes - an immense open snowfield - followed by the descent following the Andagne stream down to the valley floor. 

Back down the valley, starting from the resort of Aussois, is the classic descent from the Col des Hauts on the southern shoulder of the Pointe de Bellecote, down into the valley of the Ruisseau de Bonne Nuit. It would certainly be 'good night', forever, if you were caught in one of the monstrous avalanches which thunder down this stream bed. If it's safe to do so, you can ski right down towards Termignon, but when it's not feasible you can cut round through the forest and out onto a track back to the road. Whichever way you go, it's an amazing descent in return for just about 500m of booting or skinning. For guiding throughout the valley, Regis Burnel is your man. 

First floor renovations

Friends Archie and Roo spent the week on site with us after the fete. At 17 and 15 years old, destruction was the most popular part of the program for them ("Can we use sledgehammers please?...") but they also found time for last-minute training for the Sierre-Zinal race as well as enthusiastic but ultimately futile attempts to chat up one of the very pretty girls who lives nearby. Bravely knocking on the door and saying in French: "We've lost our black dog" must rate as one of the more unusual chat up lines, but full marks for trying.

Mottec Fete

For a hamlet where only a handful of people live, Mottec - just down the road from Zinal - seems an unlikely candidate to have not one but two chapels. The one practically in our back garden was restored with funds raised ten years ago; this year it was the turn of the chapel St. Laurent. Our neighbour Georgine masterminded the whole event, putting on an epic two day show. Statistics - principally bottles of wine consumed and chickens roasted - still to come, but I know that enough was raised to do much more than just repair the roof. More to the point, lots of people had a very good time...