Mont Tendre, 2003-2004

Dwight Peck's personal website

The Jura's answer to the Alps

Year after year, Mont Tendre, unlike western civilization, remains as much fun as ever. This is Winter 2003-2004.

Alison's visit, October

October's chilly, foggy send-off on Mont Tendre, visiting Alison Peck and her Dad gamboling at the summit -- the latter still waiting for snow on Mont Tendre, the former soon going back to Hawaii.

Early December 2003

After the southern Foehn for two weeks, a very strong northern Bise wind on Mont Tendre, with fog.

Our hike to Mont Tendre, 8 December 2003, starts off fine. But becomes not so fine.

A grey look to the mountain as we march along from the direction of Cunay and Marchairuz.

Icy old summit pylon looming out of the fog.

Rimey Mont Tendre fenceposts at the summit.

The narrator tries to imitate the right-facing icy look of the fenceposts of Mont Tendre.

We pause to devour 8 of our 10 tuna sandwiches and then head for home, and the empathetic sun breaks through on the return trip, for about five minutes.

We're right at the fog line -- a little bit of sunburn, a little bit of windburn, a little bit of sunburn, a little more of the windburn.

Burst of sun over the next ridge, sauntering home propelled by a northern bise wind in December 2003.

Spectral icy hillsides. There's recently been another military exercise on this side of Mont Tendre, so to keep from slipping on the icy slopes you can frequently step gingerly from shell fragment to shell fragment, doing the Shrapnel Walk as it were.

More beautiful trudging-along scenes on the southern side of Mont Tendre, dashing off towards Marchairuz along the fog line and avoiding unexploded munitions.

We're not finished with Mont Tendre for this winter. This was just a warm-up. If that's the right term.

The fog disappears near nightfall. A telephoto glance back at Mont Tendre from the meadow of Petit Cunay, on 8 December 2003.

Petit Cunay, in plein soleil

We're back!

Thrilled by recent tales of Mont Tendre, on the 14th of December Prof Pirri wanted to accompany us back to the scene, despite some fairly uncertain weather and what looked promisingly like the first decent snowfall, but wasn't.

Pretty high winds blowing across Mont Tendre on the Pré de Mollens side, 14 December 2003.

The narrator occupied the time traversing the southeastern ridge of Mont Tendre by recounting to noted cinema scholar Dr Pirri every scene, glance, poignant line of dialogue, camera angle, and philosophical implication of the 1999 goofy western film entitled in French "La Ville des Legends de la Ouest", which, days later, cinema scholar Dr Pirri concluded was actually a US made-for-TV movie called "Purgatory", with a handsome Sam Shepard playing a dead Wild Bill Hickock and Randy Quaid aspiring for the same or nearly the same status.