Crêt de la Neuve in whatever snow we might still find

Dwight Peck's personal website

The winter that began with good snow and then lost its concentration -- and then found it -- but then, as all good things, ended.

You may not find this terribly rewarding unless you're included here, so this is a good time for casual and random browsers to turn back before they get too caught up in the sweep and majesty of the proceedings and can't let go.

Having clumped over the soggy meadows of Les Echadex, 20 April 2008, Dr Pirri notices mountain flowers beginning to appear and tries to remember what they are called.

"Locusts" was as close as we could come at the time. Little purple and white ones. We tried ibises, lavenders, gentians as in the D.H. Lawrence poem, jonquils, orchids, daffodils, chameleons, dandelions as in the salads, nothing seemed right until we googled it later. "Crocuses".

What now, Mister Snowshoe Man?

There are a whole series of ridges along the front of the Crêt de la Neuve, and this is one of the easy ones.

This is a not so easy one in mushy snow, but . . .

. . . there's only one more to go after this one.

And the last one is turning out to be pretty mixed ground.

The Crêt de la Neuve heaves into view

Looking back along the top ridge -- purposeful, dynamic, and determined snowshoe tracks have propelled us towards our rendezvous with some fake Gouda.

The observation deck with the Drapeau Suisse. Once again it's got all tattered and torn over the winter.

Dr Pirri struggling to reach the summit -- "because it's there".

But running entirely out of snow just at the wrong moment. Another summit assault gone wrong.

The flag in tatters again. Hell of a wind up here, some nights.

Lausanne and the Alps in the distance

Lausanne slightly Fujizoomed

Fake Gouda (from Germany). Denner's doesn't care where it comes from, as long as they can sell it for 1/3 as much as the competitors can.

A more sauntery way back to the car through the forest, spinning George Bush yarns for amusement along the way.

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