Dwight Peck's personal website

Winter 2008-2009

After a few months pretty much indoors, staring enviously out windows, we've got an exemplary snowstorm and can't pass it up.

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.

Above La St-George on a fine and windy day

Joe can't wait to get up into the forest and pretends to be sympathetic to bronchial stragglers. 18 January 2009.

This is definitely one of the best days we've had in a long time -- we're building up our aggressive enthusiasm by shouting out football morale builders like "Kill! kill!" and "When the going gets tough, the tough get going", and "Hoopla! Ho!", which translates as "Hop! Suisse!".

We're leaving Dieter the VW at La St-George, the farm and clearing above the village of St-George that has been made into a brilliant "centre nordique" crosscountry ski and sledding area -- not too many sledding families here today, though.

That's the sledding hill on the right -- it's even got a light on top of it for nighttime sledding with the young 'uns.

The keywords today are "mad for snow", but fifty meters out one is already gasping and wondering about the future.

Near the meadow of La Capite, Dr Pirri investigates a hole in the ground . . .

. . . and finds a door, and turns round again.

We're aimlessly following forestry tracks upward, and Joe is being very patient with the stragglers.

Stragglers take a break from their gasping exercises.

More forest tracks upward. We're lost now, but we have a theory.

The theory turned out against the odds to be correct, and we're headed down now near nightfall, avoiding a track recently made by an army of snowshoers descending at the end of the weekend, perhaps with a guide and probably singing Swiss German hiking songs.

Back to La St-George

Dieter the VW was waiting for us -- and, uncharacteristically, the doors were not frozen shut yet.

Fantastic day. Lovely.

-- What's next?

Feedback and suggestions are welcome if positive, resented if negative, . All rights reserved, all wrongs avenged. Posted 20 January 2009, revised 13 October 2014.

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