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.
Not enough snow to make a difference
Hopes had been high for some snowshoeing snow, but a few days of rain left those hopes in tatters. We're leaving from the Rue des Montagnes at 1061m a.s.l. above our old homestead Bassins, in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland, 19 November 2016.
Disdaining roads, and paths, our guide slips and slides straight up on beds of wet leaves.
We've topped out on the forestry road through the forest of Les Indévis, at about 1130m.
Our memories are seldom useful but this time we got it right -- a steep little foresters' track farther up through the forest.
Topping out shortly afterward, with a promise of warm sunlight just above us
The farm of Le Crot, at 1225m, another of the bunch of late 18th century chalets built on the pastures above Bassins
In the distance to the southwest, La Dôle, with its airport radar dome hidden in cloud.
Le Crot, with Mont Sâla on the horizon
We'll push on up the good trail behind the building.
We're crossing the Chemin des Crêtes du Jura and continuing on our own road less traveled by.
Because it's sunnier out on the pastures
.
Les Barillettes in the distance, the smaller companion of La Dôle
Persevering
The farm of Le Planet (1364m) on the Chemin des Crêtes
The way forward, along the Chemin des Crêtes long-distance hiking path
Our track on the gloriously sunny day. The aberrations in our progress were caused by fits of laughter (Trump jokes).
Silent, and pleasantly warmed in the sunlight
Dr Joe bound for the little col
Backward views
Le Planet farm with the zoom on
Down to the gate in the stone wall
Our next landmark: the farm of Perroude du Vaud (1380m)
The snow over on the French-facing side of the mountain was deeper than we were equipped for (stupidly, we'd left better gear behind in the car), so we're turning back now.
Info signs: "you are here" (or Vous êtes ici)
Watch for tracks of these splendid little beasts, and especially for the wolf who passed through near here in December 2014.
On the road back downhill. We hate walking on roads.
At our guide's insistence, we decide, unwisely, to bushwhack down through the forest.
We're relying on memory here, and it's failing us spectacularly.
One has clear memories of a path along this ridge, free of all the debris and broken ground.
There seems to be, however, no path.
Only this.
Half an hour of pushing through the underbrush, and a few other clear memories that came to nothing.
A slippery descent to perhaps some better prospects below
The clear memory was sort of correct after all, but about a kilometre off. Here's a level path, with a pair of human tracks already on it.
Leading out onto the pasture of Les Chenevières
Following our predecessors down the old path
The pasture above Les Chenevières, and the road from Le Vaud up to Perroude du Vaud
The farm of Les Chenevières (1215m) and Lake Geneva (Lac Léman) below
The French Alps of Haute-Savoie
Le Chenevières
A last mudslide to a track that will lead back out to the car
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All rights reserved, all wrongs avenged. Posted 23 December 2016. 
