A last Farwell to Winter

This is the view from my friends cabin. To wake up and have this view from the breakfast table is such an amazing start to any day. Totally breathtaking and addicting.

I have an Aussi friend that I met at the gym that own's a cabin or chalet in the Canton of Valais in southern Switzerland. We were invited to spend a couple of days with her and her family (husband and their two twins, 4 years old). Just getting here was a spectaular journey in itself. From Blatten where we parked the car we took the Gondola up the mountain wearing our ski outfits with our skis ready and the remaining things packed in two backpacks. From the Gondola we got onto our skis and then skied down to their cabin. Pretty awesome to be able to ski directly with your luggage to your destination.

We left Basel on Friday afternoon as the forecast for Saturday looked great and we wanted to make sure to get an early start to our last skiing of the season. What a glorius morning to wake up to when it looks like this. Trafic on our way there Friday was however, quite heavy. Good Friday is one of those busy travel days when almost everyone in Switzerland is travelling somewhere. We did get a little bit of a delay but it was ok.

Another first for us was to board ourselves with the car onto a train. In Lötchberg we had to drive onto this car train that transported us through a tunnel taking about 15 minutes. I do not know why this is. Why they have not built a road. It felt pretty weird to board a train with your car. The first five minutes are pretty nice beacuse you can enjoy the landscape but in the tunnel that you have to go through it is just pitch black. You are sitting in your car in total darkness just listening to the sounds of the train and feeling the slight rockning motion of the train. 

 To me this is one of those pefect pretty postcard views of Switzerland. The little cabin high up on the mountain slope, with a snow covered roof, smoke coming out of the chimeny from the fireplace and the little Swiss flag haning outside.

The ski area here is called Belalp. It is a medium sized ski area with about 20 km each of blue, red and black slopes. It is the smallest ski area we visited this season but since we were only skiing for a day this was perfect. We could not have gotten a better or more gorgeous day to end our ski season for this year. 

 Fantastic views again from the terrace at the resturant where we had lunch. On days like this there is a longer lunch is perfect. Some people have their cabins up here directly on the slope. The only disadvantage of having your cabin up here is that you have to haul everything up here by yourself (no way of drivning up here and unloading your car). However, if you have heavy things you seemd to be able to bring them up with the Gondola and then have them deliverd at your place by snowmobile scooter. Having a cabin up here directly on the slope is probably also quite expensive.

On a clear and sunny day like this you also see many of these Parapent sail gliders in the sky. I am sure they have amazing expirences and views but it is not for me.

We were also very exited about being able to see Switzerlands most famous mountain peak from here, the Matterhorn. It is the triangular peak in the middle of this picture. Actually Zermatt, the ski area closest to the Matterhorn is not very far from here. It is still on my wishlist to go skiing or hiking there. I want to see the Toblerone peak as it is also nicknamed up close.

Here at an elevation at about 2600 meters (8530 ft). The highest peak you could ski from was located at about 3000 meters (9842). At the bottom of the valley you have the town of Naters.

Our Happy Easter picture taken at the resturant terrace where we had lunch in the sunshine. Sunscreen is vital to put on on days like these ones.

A perfect ending to a perfect last ski day was this sunset covering the white peaks in soft pink hues. Now winter is officially over for us. No more skiing until next season. The skiis and winter clothes are washed and put away. We are very happy with all the skiing we got to enjoy this season and are now ready to greet spring with full and open arms. I want to thank Kelli and her family for this wonderful Easter weekend.