Peberdoo's Blog

Recently we decided to instal solar panels on our chalet in St-Cergue. While it is nice to be able to have green energy this was not our main reason to take this project one. We see ourselves living in this house for a long time and with the number of people in the house, the size and the fact that the whole house, including heating and cooking, is electric our bills were very high. So, right back at the end of last winter we decided to investigate getting panels put on our roof. I actually decided to go with IKEA...

In September we did something that is turning into an annual thing for us as a family. We loaded everyone up in the car, put the bikes on the roof and drove across the continent to a rented accommodation for a week. This year it was Portugal via Andorra on the way there and Bordeaux on the return, which is over 3,500km. The stops being perfectly located to be able to spend the night with the kids, explore the places a little in the morning before continuing the journey. Even though this is not the first long trip with the...

Last night we had the pleasure of trying out the newly opened Bowling Hotel in Signy. This is brand new bowling complex with resturant, bar, arcade, pool tables and og course plenty of bowling lanes. My children and I got there last night before any of the rest of the group, we were meeting a bit late for their dinner so I had to get there early to get the little man some food. The staff were really friendly and had no problem getting me and the kids seated and food ordered while we waited for the rest of the...

Having lived in the mountains for a while now we have found that on the full moon in the winter it is very bright. You can see as if it was dawn or dusk (and sometimes even brighter than that). We had also heard that you can go out snow showing to a couple of restaurants in the evenings out across the snow. This weekend we decided to do this with friends and it was a great experience. We rented our racquets in Les Rousse at a resonable EUR 7 per day and headed for Le Trelasse near...

Over the years I have owned a number of Scarpa shoes. In fact my original full leather hiking boots are still going after 15 years and don't look like dying any time soon. Last year, I bought a pair of Scarpa Crux approach shoes while in London. They are comfortable shoes and easy to use as an every day shoe. After only two months though they had holes appearing in them where the shoe flexes over the toe. The holes went all the way through and started to leak water as well. So, I did not think this was...

In 2014 my wife and I decided to do the Tour do Mont Blanc. It is an ambitious trail that takes you through many mountain passes during a 170km hike. You cross through three countries and witness some fabulous views along what is often a 10 day hike. It is no easy hike and the preperation can be just as hard as the walk itself. There are some invaluable resourses out there that you should read and or buy if you are also looking to do the walk. http://www.walkingthetmb.com/ - This website has a lot of good information about...

Over the last few years of snowboarding regularly I had started to see these strange snowboards with clips holding them together and edges that ran down the middle of the board. I was curious as to what these were and later found out that it was for something called a splitboard. For many people this is something they have never heard of. It is esentially a snow board that is cut down the middle and that can come appart into two skis so that you can go ski touring. The two skis allow you to walk up and traverse as...

Although I have been climbing for years (mostly sports climbing) Via Ferrata is not something I was aware of until I got to Switzerland. It is a form of climbing where there are wires, hand holds and foot holds of iron placed into the wall. While this is a little...

Until recently I was one of those walkers who would turn their nose up whenever they saw someone with walking poles going along a trail. I never saw the use of them until just recently. This week my wife and I completed the Tour du Mont Blanc. The 170km walk...