
Jura Parc in the Valee de Joux

Night snow shoe and Fondu in La Givrine
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...

Scarpa - The way customer service should be
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...

Tour du Mont Blanc
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...

Splitboarding at the Test and Relax fesitval in Austria.
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...

Via Ferrata Morez
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...

Walking pole convert
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...

Grand Massif Season Pass - Winter + Summer
The Grand Massif is a great place for skiing and summer activities and the season pass is the best way to enjoy it. When choosing where you want to spend your season skiing from the lake Geneva region you have a few options with the 4 Vallees in Switzerland, Port...

Traithlons in the Lake Geneva region
A few years ago I got into traithlons in the UK and competed in a few. It was a great thing to train for and gave me so much satification when I finished all three legs of the event. When I came to switzerland I also wanted to get back...

Tour du Pays de Vaud running series in Vaud
Today is the first race of the Tour du Pays de Vaud for the 2014 season. This series is made up of both a Spring and summer series which have 3 and 5 races respectivly which are held in different villages at 7pm on wednesday evenings. It is a great...