A woolly weekend in Valais (pronounced something like Wallis!)
Valais, Switzerland was the highlight of my Swiss summer. I had a completely “off the beaten path” weekend out there, high in the Swiss Alps.
First up, I was by myself checking out the “International Alphorn festival” in the resort town of Nendaz. Imagine trekking up a hill to a vast open ground and listening to the exotic sounds of the Alphorn reverberate around the mountains…magical!
Then I joined my friends in the Spa town of Leukerbad, and after relaxing overnight, we headed out on a beautiful Sunday morning for “Sheep festival” at Gemmi pass (altitude of 8,000 feet). Our breakfast at that place with a view of the best mountains in the alps was a visual and culinary delight in itself!
The Sheep festival is an annual event where thousands of sheep that have been denied salt for months together at high altitude, are released to a lake bed to fest themselves. So we waited for a few hours around a blue lake waiting for the sheep to coming down by the hundreds and play with the sheep!
After that we trekked the whole day in brilliant conditions and lazed our way back home!
I look back at this as the best memory of the summer of 2009.
They says a picture is worth a thousand words; you could add that a video is worth many pictures; So, I leave you with some pictures and a Video 🙂
Cheers!
Vasu
P.S: If you are inclined to look at more pictures and stories from my travels, you might try:
1. https://vasusworld.wordpress.com/2009/11/15/saurkundi-pass-trek-a-travelogue/
Journeys across a pathless land 