Winter Vacation in Switzerland

One of our hiking trip was in Val Bedretto, with a sleep over in Capanna Pian Secco. We arrived in the hut in the afternoon with a wonderful sunset and super hungry. For dinner we got a nice Raclette, basically a warm creamy cheese – bread-based dish with some red wine. Delicious. Surrounded by just nature and those majestic mountains. Bedtime was not too late in the night cause in the morning the clock alarm was at 6am and our hike started very soon after.
At 7am of the next day, with our snowshoes already on, backpack on our shoulder we started our snowshoe hike towards “passo rotondo”. The sky was blue, the sun came out and the view was fantastic. Arrived on top of that pass, we could admire a glacier. A big piece of ice. It was a very emotional moment, living in these difficult times of climate change, knowing that these glaciers will be soon vanished forever, it was a moment that we will remember for ever.

Hiking in the white mountains covered with snow is one of my favourite hobbies, so of course Switzerland is a good choice to do so. We started in the south, canton Ticino. The Italian part of this country. It’s crazy how this small country, with a population of 8.5 million (basically a bit more than the population of a big city like Milano) has four main languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh and has 26 different cantons whith their own political rules.

Back to my trip… from Lugano, a very clean, organized, rich little city near to a lake, we took a Bus direction “Alto Malcantone”. This bus trip took 45min-1hour, a very curvy road, up and up, higher in the mountain. At a little village, called Vezio we jumped of, we drunk a cappuccino at the bar near the bus station and then off to go, ready fready, started our hike.

From Ponte Busgnone, we first took an alpine road. There was still no snow to see. Then you pass by the “Coransù alp”. At 1400 m the road ends and here, snowshoes are necessary. The view and landscape, just wonderful. Soon we reached the alp Agario, where there is a former border guard's house, which is now a "Buvette". There we had our lunch and of course cheering with a beer and a nice sun shining right in our face. Despite the cold, the view was so beautiful that we no longer felt the cold in our bones. We could see the Italian border with its lake “Lago Maggiore” and on the other side “Monte gradiccioli”. Magnificent.

For the last days of our winter vacation, we travelled towards north, to the german part of Switzerland in Canton Bern, a place called Lenk. There we rented a little sweet hut from an elderly couple and enjoyed our time. We had some mountain bikes, which we used to go with our snowboard stuff to the ski lift. And from there up to the mountain. It was my first-time snowboarding, so I was quite nervous but excited. There you have the possibility to have some lessons and furthermore to rent all the equipment you need. So just perfect for me. For lunch, you could either go to a hut, where I once got home made Ravioli, or you can eat your own food outside somewhere on the snow. And at the end of the day, at sunset, having a nice beer, chatting with other peoples and then snowboarding towards valley, back to home. (Don’t forget to have a headlight in case it gets dark)

I really enjoyed my time in this country, for those who loves snow, cold weather and hiking or whatever kind of sport, I just can recommend Switzerland.