I’m not travelling anywhere at the moment. I can’t travel anywhere at the moment. It wouldn’t be responsible to travel anywhere at the moment anyway. So forgive me for a quick #flashbackfriday post!
Two years ago this week I booked a four-day Swiss Pass together with a plane ticket to Geneva and a flight back from Zurich, and set off on a winter adventure. I had no accommodation booked and no plan, although my train pass didn’t kick in until day two so it would have been folly to travel too far from Geneva on the first evening (also folly: booking a hotel in Geneva itself, unless you’ve just won the lottery).
I ended up in Leysin on the evening of day one. Leysin is an alpine town perched on a natural sun terrace east of Lac Léman and above the Rhone Valley. The town first gained fame as a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients but it is now a ski resort as well as home to two large international secondary schools.
It also has a “house mountain” - the Berneuse, which climbs to 2,045m above the town. The Berneuse has a cable car to the top as well as a spectacular revolving restaurant at the summit, the Kuklos. The night snow fell heavily for my visit, but the morning brought nothing but sunshine. I thought I would share with you the view from the top - on this day in 2019!
To the north of the Berneuse is the mountain’s parent peak, the Tour d'Aï at 2,331m, with the Tour de Mayen (on the right of this photo and marginally lower at 2,326m) further along the ridge. The Tour d'Aï is a taxing summer hike and the rocky upper section also has a via ferrata.
The towering Dents du Midi dominate the view to the south and south-west across the Rhone Valley, and Mont Blanc makes a fleeting appearance, hiding in the far distance. The pleasing pyramid-shaped summit in the foreground is La Riondaz (1,981m).
Looking west to Lac Léman (Lake Geneva) which is so vast from east to west that it vanishes into the distance like a sea. The Cornettes de Bise is the high point of the northern Chablais Alps on the southern shore of the lake - the summit at 2,432m sits on the border between France and Switzerland.
Looking east towards Mont d’Or (left - the “golden mountain” although much more white in January!) and Pic Chaussy (right), with the valley to Les Mosses between them. The view beyond goes deep into the Bernese Alps towards Gstaad, and there’s also a fine view (not in shot) of Les Diablerets just off to the right of this photo.
The Kuklos revolving restaurant
I hope you enjoyed the view! All photos taken by me on 15th January 2019.