Spring into winter into spring

Hello again

Spring's continuing apace - while some snowdrops and primroses and very early golden anemones are still about, the daffodils and bluebells are coming into their own. In some very sunny spots I've seen early tulips; forsythias are blossoming; roses are putting out their pink shoots; magnolia buds are fat and juicy-looking, almost ready to burst.

I spent a day in the snow yesterday because we had a bit of snowfall to about 3000 ft a few days ago. There were five of us -- two men, three women -- taking a short car trip into the Bernese/Fribourg Alps (Gurnigel - Gantrisch/Bürglen area). It was great; quite powdery and light early in the morning, getting more solid and a tad heavier later on.
Very windy though (which is why the snow has actually remained on the ground at lower altitudes), making for dangerous conditions. Vast plumes of snow were being ripped off the top edges of the mountains.
Just after we arrived at Untere Gantrischhütte we watched horrified as two skiers -- ant-sized from where we were standing -- came down a northern couloir on the Bürglen, one of them triggering a small avalanche. He managed to escape unscathed. The next thing we saw another avalanche coming down a couloir to their left, the tongue of it almost catching the two skiers. We breathed a sigh of relief and proceeded to gear up for our ascent.
But we had jumped the gun: when we looked up again, a third black spot had appeared on the side of this second avalanche's tongue and soon we heard the ratcheting sound of a helicopter. It later transpired -- from people who had climbed up earlier and were resting on the lee wall of a mountain cabin -- that the third skier went down that other couloir with his dog, triggering the much bigger avalanche. He managed to stay on top but must have been injured at least to the point of being unable to make the descent under his own steam.

It was a dramatic moment early in the day and left some of us -- the women -- mentally winded and even the men in a slightly more cautious frame of mind.

Looking back I feel a mixture of anger and relief. Relief to think that the skier was not very seriously injured. Anger at those stupid men going down such dangerous terrain -- the avalanche warnings had been very clear. Also, you could literally see the strong northerly wind shifting snow in huge quantities. A completely unnecessary accident and a massive waste of resources.

No photos as I forgot to grab my camera -- more's the pity: the views were simply breathtaking.


Back in Bern we found ourselves sweating sauna-like in our snow gear. Today the northerly has died down, leaving the Alps swathed in a veil of haze.