The Neutral Zone

Zurich, Switzerland - We've gotten in some excellent hiking as the spring turned to summer. Below is a sampling of the places we've been. Stoos Ridge Hike We visited Stoos earlier this year when it was covered in snow. That snowshoe adventure ended in minor disaster when both of us tumbled part of the way down a hill towards the end of our route, resulting in minor cuts and bruises and a sprained ankle. Despite the raw memory, we decided to give Stoos a second chance and attempt the Stoos ridge hike, a 4.4km walk along the ridge that connects the Klingenstock peak to Fronalpstock. The path is at times a little narrow and in various places the drop off to the left, or the right, or sometimes both the left and the right, can be rather precipitous. This might have created more anxiety, except that the path was littered with all manner of folks who were less surefooted--like the portly older swiss gentlemen--or careful--the kids wandering about with their faces glued to their ...

Zurich, Switzerland - Spring is coming to Switzerland in fits and spurts. The arrival of spring is more dramatic here compared to our native California, at least with respect to daylight and temperature. At this latitude (47.3769 degrees North), we get a mere 8.5 hours of sunlight in December. Now that we're in March, we can expect close to 12 hours a day, and in April, we'll get 13.67 hours. The temperatures have increased haltingly. We're in the period now where we oscillate rapidly in the course of a week from a pleasant 55-60 degrees Fahrenheit to a less-than-ideal 35-40 degrees Fahrenheit (usually coupled with rain). Though the deciduous trees remain barren, small flowers - like snowdrops - have begun to sprout up here and there.  Thus our time for snowshoeing is drawing to a close and so H and I have been venturing into the Alps each weekend to make the most of our few remaining opportunities. Stoos Stoos is a resort village / mountain in the canton Schwyz (neith...