Outdoors

Leysin & Area, skiing and dogs

The predicted cold weather has arrived here in Leysin and we’ve had temperatures down to -21ºC in the village. There’s been a little wind as well so it’s moving the snow around that’s fallen during the week, that wasn’t a lot of snow but the wind is picking enough up to build some slabs on exposed slopes so the avalanche risk is moving up a little.

The TransAlp Vaudoise race started in Leysin on Monday so the area around the ice rink was filled with noisy and very excited dogs. The race set off at dusk and will have arrived in the Col des Mosses in the dark. I don’t think those puppies will have been taking part! I think the idea is to get them used to being around other dog teams and to start getting used to the big race day excitement. Not that the more experienced dogs seems able to contain their excitement much, the odd one seems to take in his stride but by and large they can’t wait to get going and wind each other up until they’re racing.

We’ve also managed some ski days on empty slopes, mid-week we went to La Lécherette (above) at the end of the col des Mosses, it’s got three tee bars and a handful of runs and about a dozen other skiers but the snow was fantastic and the powder in the trees was great fun. Yesterday I was around at Villars and had some more great skiing but the the temperatures were beginning to drop so there’s a real danger of frostbite for those people who are here in the alpes skiing this week.

Tags: Leysin | Ski | Switzerland | Villars

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Nighttime Snowshoeing in Leysin

January 27, 2012 Filed in: Epicea | Hiking | Leysin | Snowshoe Magazine | Snowshoeing

It’s possible to visit Les Fers restaurant at night and have a meal. It’s about 1hr 30min walk up at relaxed pace and around 1hr back down. It was a reasonable evening yesterday, the moon wasn’t full but the sky was clear and we could see a lot of stars. A layer of cloud and miss over the villages provided some atmosphere with the house and street lights under-lighting the cloud.

We actually do this as a trip for people and as a group trip on demand for larger (10+) groups. Moonlight Snowshoes in Leysin

There’s been a lot of snow at Les Fers and the the door’s just a tunnel in the snow at the moment!

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Snowshoeing in Leysin in the Swiss Alps

We’re a good way into the 2011-2012 winter season now and although the snow came slightly late it came in large quantities and we’ve been enjoying some great conditions for snowshoeing and skiing around the region.

The small bridge that Julie is stood on is actually just in the forest near the ice rink here in Leysin, it’s a short little route around the village and when it’s snowing you can drop into the ice rink and have a warm drink in their cafe.

A little higher up the mountain and there’s been some avalanches. That slope is particularly prone to these sort of slides and requires a lot of care. It’s a great way to get to Pierre du Moelle though and that’s a nice place in the afternoon light! You can make your way back down past snow covered chalets before hitting the far reaches of the ski area using the ski bus back to the main road.

And Monts-Chevrueils, as always, provides some great snowshoeing. Last week we were able to snowshoe all the way down to Les Moulins which is below 1000m.

Back at the chalet I built an igloo outside, the snow wasn’t great and the higher courses weren’t too solid but otherwise it was pretty good!