Au Sommet du Saleve
I have been on vacation for this week. I was determined that this would mean more than sleeping in a few hours in the morning, so I took on le Saleve for the third time early Wednesday (22nd) afternoon. I 1st jogged up part of the way about a month ago. Then last Friday, I had fun on the frozen stairs, but started too late. A nice old man I met on his way down counselled me to go to the mountain town of Monnetier instead of pressing up to the summit. So I did. They have a nice church.
Back to Wednesday. I had noticed the day before that the top was covered in snow, and thought that would be fun to see and good training for later hikes. It was a beautiful, clear and sunny day, but still cool in the forest shadows of the mountainside.
A few vantage points on the way up allowed me to get some great shots of Veyrier, the neighboring vineyards, the Arve river and downtown Geneva. Even further up, where the mountain was dusted with a light snow, I could again see my town and the vineyards below.
As I climbed higher still, I was awestruck by the beautiful snow shrouding the deathly silent forest. The snow-crested treetops against azure skies were breathtaking (or was that me hiking too fast?!). A lady coming down the trail told me I was near the summit and that it offered an excellent view of the Alps further east.
Breaking into an uphill jog, I finally came out into a forest clearing and could finally see, about 120 miles in the distance, the majestic alps. This was an exhilirating experience for me. I hope you enjoy the other photos that follow:
Looking the other direction, across the valley (with Lake Leman and Geneva) to the Jura mountains.
Majestic Mont Blanc, the highest point in Europe, at 15,771 ft.
Looking back down the trail I came up.
My new ice axe (piolet) and backpack where I left them to take pictures.
An older fellow walked my way with his grandson as I was trying to make a monopod out of my ice axe, so I asked him if he wouldn't mind taking my picture. I'm not sure what happened, but this is what I was able to salvage from his shot.
My beautiful little village, Veyrier, nestled at the foot of Saleve mountain.
Looking out over Geneva from snow-topped Saleve.
Looking northwest to Annemasse and Lac Leman.
Frozen trees etched onto sky blue glass.
Back to Wednesday. I had noticed the day before that the top was covered in snow, and thought that would be fun to see and good training for later hikes. It was a beautiful, clear and sunny day, but still cool in the forest shadows of the mountainside.
A few vantage points on the way up allowed me to get some great shots of Veyrier, the neighboring vineyards, the Arve river and downtown Geneva. Even further up, where the mountain was dusted with a light snow, I could again see my town and the vineyards below.
As I climbed higher still, I was awestruck by the beautiful snow shrouding the deathly silent forest. The snow-crested treetops against azure skies were breathtaking (or was that me hiking too fast?!). A lady coming down the trail told me I was near the summit and that it offered an excellent view of the Alps further east.
Breaking into an uphill jog, I finally came out into a forest clearing and could finally see, about 120 miles in the distance, the majestic alps. This was an exhilirating experience for me. I hope you enjoy the other photos that follow:
Looking the other direction, across the valley (with Lake Leman and Geneva) to the Jura mountains.
Majestic Mont Blanc, the highest point in Europe, at 15,771 ft.
Looking back down the trail I came up.
My new ice axe (piolet) and backpack where I left them to take pictures.
An older fellow walked my way with his grandson as I was trying to make a monopod out of my ice axe, so I asked him if he wouldn't mind taking my picture. I'm not sure what happened, but this is what I was able to salvage from his shot.
My beautiful little village, Veyrier, nestled at the foot of Saleve mountain.
Looking out over Geneva from snow-topped Saleve.
Looking northwest to Annemasse and Lac Leman.
Frozen trees etched onto sky blue glass.
posted by Ben at 1:03 PM
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