Snowshoe hike in Amden

After all I did get a little bit of winter magic right before the winter holidays are over. Yesterday I went to the mountains together with my brother, his girlfriend and my dad.

We started out in foggy and cold Zürich but once we got closer to the alps, we could see bits of blue peeking through the grey. The further up we got, the better the view was and once we had reached our starting point in Arvenbühl above Amden we were out in the most glorious sunshine and deep blue sky. Fortunatly it didn't take long to rent a pair of snowshoes and then we were ready to go.

  

The path started easy enough but after only a few minutes we'd reached a little brook that we crossed and from there on it was only uphill. Like really steep uphill and of course I made my usual mistake: I started too fast which made my lungs burn. Luckily we weren't in any kind of a rush so we just dialed down the tempo and it got a bit easier. Taking lots of photos helped because of the many baby stops.

After about 1.5 hours we reached the highest part of our hike which was also the most beautiful. Stunning views in two directions, deep soft snow everywhere and the trees all covered with cristalized ice. It didn't even feel very cold because of all the heat we'd generated while walking up.

We took more photos and then we slowly made our way back down again. In the end we were hiking for about 3.5 hours including lots of breaks and we all felt our legs and arms in the best way possible.

To regain a bit of strength we went for prune pie and coffee Arvenbühl (coffee spiked with spirit and whipped cream). The whole excursion took only a few hours but it was such an amazing day to spend outside with my family.

New Year's Yoga Retreat in Feldis

I spent the last three days in Feldis in the mountains with lots of yoga, snow, sunshine, some knitting and lovely ladies.

It was my second time at the Sternahaus. Since last February they remodeled part of the house and added a new part with a great yoga room. I especially loved the big windows in it that made me feel so close to the mountains. It was beautiful to see the sky get darker in the evening and in the morning to feel it getting lighter slowly while we were meditating.

The yoga was great, I love spending time with Katharina. She has so many interesting thougths and perfectly fitting quotes and her yoga always feels new and fresh. I can feel my muscles a bit after all these practices but in a nice way. Fortunately I won't have to wait too long till I can do more yoga with Katharina. In April I will get to spend a whole week with her in Formentera. I even met my roomie already, she was also in Feldis.

Yesterday there was enough time for a lovely hike at Mutta, a little further up than Feldis. There was a lot of snow and also ice up there since it had been raining into the fresh snow intensly and then it had all frozen together.

I am pretty sure that this won't have been my last time up there ;-)

Courtenay - Mt. Washington

On the 26th we left the west coast and drove back across Vancouver Island to the other side of the island. Our aim was the Kingfisher Oceanside Resort and Spa where we spent our next two days and three nights. The resort was amazing with a beautiful garden, a great view over the Strait of Giorgia, a pool and I even took two yoga lessons there that I very much enjoyed.

After our first night I woke up really early. Just in time to see that the sunrise couldn't be too far away. So I put on some clothes on top of my PJs and together with Antonia we walked down to the beach and enjoyed a beautiful and rather cool rising of the sun. I love watching sunrisings while on holidays, it's always totally worth it and the best part is going back to bed afterwards, filled with all the amazing pictures of the sky.

 

After my yoga lesson we drove to the mountains, to the Mt. Washington alpine resort. It was much closer than I expected and it was fun to drive up the steep winding roads. I can imagine how hard it is to get up there if there's snow. There was no snow for us but quite a bit of fog. Because of that there was barely any view and we didn't see anything towards the sea, but it was wonderfully spooky and quiet and we had a lovely walk back down the mountain from the top.

On our second day in Courtenay we drove further north to Miracle Beach where we spent some time swimming and walking around in the shallow water until the tide regained all the land and we had to leave.

That afternoon I finished my Bradway Shawl and Antonia took lots of FO pictures ;-)