Happy Birthday Switzerland!
What a spontaneous and surprising day! It’s Swiss National Day, so I was sure it was going to be busy in Verbier. With the current pandemic having put a halt on most peoples travel plans globally, the local visitors seems to have increased. My friend Stephanie and I decided to go up into the mountains to escape the crowds. The lift queues however took forever. I don’t think I’ve ever stood in a queue in the summer that is so long! So finally escaping up high turned out to be a good plan. We walked to Lac des Vaux at 2543m and rather than stop at the near end of the lake, enjoy it then continue, we did the tour of the whole lake. It was absolutely stunning! I wasn’t feeling brave enough to swim, but there were a lot of people screaming their way in which was quite amusing.
It was a good 6hr hike following the Vallon d’Arbi and Croix de Coeur, so I wasn’t planning anything big in the evening. My friends Beanie, Georgia and I intended having dinner and a catch up, but all wanted to avoid the Swiss National Day festivities in the centre of Verbier. So instead we took a drive up to Cabane Brunet below the Petit Combin on the other side of the valley for a cheese fondue.
Despite the stormy weather, I brought my camera equipment as I hoped to get the Waxing Gibbous moon nearby the Petit Combin, and even a glimpse of the Milky Way. We took a table outside under an umbrella and I set a timelapse running on the rainy sky, hoping to catch some lightning. As I was running the timelapse using still frames every 5 seconds, I knew I would most probably be incredibly lucky to catch the lightning, but at this point my cheese fondue was more important. Then we noticed a huge pile of wood set for a fire and as soon as there was a gap in the rain, the fire was set. Not only that, in the opposite direction the lightning started flashing, and in the other direction the moos started appearing in and out of the clouds, so bright to left of the Combin and right below the Combin a huge firework display started. We didn’t know which way to look! The crack of thunder, crackling of the damp firewood and explosions of fireworks was almost an overload on the senses. A fantastic and unexpected evening. Thanks Cabane Brunet!
