It's a Winter Wonderland!

What locals call "white gold" has arrived early this year! It is truly gold for ski resorts and this year it delivered in a big way well before Christmas. It is not always the case... Although the Diablerets region is luckier than most, as we have a 10000ft Glacier towering above us, whatever rain we get, the Glacier always gets snow, and it can be overwhelming at times. In the last 3 weeks, we got a bit over 4 feet of powdery snow in the village, so perfect for skiers, snowboarders and tourists alike. The Glacier got about 3 times that! A dream come true! But the staff there needed some extra time to groom the slopes and make sure avalanches would not be a threat to anyone's safety. We could hear the "booms" in the early morning as they released explosive charges to clear the way.

Some years, the landscape stays a morose brownish-green though, as the snow does not make an appearance until after the holidays. Businesses that rely entirely on tourism find it very hard to bridge this earning gap, as a huge chunk of their income is made during the 2 holiday weeks.

This year, the snow came early, everyone was smiling ear to ear, then Christmas week arrived and brought rain like in a summer storm! The snow was disappearing at the speed of light!

It was devastating, but at least, the season was already underway and some even braved the elements, looking like they had fallen into the pool rather than enjoyed a day on the slopes. :( It was pretty sad to see...

Thankfully, the snow cover was deep enough that not all was lost, but it felt more like spring skiing than January conditions, the snow stayed wet and heavy. Some resorts at lower altitudes even had to temporarily close, waiting for colder days to come back.

This morning brought a coat of fresh snow, still not cold enough to repair the damage, but better than nothing, and cold air is forecast so the snow canons will be going in full force later tonight.

An interesting thing happens often in fall and winter here too: it is called a temperature inversion. We are actually warmer at high altitude than down by the lake, and they often have a grey, foggy day when we are basking in the sunshine. We've had quite a few days like that and you tend to forget that, as you go down, it becomes colder... You can see it in the picture posted just below. Some days, it looks like you could walk on a sea of fog, it is that thick! Thank goodness for living above it! :)

Before the Christmas rain however, it was a true Winter Wonderland! Ice crystals formed a top layer and it was absolutely spectacular. The crystals grew in size and amounts every day, it was magical. I can't recall ever seeing it quite like that before. The ambient humidity must have made this phenomenon possible, it crunched and made a tingly sound as we played with it.

As I write this, we have about 12 more weeks of winter and skiing coming so we are all hoping for more of this white gold to find its way to us.

And of course, skiing is only half the picture. Here you can rent high performance sleds and come down a 7 km sled run, at pretty good speeds if you go early in the morning. My cousin and I used to time ourselves, and try and beat our records. Of course, the slowest one had to offer a round of drinks in the local restaurant, so the game was definitely on!

There are miles of snowshoe trails, cross country skiing, and walking of course. All in a decor that leaves you awed, at the foot of these majestic mountains.

I will for sure never tire of looking at it: whether in the summer sun, the rain with thunder and lightening lighting the valley up or the snow, covering it all in a pristine white coat.

As Dorothy said quite rightly, there is no place like home!

It will be our privilege to help you discover this little slice of heaven one day!

As always, stay healthy and stay curious! <3