JustJess
For over a month I was watching snow covering mountains around. Rochers de Naye, Le Grammont and even the not so high Les Pléiades were hidden under the white blanket. But down by the lake? Nothing. Literally nothing. So if the snow didn’t come down to the lakeshore, there was nothing else left to do, but to go to the mountains to enjoy some.
Me and my Polish friend Jo are similar in many things. We both like exploring new places, we both like mountain tourism and we both love snow. So it was only natural, when I started planning a small trip to the snowy mountains, to make it as a small surprise for Jo. I told her we are going somewhere on Sunday, but I didn’t tell her where. Only to take warm clothes.
Our destination was Les Pléiades. The mountain I already visited in autumn. Because it wasn’t far away and wouldn’t make a hole into our pre-Christmas budget. Actually, it is not entirely true. The train to the top of the mountain would be 18 francs and 18 francs back, so for the first time, I asked my host family for a car. They offered me to use it many times before, but I usually prefer going everywhere by train. This time however, it was better to go with a car, because it also played for my surprise plan.
So on Sunday morning, we headed out to the house of my host family – I told Jo that I need to take something there, before we go for our trip. It was a perfect plan for a surprise. I would have taken a car and drove Jo to the top of the mountain without telling her where we were heading. But, right in front of the house we met the host dad and had a little chat. Of course he asked me right away If I came for the car and if we were going to Les Pléiades. So the surprise was spoiled on the spot and Jo was silently laughing. Well, nothing can be done. At least I made her laugh when I couldn’t surprise her anymore.
Les Pléiades is not far from my place. I mentioned before that I see the mountain from my window. But what makes the journey long are the serpentiens that take you up the mountain. I was a bit scared because I am not the best at driving on the snow. But luckily, Switzerland is very well equipped for managing roads in winter, so the road up the mountain was nice and clear. But I went purposefully slowly, because half of the way I drove through thick fog. But once we got above the clouds, we got a beautiful view. The higher we were, the more beautiful the view was – real winter fairy-tale. Everything was covered in snow, morning sun made it shining and trees were bending down under its weight. It didn’t really matter that there were five cars behind me, probably cursing me for going too slow.
After half an hour we arrived at the parking spot and we were quite surprised that it was filling so fast. The ski area was still closed so we didn’t see the reason for so many people to be there. But after taking a few steps from the parking we understood. There was a small slope people used as a children’s winter park. There were many families sliding on tray sleds, sledges and enjoying winter time. I must admit that we were a little sorry we didn’t think about it earlier. Because I am sure my host family would lend me some bobsleds.
Instead of bobsledding, we headed to a little snow walk. I was just hoping it was gonna be alright with just winter shoes, because usually Les Pleiades is a location for racket trekking. But luckily, as the area was not officially opened for the winter season yet, no one threw us out.
The weather that day was changing quickly. For five minutes we saw a breathtaking view on Rochers de Naye and for the next five minutes we couldn’t see 10 meters ahead. Luckily I knew where I was heading – to the top of Les Pléiades.
As we were slowly ascending, we crossed one of the not-yet-ready ski slopes. The ski area has 3 blue and 3 red slopes for alpine skiing, 5 tracks for cross-country skiing and several tracks for racket trekking. It is not the largest ski-area around, but together with slopes at Rochers de Naye it is the closest one to Lake Geneva. And it is easily accessible from Vevey, as the train goes all the way up to the top of the mountain. However, as I mentioned, the ski-area was not opened yet. It was about to open one week before Christmas and I was only wondering if I would have a chance to go skiing there. But all my ski equipment was in the Czech Republic and renting in Switzerland would be out of my budget. So at that point, all I could do was to hope.
On the way to the top we stopped a few times to take some pictures and also to dance. Yes. We danced on the top of the mountain, in the snow. Why? Well let’s say that we were in a very good mood the night before and we practiced some choreography we found on youtube and decided to make it our dance. A dance we would dance in every location we would get to and then make a video cut from it. And because we are both very good dancers, it wasn’t embarrassing at all. I just hope no one will ever watch the video.
Very slowly, we reached the top of Les Pléiades and on the meadow where there were astro objects in Autumn (read more in my older article) was only snow, snow and a bench. We quickly occupied it and took out our lunch. Traditional sandwiches and an apple pie we made an evening before. However, I was pushing Jo to eat faster, because I finally wanted to build a snowman! It’s been years since I’ve done something like that for the last time.
To build the snowman took us some time. The snow was not very sticky so it was quite a work to make it. But we succeeded and had a great time, while the sun was coming out of the clouds and was hiding itself in the fog again. But the result was worth it. Our snowman was a beautiful punk with devil eyes and a proud mark of origin – “CZ-PL”. It was so nice to finally have a man in our group. The real, faithful man whom we created and who we were destined to leave there to melt. What a heartbreaking situation. I just wonder how long the snowman was there. If by any chance you will come across someone who met our snowman, in winter 2020/2021, let me know.
Slowly, we headed to the car from the other side of the mountain. I wanted to see if we will have luck and we will see the view over Lake Geneva, which I’ve heard is beautiful from that side of Les Pléiades. It is a view I didn’t find the first time, but this time, I knew where it was. Unfortunately, at that moment, a heavy fog fell on the place and we could hardly see a few meters ahead. I must say it was a bit scary, because there was no one around. Just us, the forest, snow and a white fogg.
After a while we got back on the road and went to our car. But it was an amazing afternoon. A reminder of how lucky people in Switzerland are. They have lakes where they can bathe in summer and mountains where they can ski in winter. I might be living in a town, but only a few kilometers away from me, there is a calm heaven where I can go to unwind. These people here are really lucky to have all this around.
