Canton Wallis (the German name) or Valais (the French name) encompasses a long, wide valley and many neighbouring valleys and mountain ranges in the middle of the Swiss Alps.
The rubbish collection service at Bettmeralp – a car-free village in the mountains of upper canton Valais – must be unique in the world. In the absence of any road connection to the village, a 7.5-tonne lorry is carried up and down the mountain by cable-car.
Itching to visit the historic Hörnlihütte in Zermatt.
Before the proper snow arrived at the start of this year's winter season, we visited Zermatt and visited the famous, much-photographed view of the Matterhorn from Riffelsee.
The valley at Zermatt is surrounded by nearly three dozen peaks with summits higher than 4,000 metres above sea level. The Breithorn is well-known as the “easiest” to ascend: although easiness is, of course, a matter of reference. The number of tiny, ant-like climbers on the slopes leading from the Breithorn Plateau was quite amazing, when Jo and I visited the…
Beautiful time lapse sequences from canton Wallis (Valais) by filmmaker Christian Mülhauser.
Fast anderthalb Stunden in Begleitung der «Rotbiene»: der Rettungsdienst von Air Zermatt rund ums Matterhorn. Wenn ich mit 28 mit mehr Geld im Konto in die Schweiz gekommen wäre, wäre ich Helikopterpilot geworden. Weil meine Geschichte diesen Weg nicht folgte, muss ich mich mit ein paar Touristenflüge pro Jahrzehnt und das Zuschauen von solchen Dokumentarfilmen zurecht finden.
The Furka Pass, between Gletsch in canton Wallis and Realp in canton Uri, is one of the high alpine pass routes, only open between June and (approximately) October because of heavy winter snow falls in the region. The pass road is well known to James Bond fans, as it was featured in Goldfinger in 1964. (Watch out for Bond’s radar display: it shows Goldfinger to be near…
The castle at Aigle, near the western end of the Valais, was originally two fortifications. It’s a picture-book scene, but harks back to serious use in the fifteenth century, when it was already over two hundred years old. Today, it sits peacefully amongst expansive vineyards and welcomes tourists from all over the world.
Attempting to get away from baking temperatures, we headed for the mountains and a hike across summer snow fields to the Gries glacier.
The border between Switzerland and Italy lies along the alpine chain, and there are several roads which cross the border from north to south. But there are naturally many other places where one can cross the border with a little more effort. Around an hour and a half’s walk from the Nufenen Pass road, a hiking trail leads from the dam at…
High on the mountainside, near Leuk in the Rhône valley between Brig and Sion, stands the Brentjong satellite earth station. It has been an intercontinental communications hub, via a range of satellites under its control above the Atlantic and Indian oceans, since 1974.
A wonderful time-lapse sequence from the southern borders with Italy, ranging from the Nufenen Pass to Zermatt and the Matterhorn. Film maker Christian Mülhauser writes: Through fog, rain, snow and even wind gusts of up to 120 km/h I am happy to have completed this project. Mountains of Valais is by far my most time consuming venture,…
For six weeks in the summer every year, young children under the watchful eye of a more experienced adult lead the local half brown, half white goats through the streets of Zermatt twice a day.
Zermatt is one of the Swiss destinations most well-known outside Switzerland, thanks mainly to its proximity to the Matterhorn, probably the most famous mountain in the country.
The inevitably named High Bridge near Leuk in the upper reaches of canton Wallis in Switzerland; so named because of the depth of the gorge beneath it.
Jo learned to ski in Scotland when she was younger. After living here for several years now, she decided that it was about time to give cross-country skiing another try and give me my first shot at trying, as I'm not keen on regular skiing and had never tried cross-country before.
