It’s not hard to find snow in Switzerland if you really want to. 4½ years ago, I spent an otherwise exhaustingly hot Saturday in late August in the snow on Jungfraujoch. However, snow in Zürich is a different beast altogether. While it’s not unheard of, it’s usually at best (or worst of course, depending on your inclination towards it) a few centimeters that turn into a soggy brownish, dark-grey substance faster than you can start humming songs about building snowmen.
The winter of 2020-2021 though, delivers!
The first half of December had already been white-ish (at least in Bonstetten), and the beginning of the new year had been cold. After a first attempt at 2021 snow, that, much to my dismay, disappeared under a rainy night, I was pleasantly surprised as the rain turned into snow the very next day (yes, yes – being in home-office means that it’s easier to be pleasantly surprised about these things, where you don’t really need to count on stuff like public transport and such). And not just snow, but lots of it! And it then kept going for the next 24 hours, to provide a nice 30-40cm cover of all of Bonstetten and surroundings.
Of course, I needed to enjoy the scenery a bit with the camera. First on a quick afternoon-walk around Bonstetten, and the day after on a proper hike from Bonstetten to Uetliberg.
I had heard of a nice little hiking path up from behind the church in Stallikon, so we had to try that. On the way we passed through forests, valleys, over small brooks of still-flowing water, and everywhere it was white – pure white! The sun was having trouble getting through the fog though, but managed to just exactly power through for about five minutes close to the top at Uetliberg – giving us not just sunshine, but also the purest blue sky. Absolutely amazing!
Sadly the snow seems to now already be on its way into a more soggy state, but it was very nice while it lasted – and good to know that we can probably still find some in the mountains if we get another craving for it later in the season…
