Summer Holidays

FIFAD Day 1

From the 6th to the 13th of August 2016 The International Alpine Film Festival, FIFAD, is taking place in the Alpine town of Les Diablerets. This is a week long festival of Alpine films covering the environment, extreme sports, adventure and more.

Alpland

Alpland is a photo exhibit outside of images of Alpine life in black and white. The images were taken by Romano Riedo

The Flying Frenchies arrive

The image gallery below shows the Flying Frenchies arrive at the film festival. The drummer flew with his drum kit, the guitarist flew with a guitar and amp and the saxophonist arrived with his instrument. They played their instruments while up in the air. Watching this in person is interesting. [gallery ids=“3253,3252,3251,3250,3249,3248,3247,3246,3245,3244”]

Via Ferrata and Edelweiss can be combined. I was reminded of this when I was looking at Salanfe’s Instagram account images last night. I saw an image of a chamois and her young and then I saw the picture below of an Edelweiss and I wanted to share that I had also seen Edelweiss.

#monpetitbonheur du jour ! Magnifiques #Edelweiss à #Salanfe#hiking#rando#balade#valais#moneteenvalaispic.twitter.com/soa6GEbe2Y

— Fabienne Marclay (@salanfe) August 4, 2016

I saw edelweiss on the Via Ferrata de Rougemont on the 31st of August 2014 according to Google Photos. These are rare but nice flowers that grow in Switzerland. They are also used as a symbol of this country. They are quite small and fluffy with thick petals. They are so rare to see that despite years of hikes, climbs and other sports I have only spotted them once. [caption id=“attachment_3239” align=“aligncenter” width=“660”] A few Edelweiss[/caption]

The First of August, in Switzerland is a national holiday. This is the day when Switzerland celebrates its own existence. The Swiss are celebrating the Pacte Fédérale from 1291. I saw a tweet saying that Switzerland is about 725 years old. They have only been celebrating this since 1891 when the confederation was 600 years old. [caption id=“attachment_3220” align=“aligncenter” width=“660”] Fireworks on their way to St Prex[/caption] On this day rafts covered in firewood are brought out on the lake and placed next to cities. The raft that you see in the image above is covered in fireworks. The Sauvetage boat would do another two or three trips that I noticed. [caption id=“attachment_3223” align=“aligncenter” width=“576”] Some people are even lucky enough to go sailing[/caption] This year I was able to swim and go sailing once again. Sailing on the lake is a pleasant and fun activity although as usual for this time of year there is a lack of wind so you spend a lot of time waiting for it to pick up and looking for any sign of wind from other parts. [caption id=“attachment_3221” align=“aligncenter” width=“660”] Some people go fishing[/caption] In theory since there is no wind you might as well get your inflatable boat out with some fishing lines and justify being stuck in the doldrums with fishing. If I want to see fish I usually go scuba diving. They look more natural underwater and lake waters in summer are nice and pleasant. When you get to the surface you feel warm again. In Summer you want to take off your dry suit and have a barbecue. [caption id=“attachment_3222” align=“aligncenter” width=“660”] Others go paddle boarding[/caption] A sport that we see more and more frequently is paddle boarding. I was looking at the price of paddle boards in Switzerland and you would expect to pay between 790 CHF to 1000 CHF. It is not a cheap sport but compared to scuba diving it’s affordable. It also provides you with a full body workout. (I had to sneak in some fitness didn’t I?) [caption id=“attachment_3224” align=“aligncenter” width=“576”] Swimming and Jumping in St Prex[/caption] Of course the sport with the lowest barrier to entry is Swimming. In St Prex they have a structure in the middle of water you can swim to and then climb. You can jump or dive from any height with no risk of hitting the ground. If you were looking for something a little more formal [gallery ids=“3225,3226,3227”] If you were looking for something a little more formal then on the Lausanne side of St Prex you could go under the white tent, get some saucisse frites, sit down eat and then dance. Once those forms of entertainment were finished with you could head out and watch the raft covered in wood burn while waiting for the fireworks to start. On this day you can see fireworks fly up and make patterns around the lake. It would be interesting to see from the top of the Jura or some other mountain. In fact I’d like to see the 1er Aout from a place like Moléson. From there you could see three or four cantons celebrating. [caption id=“attachment_3219” align=“aligncenter” width=“660”] First of August fire[/caption]

Networking around Pokemon Go is less interesting now that everyone plays the game. I have heard non geeks talk about Pokemon Go. They spoke about the large crowds that are staring at their phones in places like Ouchy. The value of social movements is to be part of a small, passionate group of players where the community is large enough to be fun but not so large as to become mundane. With a game like Ingress players were more sparsely distributed. When we met other players there was an immediate connection because we were few and far between. You would walk around certain cities and villages and you would not spot other players for hours of game play. When you met another player you wanted to meet, you wanted to interact. Communities are fun when they are small. Pokemon Go has risen in popularity at such a rate that old social networks may be privilieged over new ones. I was at the Chateau de Prangins a few days ago playing ingress for a short period of time raising the level of Ingress portals. During this time I saw at least 5-10 adolescent boys playing Pokemon Go, walking and running around the park. Pokemon Go is like alcohol or snowboarding. As everyone plays the game the opportunity to create new social groups is reduced. Why mix with new people when your core group of friends is already playing? The Facebook, telegram, slack and Google Hangout groups are alive and well this summer so people are connecting with new people. Although a new network of people is forming around this game I feel that it is hindered by the popularity of the game. Introverts can connect online via these groups, Meeting new people face to face may not be as comfortable due to the large crowds. It’s great that a location based game is encouraging people to run around while staring at their phones. [Phone screen replacement](https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=as_li_qf_sp_sr_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=mainvision-20&keywords=phone screen replacement&index=aps&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=xm2&linkId=1c111358728211918c4a817124a0e3d0) companies are very happy with the increase in demand for their skills and external battery sales are going up. Prices are going to go down and innovation is going to go up. If you’re an introvert, bad at small talk, then Pokemon Go has reached its peak usefulness and you can revert to other less popular activities. You can skip the craze.

When we’re 14-28 years old the idea of going to a music festival to see the artists we spend our free time listening to is fantastic. Imagine all that drinking, that mud, that food, those opportunities to seduce and best of all that ambiance. The prospect of going to a music festival is so appealing that we fantacize about going to work as bénévole to have the full experience. I have been through that experience several times as a result of which I chose to have a week off from socialising to recover. Now that I have provided you with context I want to take a satirical look at music festivals as a form of psychological torture for those of us who have grown too “old” to know which artists are playing.

  [caption id=“attachment_3100” align=“aligncenter” width=“660”] Summer Nyon[/caption] This is an image of Nyon on a day when the thermometer indicated at least 31°c on a sunny Sunday afternoon. In this image you can see the CGN boat leaving Nyon and heading towards Geneva. You can see the Jet D’eau in the background. You can see a sailing boat in the distance, some kayakers nearby and two pedalos. What you don’t see in this image are the people playing volleyball, other people sitting at Nyon Plage or yet more people at the Nyon Swimming Pool. From Nyon you can cycle along the lake road to Geneva or Lausanne and if you feel you have the stamina you could cycle from Nyon to Nyon by taking the long way around. This may take 10 hours depending on your level of fitness and endurance. If this does not tempt you then you could go up to the Jura. You can either go up towards La Dôle and choose one of three routes to get to the doppler radar or you could go to St Cergue and walk from that side to the peak. The walk is short but physical so make sure to take appropriate shoes and something to drink. If those options do not tempt you then you can catch the boat you see in the image above or the smaller boat that you see below. These boats are regular. People like to take the boat from Nyon to Yvoire, have lunch, dinner or an ice cream and then come back. If you have the right friends then you could do this trip on a sailing boat as we used to do frequently with one friend. [caption id=“attachment_3102” align=“aligncenter” width=“660”] CGN boat[/caption] Nyon has quite a few activities to distract people in summer so if you’re in the region there are a few events and activities to choose from.

Today I tried a Via Ferrata with Climbing shoes. With a group we went to the Moléson which you see in the picture below. This mountain stands in the middle and has fantastic views on to Neuchatel, the Lac Leman, Bulle and more. The drawback is that this mountain is often in cloud due to its location and height. [caption id=“attachment_3042” align=“aligncenter” width=“660”] Heading to Moléson[/caption] If you’re still reading despite the mention of clouds then you will see that this is an enjoyable place to visit. It is located in Gruyère, known for its cheeses and the Giger Museum. I don’t think I have visited either of the two latter options. Climbing is more fun. Today was different. I took the blue easy route and I wore climbing shoes rather than normal shoes because I wanted to see whether the experience was pleasant. At first it was worthless to have these shoes on because of the mud and humidity. They did become more fun as we climbed. The person in front of me was a novice at Via Ferrata so she was fighting for the courage to move onwards and upwards. This gave me plenty of time to get as much contact with the rock as possible. I focused on using the natural rock as foot holds as much as possible and I even tried to use the rock as hand holds. My reservation about safety meant that I did not want to fall with via ferrata gear. The rock on this via ferrata is perfectly adapted to rock climbing shoes when it is drier. The rock is friable and this provides justification for climbing shoes. Rather than two or three foot holds that you can use with hiking boots (which I usually use) I used slivers and cracks of rocks. I tried not to “felix the cat” too often. That is a term a climbing instructor used South of the Alps when I took climbing lessons and as I like the term I share it. I have been practicing via ferrata for five years now and I have explored almost all via ferrata within a two hour drive multiple times. As a result I know that I can do them and I know what to expect. This means that I can be generous and climb last. I can help novices and beginners experience the sport for the first time and through experiments such as climbing shoes on a via ferrata I keep myself entertained. Leukerbad and other such via ferrata would be interesting with climbing shoes because of the rock type. They are not essential and I did this out of good humour. I was perfectly happy using hiking boots for the first five years. And now for desert, a view from the top. [vrview img=“http://www.main-vision.com/richard/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/molesontop.jpg" pimg=“http://www.main-vision.com/richard/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/molesontop.jpg" width=“500” height=“400” ]

Yesterday I went for a 360 timelapse walk through the woods above Trelex. I set the camera to take an image every 8 seconds. As the woods were dark and dense it took some effort not to walk in too much mud and not to slip too many times. The result of the timelapse is not as good as I had hoped. Ideally I want to find a way to fix the camera so that it looks at my direction of travel. From this footage you see that the camera suffered with the lack of light and that because the camera occasionally rotated to the right it is easy to become disorientated. It is for this reason that it is useful to find wide open spaces when possible and to find places with a lot of ambient light. What I like about this video is that we can see the various exercise locations. We can see the horizontal bars, the rings and other activities. When I design something to hold the camera steady while I walk with it I can have a little more fun. I could hang on the rings or play with the bars. With a little luck the month and a half of bad weather is coming to an end and I will be able to go out and get to some interesting locations to film some time lapses. There are a number of panoramic locations that I think would lend themselves well to 360° views. Imagine a walk by the lake side or a walk near the summit with a view of the landscape below. What locations or sites would you like to see as 360° timelapse videos?

For three years I was a fitness club member. I loved going to the gym up to three times a week when possible. I loved training so much that I bought apps and devices to track my progress. Any time that I could not spend three sessions a week at the gym I felt disappointed. That passion, when you are in full time work can be hard to keep active. I tried going to the gym at 6am and I tried going after work but the habit never picked up. In Switzerland fitness memberships can vary from 700-900 CHF per year to over 1200 CHF per year depending on the membership perks you take. If you go to the gym 52 times a year that’s 23 CHF per session. If you go twice a week it’s reduced to just 11 CHF per week. If you go three times a week it’s 7 CHF per session. In theory this is a reasonable price. It’s less than a week’s pay for most professionals. In practice you want to justify the expense. You want to go to the gym when you have time. This means weekends, evenings and on public holidays. I was often frustrated to have free time but for the gym to be closed. I would love to see gyms that take your outdoor sporting passions in to account. Running and cycling are already somewhat covered in the lac Léman region of Switzerland. What I would like to see next are ski days, via ferrata excursions and canyoning within the club. During week days and when the weather is bad you would train in the fitness centre. As soon as summer weekends and holidays would allow then as a fitness centre you would enjoy the great outdoors. I see through Glocals and facebook groups that the interest to do activities in groups is there. Fitness centres could attract a younger demographic to join. I love physical fitness and I love exercise. If I lived in a city like London or Paris I’d be happy to sit in a gym and train. I’d have filtered air and less traffic to contend with. As I live in the Swiss countryside though I want to take full advantage of what nature has to offer. When I find a fitness club that offers discounted canyoning, waterskiing and other activities, and subsidised via ferrata and ski days then I will rejoin.

I expect that going to do the Moléson Via Ferrata by night will be like scuba diving in the lake. I expect that on the Moléson night I will see the cliff face in front of me and that if I turn around I will see darkness around me. I suspect I will be able to see certain stars and city lights in nearby towns. I am curious to see how bottomless the void behind me will feel. I also expect a fun ambiance. You need to sign up to participate and an e-mail is enough. They want your name and address, to know whether you have your own equipment or whether you need to rent and whether you have already tried via ferrata before. Now that I signed up I am looking forward to the new sensation. This is a via ferrata I have done when it was cloudy, when it was about to rain, with maintenance crew and with friends. I know it well. I look forward to experiencing it in yet another way.