An icicle in Val d'Anniviers

After an incredible autumn day of sunshine and blue sky in Val d'Hérens, Anna and Tanya and I crossed to the next valley over: Val d'Anniviers. The next day the weather had changed and it was a moody, cold, cool-white-balance kind of day. We drove up into the Val de Moiry to check out its glacier, which was surrounded by frozen streams and small glacial lakes.

Glacier de Moiry with Pointes de Mourti and Pointe de Moiry.

Pointe de Moiry and Couronne de Bréona.

On the right, a wintery Col du Tsaté.

We headed back to the Lac de Moiry. There, while looking down off the dam wall, Tanya spotted a fully white stoat in full winter gear, darting amongst some shrubs and grass.

Lac de Moiry.

Anna at Moiry Barrage.

Tanya and Anna.

Next we headed further into Val d'Anniviers and up to Zinal. By this time the clouds had really come in and the Couronne de Zinal was mostly hiding. While wandering around above Zinal I found a giant icicle with which I was inordinately pleased. Tanya named it Gabelhorn, like you might name a good sword. Unlike a good sword, however, Gabelhorn started to melt and then shattered into many pieces.

On our way back to town we dipped back in to Val d'Hérens to take some photographs of the famed Pyramides d'Euseigne. These incredible features have formed where large rocks have stopped sediment under them from being eroded away - leaving the rocks perched on top of unlikely columns. The pyramids looked particularly good surrounded by autumn colours. After this we drove out of Val d'Hérens, out of Valais, and back to Lausanne.

The Pyramides d'Euseigne.

At the Pyramides d'Euseigne.