Ice cream and pastries

It feels like a treat: I am spending an entire week alone in Zuoz, catching up on laundry, email, quiet time. The weather is absolutely gorgeous, one day nicer than the next, and hotter than I remember it ever was. When I go for a hike I make a point of leaving early, to be on top before it gets too hot, and to be back home before the thunderstorms strike. So far, when they do come, they come quite late and up till now I have avoided them all. I am becoming very daring - for today's hike I wore shorts (instead of the zipper-leg pants) and didn't even pack a sweater! The other night, at 11pm, I was sitting outside on my balcony, wearing just a t-shirt and shorts - definitely a first! Also unthinkable 30-40 years ago: I am considering going to the "beach", i.e. pack a towel and a good book and take a swim in one of the local lakes. They actually are now warm enough even for someone as wimpy as me! Meanwhile the glaciers and the permafrost are melting, and a little rain is enough to trigger major landslides. Two passes were affected last week, the Albula, and more importantly, the Bernina, which is the major thoroughfare to Italy. Both the road and the train tracks were blocked for a while.

After a long dry spell, I have renewed hopes for a job. On Monday I interviewed in an upscale bakery/pastry shop/tea room in St. Moritz. The pay is lousy, but I am getting restless, I am ready to do something and learn something. Besides, any income is better than no income. The contract would be for the season, i.e. till the end of April, so there's no long-term commitment - which is good. I am currently also working on an application for IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature). They are based in Gland, near Geneva and are looking for an administrative assistant for their global marine program. I just about have the perfect profile and I am working really hard on this application, but deep down I fear that I don't stand a chance because of my age. And then yesterday, the guy from whom I was buying an ice cream cone in Zernez, offered me on the spot a full time job - selling ice cream! I told him I'd think about it until Monday. He is desperate because the summer season already is in full swing. If I do it, it would be just part time... I am hesitating... a gut feeling, the whole setting was not very professional... and I don't want to stumble into a bad situation.

So now the snow has melted even at high elevation, save for a small patch here or there. This is the time to get up into the high country - and yet I hesitate. Most of you know that I have a bad knee, which I twisted in my office a couple of years ago, to the point that I couldn't walk for a few days. I am hiking with two braces and a stick, but I do feel vulnerable. I always carry my cell phone, but I am sure coverage is spotty in the remote valleys. Therefore I have decided to play it safe, and my hikes are limited either to areas where I know there'll be many people, or to trails that I know to be relatively good. This decision limits my options considerably, and so I am looking forward to the next visit: this Saturday Anne-Marie and Yvan are arriving from the Neuchatel area. They have rented their own place but Anne-Marie and I plan to do a few good hikes together while Yvan goes on bicycle rides. Then Claire and Colin arrive, then my sisters... then... more friends until the middle of September. So from now on I will have lots of company for the exciting hikes and to explore new trails.

Below are a few pictures of my recent hikes. I also took a couple of bike rides. Biking is much more of a challenge than hiking or skiing. I trust my legs (even with the bad knee) infinitely more than tires. Yesterday I finally passed the test of wrestling the bike onto the train. They have a great set-up, but cyclists still have to carry their bikes up 3 steps to enter the special bike coach...

Lej da Statz, near St. Moritz. This is "the beach".














Es-cha hut and Piz Kesch. I spent many nights in this hut with my father and my sisters on the eves of climbing Piz Kesch.












Piz Uter, which I can also see from my living room window. The first time I climbed it (in one afternoon) I was about 14. Dad coaxed me up to the pass, and then to the top!











Chaste Peninsula, in Lake Sils. Looking towards Maloja.