The first snow of the season fell at the beginning of last week. By Sunday it had all but disappeared around us, but high up in Canton Uri at the end of the road going over the Klausenpass there was still deep, pristine snow. We took our friend Elaine, visiting from London, up to the Untershächental for her first snowshoeing experience. The valley is famous for its overhanging ice wall, a mecca for extreme sport lovers, but there was no sign of it this early in the season. Just a few skiers coming down the trail from Brunni, another snowshoeing group, and us, enjoying the peace and grandeur of the snow-filled valley. The other snowshoers had blazed a trail for us so, although the snow was past our knees, the going wasn't as tough as it might have been. We went deeper into the valley than we'd been in the past, passing a summer farmhouse with a whimsical collection of lifesize wooden sculptures, and a wooden plaque with a beautiful forest prayer, as well as the ubiquitous and sometimes eccentric forest shrines. How lovely it is to live in a country whose beauty still makes us marvel...
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