2006 06 18 - Moléson-sur-Gruyères (ski stations in summer #3)
18th June 2006
Another nice day and another trip to Moléson. It’s very warm at the moment so it’s great to be able to get up to a good height and enjoy some cooler air. Riding the cable car to the top you can’t help but compare the scene with how it looks in the winter.
We’d taken the funicular up from the base station and then the cable car to the summit of the Moléson peak at 1919m. There’s a restaurant at the summit called “le Restaurant de l’Observatoire”, so we paused for a Croûte au Fromage and a glass or two of Fendant, a local white wine.
There’s terrific views up here, on a clear day stretching to Mt Blanc over Lac Leman (Lake Geneva), the Jura and the Bernese Oberland.
The plan was basically traverse the ridge from the summit a little way before dropping down one of the south slopes and climbing back up to the Chalet Gros Moléson.
There’s still a small amount of snow nearer the top but here in the pre-alpes that probably won’t last too much longer now. These descents can be really quite treacherous, the surface is loose and it’s pretty steep so it’s good to have to some decent footwear and telescopic walking poles to help balance.
Now’s also the ideal time of year to see the alpine flora and fauna; this is Pulsatilla alpina, alpine pasqueflower or Anémone des Alpes and they’re pretty common in the area.
Also common at this time of year are the chamois , these were taken with 480mm lens from a long distance so they’re not very clear.
As we continued the trail started to take some more and more impressive scenery and began to cross some steep slopes which requires a head for heights in places.
And, finally, a typical local scene, some of the local cows grazing at altitude, this is around Chalet Gros Moléson at around 1529m, it seems to work the Croûte au Fromage at lunch had been excellent and was made with local Gruyère cheese :
There’s some more photo’s in the gallery and each of the ones above has a larger version if you click your mouse on them.
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