Route: Above Guarda
Area: Switzerland
Date of walk: 15th January 2019
Walkers: Andrew and Gilly
Distance: 2.0 miles
Ascent: 500 feet
Weather: Sunny with deep blue skies
Our arrival in Guarda yesterday coincided with the heaviest snow the area has experienced for 20 years. All walking paths were closed yesterday due to a high avalanche risk, and a further 6 inches of snow overnight didn’t improve the situation
Our base for this week’s walking holiday is the excellent Hotel Meisser which has been owned by the Meisser family for 125 years. Fortunately for us the current owner Benno knows the area intimately and offered to take us on a guided walk, along with 4 other guests. Without Benno’s knowledge and expertise, a walk would not otherwise have been possible, so we were very grateful for the offer
Before we set off, avalanche transceivers were strapped to us as a precautionary measure and we donned snowshoes – a first for us. We could hear the booming noise of distant avalanches as we were kitting up
We set off up the mountainside, with Benno in the lead, doing the donkey work of cutting steps through the deep virgin snow. Gilly cunningly lingered at the back of the group, as walking in snowshoes becomes progressively easier the further behind you are in the group
We made our way up to a protected forest, where it was a thrill to briefly glimpse an eagle soaring overhead, and to hear the barking of deer further up the mountainside. After walking along the lower part of the forest towards its edge, Benno decided that he didn’t like the look of the slopes ahead, where an absence of trees posed a potential avalanche risk. We therefore descended back towards Guarda, keeping the trees behind us as protection
Lower down we joined an easy path, and from here it was a short stroll back into the village. It was a short but very sweet walk, with beautiful scenery every step of the way – thanks again Benno for making it possible!
Click on the icon below for the location of Guarda, but I’ve not reproduced our track since much of it was off piste and it is not a route to be followed in normal circumstances
Scroll down – or click on any photo to enlarge it and you can then view as a slideshow
Dawn, and we open the curtains in our room at the Hotel Meisser in Guarda
Yesterday's very heavy snow has stopped and it promises to be a fine day
Looking down into the valley below
The owner of the hotel, Benno Meisser, advises us that all walking paths are closed due to deep snow and avalanche risk...
...but kindly offers to take us and 4 other guests on a guided snowshoe walk starting from the hotel. We're fitted with avalanche transceivers and Benno packs a snow shovel in his backpack 'just in case'
The transceiver will let off a signal so that anyone buried by snow can be found, hopefully before it's too late. Benno knows the area intimately, so we know that we're in safe hands
One of the locals clearing snow off the roof to prevent a mini avalanche on passers by
Guarda village church...
Time to put on our snowshoes...
View along the valley as we're being kitted up
Off we go - Benno takes the lead and points out features of interest - we could hear the boom of distant avalanches as we went along
Guarda below, population circa 160
Looking along the valley towards Bos-cha
We head up a gully to the woods
Another view back to Guarda as we gain height
We reach the edge of the woods...
Piz Giarsinom above Guarda
We walk through the lower edge of the woods, keeping a lookout for red deer which live here
The path (most of which has been forged by Benno) levels out and we contour around the mountainside...
Benno guides us onward...
Checking out the conditions
Benno decides that there's an avalanche risk if we leave the protection of the woods, so we descend quite steeply to the left here
We aim for the hut below
Descending back into Guarda
We pass by the hut which we'd seen from the woods
Views of Guarda as we continue to descend...
Back into the village...
...and to our hotel - thanks Benno for your guidance
Later that day, the moon above the village church
