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Racket on Mt Rond 20 Feb 2020

A motley crew of 6, missing Drew excused with a cold, ascended from a crowded carpark at Col de la Faucille into the quiet and peaceful snowy forest in perfect weather and then on up to Mt Rond for fantastic views in 360°. Fresh snow powder added to the fun, especially on the steeper descent. Lunch later in Refuge de Florimont was as good as it gets. Even a whisky flask was employed to round us off. Attending – Mark Warren (leader – merci Mark), Rob Pashley (he got all the whiskey), Richard Saynor, Philip Jenkins, Steve Long and Peter Taylor. Not 499 m but memorable, great fun and company.

Approaching the main event
Better than Schilligers
Jura Magic – with prints
Longer legs in front
Summit party, Steve, Richard, Peter, Rob, Mark, Philip
Skiing on raquettes
Refuge de Florimont. Great views, value and food and wine. Excellent service too

Snow Shoeing Racket 6 Feb 2020

A fine day out from over and beyond Marchairuz organised by Rob and attended by Richard, Mark and Philip. Fine sun, good fresh snow and the following are quotes from attendees (I bailed out with a touch of the Coronavirus (cold)).

“The trail was 8.8 kms but only half of our normal 499 metres ascent!”

Quotes from Richard (above) and Mark.

“You are right it was lovely weather and a great snowshoe – 8.8km and 256m height difference.The valley from Marchairuz towards the Givrine was a first for most of us. It’s less frequented than coming from the other side. The snowshoe tracks were marked with polls but we were the first on most of it since the last snowfall.
Next date planned is 18 February; I hope you are available  to join us.”

GINs Lunch – Tannay 5 Feb 2020

Rudi Pluss organised a fine lunch at the Auberge du Lion d’Or in Tannay. Really fine set menu of salad, pork and then dessert. The sun shone and the wine flowed. It was good also to have a short mingle before we sat down to eat. Waiter Roch took some good (selfie) photos for us and appreciated our name badges, even giving himself one. 24 Attended including, Rudi, Bryan, Paul, Dave, Alan, Brian, Thatcher, Trevor D, Trevor G, Tim, John, Richard, David C, Steve, Tony, Reinier, Wouter, Terence, Mike, Ian, Simon, Peter and possibly others late on the list. Merci to Rudi.

SKI TEAM Villars

This was a really super day. With Maestro Mervyn on other slopes and Mark packing his bags for the USA, David led our smaller team of Thatcher, Steve and myself around the ski areas of Villars and Diablerets. The day dawned bright, sunny and cold, with a front coming in later in the day, so we started out early. For Steve it was a return to Villars ski area after a 20 year gap, odd given he is oft seen in Morgins over the valley. New snow the previous day meant for wonderful conditions. Coffee and lunch stops were welcome as we toured around the nicely empty pistes. One faller – me once – others skied in fine style. A great day out. Thanks to David – especially for hosting Thatcher and me the night before.

BBC Programme on Quantum Entanglement

There was a very interesting programme on BBC 4 last Thursday, 16/01/2020, 22:00 about quantum entanglement. I had recorded it and just got round to watching it. I wanted to let you know in case anyone else with Swisscom TV wants to watch it before it’s a week old.

What I like about the program is that it gives the history, starting with the 1927 Solway conference and onto Einstein’s paper and the work of John Bell. It does not try to describe any of the mathematics but rather gives one of the clearest explanations I’ve seen of the physical phenomenon and what they are currently doing to verify it.

I already sent this as a note to members of the GIN Kulture group since I definitely believe this qualifies under our definition of Culture. Since there was reasonable interest I’m adding it to the blog.

Brian Allardyce refers us to an article by the Austrian Academy of Sciences at oeaw.ac.at in case you missed the programme. This describes what they did.
https://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/detail/news/quantum-entanglement-confirmed-with-light-from-distant-quasars/

I also found an interesting YouTube video which goes a step backwards and explores the origins of Quantum Mechanics and spends some time on the endless arguments between Bohr and Einstein at the 1927 conference. These are referred to in the BBC programme but only related to entanglement whereas the disagreement was much more fundamental.

Here is the link
https://ch.video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=solvay+conference#id=19&vid=e36e4a2e5c40902eb79a7761d344a8b9&action=view

SNOW-SHOEING – Glières

The Snow-Shoe GIN-racket hit the Glières Plateau on Tuesday 21 Jan. Attending were Robert Pashley, Drew Meek, Richard Saynor, Peter Taylor and Mark Warren. A cunningly devised walk aimed to reach the same denivellation of 499 m as the last outing. Immaculate conditions of snow and weather saw the team demolish some chocolate croissants supplied by Mark, then rise through frosty forest up through the Pas du Loup to stupendous views out toward the Aravis and the Alps. The snow was glorious as was the company. Lunch was taken in warm sun at the Chalet des Auges. Richard supplied the grappa. Thick snow on the broad summit ridge gave crystalline glistenings in the sun, or was it the grappa? A brilliant day out. Thanks to all for coming along. P

3rd Annual Dave Knewstubb Memorial Ski Outing

There were 5 GIN members and 2 associate members (if that means anyting) for our annual outing to Champéry on January 15th. Mervyn, Peter and Mark drove from Commugny while Rudi and David (almost bootless) met us there. We also met up with Mervyn’s chums, and regular skiing outing participants, Brian and Alun. Thatcher cried off due to too much skiing at Verbier and crunchy baguettes.

The weather was great, the snow surprisingly good and the company also great.

Naturally we raised a glass to Dave K over an excellent lunch at la Cantine des Dents Blanches.

Thanks to Mervyn for organising and driving plus for arranging some good weather.

First Snow Shoe in 2020 – Marchairuz

Tuesday 7 Jan 2020

The sun shone for four of us who set out on a perfect morn. Dodging autoroute mayhem we assembled in the carpark at Marchairuz after first taking coffee at the restaurant that we would return to for lunch. Richard had planned a Mollendruz hike but the snow did not play there. So we set off into deserted country on the well trodden trail of firm snow, ideal conditions with little wind. Realising Mt Tendre was a tad too far, we stopped at the top of the rise at 1567m, before the Caban de Servan. Peter served Johannisberg, sipped while surveying the stupendous panoramic view in 360 degrees and matching clarity. Lunch back on the col focussed on fondu under the surveillance of the 82 year old parrot, almost nailed on her perch and who did not seem to want to go to meet her maker. A great day. Thanks to Richard for rescheduling to get snow. Attending:-  Mark Ws, Richard, Robert, Peter T. Apologies : Mark Wn, Mervyn, Bill.

  

First snowshoe of season, Dec 10

The gods were kind to the four (Richard, Phillip, Mervyn and Mark Warren) on the first snowshoeing outing of the season on Tuesday 10 December, since after a drenched Monday there was sufficient fresh snow and abundant sunshine for a delightful hike to the Vermeilley refuge, some 4.5 kms from our start at the Givrine station. Unusually for that part of the world, the path had not been cleared and few people had even trampled the path after the Genollier. The fondue at the Vermeilley was its usual high standard and that and the wine made the afternoon return seem easier than the going.

As Mervyn wrote:

“What an ideal way to start off the 2019/20 snow-shoeing season!

Perfect snow conditions underfoot and cloudless blue skies above.

I could get used to that.

Many thanks for your company, good humour and organisation and especially to Richard for his driving and kiwis.

 

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and looking forward to more mountain adventures in the New Year”.

And so say all of us.

Mark

 

 

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