I’ve recently returned from Ladakh in the Indian Himalayas where I’ve been one of the leaders on a World Challenge expedition with a school from North London. It was a great trip and I was really lucky that I was with an experienced leader who’d been in the area before and two teachers from the school with a lot of energy of enthusiasm. This is a selection of shots I took around the town of Leh and later up at Upshi where we ran a project to renovate a local school. While up in Upshi we took time to make some acclimatisation treks up to around 3800-3900m.

Tags: Hiking | India | Ladakh | Leh | Swiss Mountain Leader | trekking

Early Purple Orchid (Orchis mascula) perennial, May-June, 15-20cm high

This is a highly colourful flower found in mountain pastures, this particular one is near the summit of La Berra in canton Fribourg. It’s also known as “Dead Man’s Thumb” in some regions.
In the early 1800′s the roots were thought to be an aphrodisiac, there’s no active ingredient that suggests this is true though.

Tags: Early Purple Orchid | La Berra | Orchis mascula | Swiss Mountain Leader

This is a great day tour from near Villars, there’s a couple of huts up on the route so you can get drinks and snacks as you’re walking although we take a picnic lunch and enjoy it in the meadows. The route takes some great paths with fantastic views and, in places, some airy sections.

This is one of the routes we use in our program of treks around Leysin, see the webpage for more details!

Tags: Hiking | Swiss Mountain Leader | Tour de L’Argentine | trekking | trekking in Switzerland