Yesterday, the group went on an alpine hike from Solalex (1,460 meters, 4,791 feet) up to the Pas de Cheville (2,038 meters, 6,686 ft), a high mountain pass which marks the border between the canton of Vaud (in which this study abroad program takes place) and the canton of Valais.
While walking up through these Swiss Alps, the group encountered a solitary marmot jumping about by a river, and cows in the high pastures munching on the bright yellow buttercups as their bells jingled, creating an alpine symphony.

Above the treeline, there is not much besides the huge rock of the mountains and fields of wildflowers. However, a small reminder of human civilization exists at Anzeindaz, the tiny village of five buildings that served as the halfway point of our hike. Amidst the emptiness of high alpine nature, one can still have coffee and something tasty to eat, thanks to the fortitude of the Swiss. After a brief rest in Anzeindaz, we continued along the stream, coming across patches of snow in late June. As we walked higher and higher we could see a correlation between the increased altitude and vegetation, as new species of fascinating and brightly colored wildflowers appeared out of the rock.

At the top of the Pas de Cheville, we stopped to eat a lunch that we had lugged up a vertical clumb of 1,891 feet, more than a third of a mile. We ate on the hills created in 1714 when the side of the mountain collapsed, utterly destroying the small village of Derborence. Somewhere far beneath the tranquil, flower covered hills on which we lunched lie the bones of cows and people and the chalets where they once dwelt.