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 Dwight
Peck's personal Web site
Mont
Tendre, 2003-2004 The
Jura's answer to the Alps
Year after year,
Mont Tendre, unlike western civilization,
remains as much fun as ever. This is Winter 2003-2004.
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October's
chilly, foggy send-off on Mont Tendre, visiting
Alison Peck and her Dad gamboling at the summit -- the latter still waiting for
snow on Mont Tendre, the former soon going back to Hawaii. |
Early
December 2003
After
the southern Foehn for two weeks, a very strong northern Bise wind on Mont Tendre,
with fog. A
grey look to the mountain as we march along from the direction of Cunay and Marchairuz
on 8 December 2003, supposedly meeting a dinner date at the summit. 
Icy
old summit pylon looming out of the fog. No sign of our dinner date yet. Rimey
Mont Tendre fenceposts at the summit, 8 December 2003. The dinner date still so
far a no-show. It looks as if we'll have carried this bag full of 10 tunafish
sandwiches and a small bottle of pickles all the way here for nothing. 
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The
narrator, awaiting his no-show dinner date, tries to imitate the right-facing
icy look of the fenceposts of Mont Tendre. |
Blind
dates never work out, even in the Jura! We pause to devour 8 of the 10 tuna sandwiches
and then head for home, and the empathetic sun breaks through on the return trip,
for about five minutes. 
We're
right at the fog line -- a little bit of sunburn, a little bit of windburn, a
little bit of sunburn, a little more of the windburn. (Actually, the return trip
towards Marchairuz in Times of Bise only gives you
windburn on the back of your fashionable balaclava.) 
Burst
of sun over the next ridge, sauntering home propelled by a northern bise wind
in December 2003. 
Spectral
icy hillsides. There's recently been another military exercise on this side of
Mont Tendre, so to keep from slipping on the icy slopes you can frequently step
gingerly from shell fragment to shell fragment, doing the Shrapnel
Walk as it were. 
More
beautiful trudging-along scenes on the southern side of Mont Tendre, dashing off
towards Marchairuz along the fog line and avoiding unexploded munitions where
possible. 
Still
another Internet blind date for naught. Perhaps the specified meeting-place on
Mont Tendre has led us on a Wild Goose Chase, yet
again. We're
not finished with Mont Tendre for this winter. This was just a warm-up. Oops,
wrong term for that. 
The fog
disappears near nightfall. A telephoto glance back at Mont Tendre from the meadow
of Petit Cunay, on 8 December 2003. The summit pylon is the dark spot equidistant
between the two trees. Looks like today anyway we'll make it back before dark.
We're
back!
Thrilled
by tales of Mont Tendre on 8 December 2003, on 14 December former President J.
J. Pirri insisted upon accompanying us back to the scene, despite some fairly
uncertain weather and what looked promisingly like the first decent snowfall,
but wasn't. 
Pretty
high winds blowing across Mont Tendre on the Pré de Mollens side, 14 December
2003. 
The narrator
(above) occupied the time traversing the southeastern ridge of Mont Tendre by
recounting to noted cinema scholar Dr Pirri every scene, glance, poignant line
of dialogue, camera angle, and philosophical implication of the 1999 goofy western
film entitled in French "La Ville des Legends de la Ouest", which, days
later, cinema scholar Dr Pirri concluded was actually a US made-for-TV movie called
"Purgatory", with a handsome Sam Shepard playing a dead Wild Bill Hickock
and Randy Quaid aspiring for the same or nearly the same status. 
Doubtful
weather throughout, but really wild weather near the summit. Dr Pirri battens
down the hatches for the dash to the top. 
And
then bolts for the summit pylon, in a typically Mont Tendre sort of wind. Drs
Pirri and Peck grip the summit pylon for celebratory photos and dart back down
the hill. 
Spare
Mont Tendre vegetation, on the Chalet de Yens (or French) side of the mountain.
(Or more accurately, as Julien Zigliani points
out, the "French-facing side of the mountain", but still in Switzerland.) Dr
Pirri plods down the wintry side of Mont Tendre, 14 December 2003. 
A
nice view of Mont Tendre's lovely desolation. 
Near
the Cabane de Cunay, Dr Pirri no longer waiting for the weather to relent, and
preparing to have a whiz. 
Dr
J. Pirri approaching a tree and thinking about vicissitudes of life. 
14
December 2003 ends in a glorious manner over the Jura.
More
photos of Mont Tendre |
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 Feedback
and suggestions are welcome if positive, resented if negative,  .
All rights reserved, all wrongs avenged. Posted 27 February 2004, revised 12 March
2008.
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