After a green Christmas and New Year’s, snow is back! Went for a snowshoe hike up at Raten in -7°C temps on a foggy morning. I was the first hiker of the day, so I had to break trail the whole way. Tomorrow is forecast to be even colder.

A leafless tree covered in snow on a foggy morning.
A snowy field bordered by conifer trees covered in snow on a foggy morning.

Today I jumped in the Ägerisee (lake Ägeri) as part of an annual Christmas Swim event organized by the local expat community. Water temperature was 5.8°C while air temperature was maybe 9°C and sunny. We went last year but just watched. This was my first year jumping in. I hadn’t been in the lake since the summer.

I often walk past this unassuming little chapel. It just sits there chilling next to a barn and a farmhouse. One day I realized that it was over 350 years old, so more than 100 years older than the United States. Carry on, little chapel. No doubt you will sit there long after I am gone.

Small white chapel with a steep roof sitting on a snow-covered hillside next to a wooden barn.

This morning was not a great time to be outdoors. I didn’t mind the cold and rain so much as the wind (which rendered an umbrella useless). As I ascended out of the valley, the rain turned to sleet and snow (and back into rain again when I descended).

Landscape view of rolling farm fields mostly covered in snow leading down to a gray lake and a fog-shrouded valley.