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THE MOUNTAINS

The Alps in winter – a pristine world of great beauty

Daubed with snow and ice and interspersed with lakes and lush green valleys, the Alps spread across the southern and central regions of Switzerland to give the country its dominant physical presence. Below the mountains to the north lies the more populated and industrial Mittelland, beyond which the relatively low limestone range of the Jura folds into France.

Despite being created some 90–100 million years ago when Africa collided with the Eurasian tectonic plate, pushing the land into waves of rock that eventually took shape as the mountains we see today, the Alps are still young in geological terms. Constantly reshaping, their youthful nature is characterised by jagged peaks and sharp ridges sculpted by ice and water. As they rise, the mountains are being worn down. Frost shatters immense blocks. Glaciers gouge chunks of rock and spew them out as moraine debris, and year upon year their torrents bring down tens of thousands of tons of mountain in the shape of silt and mud to nourish the fertile lowland fields.