I woke up long before the sun on my first morning at WhiteCap Alpine Lodge and peered out my window to a sky filled with starts and a layer of fog filling the valley floor. After a few weeks in the city the silence felt almost deafening. I crept down the stairs in the WoodHall building where I slept, out the front door and down the path toward the soft glow of the main lodge. This is where Ron, the patriarch of WhiteCap sat beside a wood burning fireplace with a fresh cup of coffee in hand, a pot on the stove. It is moments like these, quiet conversations around a fire dozens of miles from cell phone towers, cars and any other conscious human, that remind you of what is important in life. A story of a baby born on a set of stairs wrapped in newspaper, tales of children learning to ski in the backcountry and the indirect route that life (more often than not) takes.

A few months ago I was offered the opportunity to visit one of my favourite countries in the world and spend a week road tripping across the Swiss countryside as the autumn colours set in. After an amazing summer hiking in my backyard I was growing antsy and did not hesitate before saying yes to this opportunity.