We started out slowly, thanks to a late summer heatwave and our reluctance to leave the homemade granola, strong coffee, and eggs with bacon at our trail runner's basecamp, La Bergère. But with so many trails out the door, we started up through the old village houses of Ayer and into the forest shade. The Valais region tends to have many of our favorite runs, and even after a week in the Val d'Anniviers, we couldn't get enough of the traversing forest trails. 

Above treeline, we cruised singletrack on both sides of the Bella Vouarda pass. Le Toûno loomed above, but an intricate passage along a river trail called us in its direction and we followed it down towards Combavert and another fantastic forest traverse. Finally, a mix of gravel road and trail merged back to the trail we came up on, and we dropped right back to where we started and ready for a home cooked dinner. Seeing Ayer's ice cold fountains as tiny swimming pools, we didn't let the curious looks of the faces peering through curtains stop us from jumping in.

While you are in the Val d'Anniviers, be sure to also hit the Ayer Hotel Weisshorn run. Or, for something bordering on epic, the Sasseneire.