Travel: High adventure finds its natural home in the Swiss Alps

Isabel Conway experiences an idyllic and ski-free Swiss adventure holiday perfect for the slope-shy, from e-biking to deer-spotting to making your own paté

Under its ‘Nature wants you back’ slogan, Verbier and the Val de Bagnes region has been to the forefront in pushing transformational travel. Picture: Getty

Majestic mountains encircle a glacial lake, a deep turquoise blue expanse nestled in a spectacular Swiss alpine setting, clasping it in their craggy fists. Yet all that beauty hides dark secrets, here at the top of Europe’s highest arch dam in the heart of Switzerland’s second-largest nature reserve.

Glaciers were already changing their character, melting, advancing and retreating when scientific interest in them was triggered for the first time a century and a half ago. ...