The Quiet Pull of the Mountains

Six years ago, Xenia and her husband made a decision that most people only dream about. They left Germany behind and moved to Switzerland, drawn by something very specific: the chance to live closer to the mountains.

Where It Started

The story doesn't begin in Switzerland. It begins in Bavaria, where Xenia and her husband were living when the Alps first entered their lives, close enough to reach on a weekend, far enough to still feel like an adventure.

What started as occasional hiking trips quickly became something else entirely. Not a hobby exactly. More like a steady pull that kept growing.

"It quickly became a passion and a major part of our lives," she says. If she had to name the sport that started it all, there is no hesitation in her answer. It was hiking. Not skiing, not cycling, not anything more adrenaline-fueled. Walking, slowly, into the mountains, again and again, until the mountains became impossible to live without.

"One of the main reasons we decided to move to Switzerland was to be closer to the mountains and spend more time outdoors," she says.

Today she lives in the Appenzell region, where the Alps begin almost at her doorstep.

“I still feel incredibly grateful for that every day.”

A Year Built Around the Outdoors

Ask Xenia what season she loves best and she'll tell you, honestly, that she tries to love all of them. But summer and autumn hold a special place. The mountains shed their snow, the trails open fully, and the days are long enough for any kind of adventure. Autumn in particular, she says, has a clarity to it. Crisp air, stable weather, and views that stretch for what feels like forever.

Spring, surprisingly, is the trickiest season of all. The valleys turn green and the wildflowers bloom, but higher up, old snowfields linger longer than expected, and what looks like an easy hike from the trailhead can turn unexpectedly difficult halfway up.

Winter has changed too, in ways that worry her. Living at roughly 1,000 meters above sea level, she has watched the snow become less and less reliable with each passing year. Some seasons, the local ski slopes barely open at all. Where she once might have skied, she now hikes instead, even in the heart of winter. It is a quiet but telling detail about how the mountains she loves are shifting beneath her.

Skiing itself has become a smaller part of her life than it once was. What she misses most are the classic powder days, fresh snow, total silence, the world made suddenly soft and white. Those days, she says, are getting rarer. Many resorts now lean heavily on artificial snow, and the slopes feel busier and more reliant on machines than the mountain itself.

“I increasingly enjoy ski touring, which allows me to escape the crowds and experience the mountains in a more peaceful way.”

There is a common image of hiking as the gentle cousin of more extreme mountain sports, an easy walk, a nice view, nothing more. Xenia is quick, and generous, in correcting that impression.

"There is a huge difference between a scenic walking trail and a demanding mountain route," she says. The Alps offer both, often within the same valley, and learning to tell them apart, and to know her own limits within them, has become one of the central lessons of her years in the mountains.

She has learned, sometimes the hard way, that turning around is not a failure. Difficult terrain, shifting weather, a route that exceeds what her body or her judgment can safely handle on a given day, all of these are simply part of the calculation.

"The challenge of alpine hiking is not only physical," she says. It demands patience. It demands respect. It demands the humility to admit, mid-climb, that today is not the day.

“That's one of the reasons I enjoy it so much. There is always something new to learn, and the mountains keep you humble.”

The Alpstein

If Xenia has a home range, it is the Alpstein, the dramatic limestone massif that rises just beyond her doorstep in the Appenzell region of eastern Switzerland.

It is not the tallest range in the Swiss Alps. Its highest peak, the Säntis, reaches just over 2,500 meters, modest by Alpine standards. But what the Alpstein lacks in elevation, it makes up for in character. Walk through rolling green pastures dotted with grazing cows, and within the space of an hour you can find yourself surrounded by sheer limestone cliffs, narrow ridgelines, and peaks that look almost sculpted, jagged and improbable against the sky.

"What makes it special is the contrast," Xenia says. Crystal-clear mountain lakes sit beneath towering rock faces. Waterfalls appear where you least expect them.

“Despite its relatively small size, the Alpstein offers everything from easy hikes to challenging alpine routes. For me, it's one of the most beautiful mountain regions in Switzerland, the perfect combination of natural beauty, adventure, and tranquility.”

If a visiting athlete asked Xenia where to go, she wouldn't hesitate. She would take them past Seealpsee, a still alpine lake that mirrors the jagged peaks above it on a windless day, to the Äscher mountain hut, built directly into a cliff face and considered one of the most photographed huts in Switzerland, to the Schäfler ridge, where the view opens in every direction at once, and finally toward the Saxer Lücke, a dramatic gap in the rock known for its view of the jagged peaks beyond.

What She Hasn't Done Yet

There is something refreshing in the way Xenia talks about her own limits.

Asked about Switzerland's legendary cycling passes, she doesn't pretend to an expertise she doesn't have.

"I'm probably not the best person to ask," she admits. Most of her cycling happens close to home, on quieter roads through rolling countryside, far from the famous climbs that appear in every cycling magazine.

One route remains firmly on her bucket list: the Furka Pass.

She has driven it several times and has been captivated by the scenery, but she has never ridden it herself.

Even so, it remains the route she most wants to experience on two wheels.

“The Furka Pass is definitely on my bucket list. Even without having ridden it myself yet, I think it represents everything that makes cycling in the Swiss Alps so special.”

Where She'd Go Next

Ask Xenia about her dream destination and the answer takes her, surprisingly, out of Europe entirely.

The Atlas Mountains of Morocco. A range that climbs to over 4,000 meters at its highest point, Toubkal, the tallest peak in North Africa, rising improbably out of landscapes that, just a short drive away, turn to desert.

It is exactly the kind of contrast that draws her in. "You have vast desert landscapes, and not far away stands a mountain range with peaks rising above 4,000 meters," she says. For someone who has spent years learning to read the particular textures of the Alps, the idea of alpine terrain rising directly out of North Africa's deserts is almost impossible to resist.

It remains, for now, a destination on the horizon. But knowing Xenia, it is only a matter of time.

Start Small

If there is one piece of advice Xenia would give to someone hesitant to start, it is this: don't compare yourself to anyone else.

"There are many different difficulty levels when it comes to hiking," she says. "You don't need to do an extreme mountain hike to discover beautiful places or enjoy breathtaking views." In many parts of the Alps, a cable car can carry you most of the way up, leaving an easy, gentle walk to the summit and a view that rivals anything earned through hours of climbing.

The way in doesn't have to be dramatic. It simply has to begin.

“The most important thing is simply to get started and find what you enjoy.”

Six years ago, that is exactly what she did. Today, she is still following that same quiet pull, one trail, one season, and one mountain at a time.

Follow Xenia on Instagram: @xenia_michelle

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