The Heididorf hike, Switzerland
At six years old the narrator received a plastic‑covered copy of Heidi from Santa, which became a treasured symbol of freedom and mountain life. Two years ago she decided to seek the “smell of mountain air” described in the book. After searching online she identified the village of Heididorf near St Moritz and a car‑free hamlet in the Fex Valley an hour’s walk from Sils Maria. She arrived in Sils Maria, then walked an hour along a winding cobblestone path past thatched farmhouses with flower‑laden window boxes, reaching the inn Hotel Sonne Fex, a four‑generation family establishment. The innkeeper greeted her with schnapps, goat cheese, and warm bread; she notes the desire to braid her hair and run through the meadow.
Over the next days she set out each morning from the inn on marked trails that rose to alpine lakes and viewpoints. She observes groups of older couples in bright Gortex jackets and Nordic trekking poles, describing them as “Prince Charming”‑type hikers with aluminum bottles and carabiners. While initially viewing them as “top‑of‑the‑food‑chain” conquerors, she experiences a shift after several hours of ascent: the mountain seems to “hug” her, pulling her into its rhythm, quieting her internal narrative about calories, fatigue, and snacks. She describes the feeling as a centrifugal force that envelops her, allowing her to sit on peaks, watch the expansive landscape, and sense the mountain as a steady companion.
Later, her longtime friend Libby, now living in Zurich, joins her. They meet in Sils Maria for coffee and pastry, then set off around a lake toward Grevasalvas and the Via Engadina. Their conversation touches on how often they reconnect (every five years, increasingly often now) and how to make life richer and more service‑oriented. As they crest the final rise they see Heididorf nestled below, with wooden barns and cobblestones, and Libby yodels, producing a “melancholy, primal sound” that resonates through the mountains.
On the narrator’s last day in Sils Maria she notices a cottage in the town centre that was once Friedrich Nietzsche’s residence during his 1881 convalescence. She learns that Nietzsche walked the same trails while drafting Thus Spoke Zarathustra, believing that great thoughts arise in motion. She visits the modest museum housing his letters and notes, and reflects on the coincident timing of Nietzsche’s existential musings with the earlier publication of Heidi. She muses that both the fictional orphan and the real philosopher sought refuge from the disenchanting modern world in the Alpine environment, linking their quests to a broader yearning for moral and existential grounding beyond a “more‑more‑more” capitalist system.