I’m high in the Swiss Alps in a tiny mountain hut on a perch called Ebenalp. Here, a spry grandpa in a sweater as worn as his face pulls a wide-eyed child onto his lap to teach him to drum with old wooden spoons, as the old-timer next to him pumps on his squeezebox. Tall,…

The villagers of the Swiss Alps have an endearingly intimate relationship with the nature that surrounds them, the history of their valley, and the folk legends that make that history even more interesting. And, taking a hike there with a local comes with as many cultural insights as it does alpine views. I’m spending my…