A Sniff To Save

It can detect a person buried under six metres of snow. PERVEZ CAMA, who travelled to the Swiss Alps, traces the history of St Bernard, a dog groomed to rescue travellers, and now part of popular culture.

- Pervez Cama

I WAS on an unusual mission in the snowy landscape of the Swiss Alps: to discover the history and antecedence of one of the world’s most popular dogs, the St Bernard. When we began our ascent, we were enchanted by the quintessential Swiss alpine scenery with its precipitous and thickly wooded hills, massive vertical rock faces and pretty, flower decked wooden cottages. However, this was a difficult journey in inhospitable environs.

The final stretch of the road up the mountain was long, circuitous and seemingly endless. Every turn revealed a desolate landscape dominated by rocky terrain and boulders. All around, the characteristic jagged peaks of the lofty Swiss Alps kissed the sky. It looked daunting even from the comfortable ambience of our vehicle. Centuries ago, during winter, it would have been forbidding for a traveller to negotiate this treacherous mountain road from Martigny in Switzerland to Aosta in Italy.

The road finally opened out and a simple signboard announced that we had reached our destination—the Col du Grand St Bernard, a pass a height of about 2,470 metres. This is the oldest pass in the western Alps, and importantly, this is also the location of an ancient monastery on the border of the two countries—Switzerland and Italy—where monks live their pious lives. Ahead lies a lake, bordered by sheer stony walls that culminate in a line of intimidating tooth-like peaks, and beyond which, the road traverses the equally intimidating slopes that descend into Italy.