Hello from Switzerland

Thank you, @Bluejayway.
As the top of the Liver Buildings are illuminated blue, I'm guessing that your avatar photo is quite a recent one.

 

Fairly recent @900 m up , unfortunately I didn't take it myself

 

Never mind. It'll still be there (and probably still be blue) next time you make it up there, @Bluejayway.

 

You'll need a decent shelter belt there @900 m up !
That's almost Munro height [hills of 3,000 feet/915 m and above] so I'm familiar with the conditions. It'll be interesting to see what you grow though. If you're in a more protected area, there could be some very interesting specimens.
Not much grows here at that altitude apart from some low growing alpines and grass!

 

Conifers, grass and edelweiss @fairygirl?

 

Typical south-facing slope of a wide-ish river valley, @fairygirl, so we have the advantage of a lot of sunshine but lower temperatures at night and dew in the morning. Or we had until the last few years, which have been a little more... problematic.
Things are changing, for whatever reasons. One can see it in the forests. In the fauna too.

 

I think that's the problem everywhere now @900 m up . I've noticed big differences here where I am, and I've lived in this part of the world, or pretty near it, all my life. We'll all have to adapt our gardens and gardening no matter what changes are happening.
There was an item here recently about the alpine plants we have on/near the higher parts of our hills. Many are now at risk because they can't cope with the changes, and have nowhere to go because they're running out of hill. Very sad. The lack of snow on our hills, and the way it appears and then rapidly disappears, 'rinse and repeat', isn't normal either. Snow disappearing on the Alps? It's all topsy turvy.
I hope you can find a way through it. I look forward to seeing photos too

No conifers at that height @Obelix-Vendée. Trees of any kind struggle above about 1,500 feet, unless they're protected, just because of wind, weather and exposure, not to mention deer. Sideways is about all they manage!

 

Well, there always seemed to be plenty of conifers when we went skiing in the Mont Blanc area @fairygirl. Maybe there's more soil for their roots in the Alps and sunnier summers to help them grow. Get enough trees together and they shelter each other tho acid rain was doing damage last time we went.

Argentière is 1200m up and Les Contamines-Montjoie 1150. After we had Possum we'd go with friends and their kids to Livigno which is 1800. The slopes were always above the towns and plenty of trees.

 

It's the protection from the ski resort buildings that largely makes the difference here @Obelix-Vendée hence my comment about protection.
There are trees in/around most of our ski resorts up here, although mainly natives like birch, rowan, Scots pines etc, as the climate and soil suits them all well, but they only grow to a smaller size, and often sideways, because of the general conditions. In larger countries, that size alone makes a difference to the growing conditions too. Scotland is tiny compared to most, if not all, of the European ski areas, so weather creates a different scenario.

The ever present deer population also keeps them in check, which is another headache for any landowners trying to get forests reinstated at lower levels!

 

I know what you mean about those buildings @fairygirl but we've always skied from villages that became ski resorts and were not purpose built concrete jungles up a mountain. Not our idea of fun. I don't think deer live that high in the Alps and Dolomites.

Deer culling must be a constant programme in some areas of Scotland.

 

It's a difficult and often contentious subject [deer] @Obelix-Vendée , because they have no natural predators now. People get angry about culling, but in order to keep a herd healthy, there has to be a method of controlling it in order for the majority to thrive. It's a survival of the fittest approach, removing the weakest, just as it would happen naturally if predators were present. There simply wouldn't be enough habitat for all of them if left, and that affects the whole herd.

I understand what you mean about villages rather than a purpose built ski centre, but it's also the terrain, and the amount of it, that makes it easier for forestry to establish, and thrive well enough, in those bigger countries too. Canada's the same in that respect. It's what makes the whole thing so varied though, and it's why people come from all over the world to climb our hills, because they might be smaller, but the constantly changing conditions make them very challenging

Sorry - I've gone a bit 'off piste' there folks