Switzerland has a centuries-old tradition of the Strahler, the crystal hunter who climbs into the high Alps to find quartz-lined fissures in the granite. The 2005 Planggenstock find near the Gotthard produced smoky quartz crystals over a metre long, some of the finest ever recovered in Europe, and Swiss museums hold spectacular Alpine specimens. Strahlen is REGULATED by canton and requires a permit; the mountains are serious ground.
Rock crystal, smoky quartz
Switzerland
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