The sounds of hundreds of wooden Swiss alpine horns filled the valley below Switzerland’s Mount Tracouet on July 22, as the Alphorn International Festival – the world’s largest festival of its kind concludes. /VCG Photo

More than 3,500 people attended this year’s event in the ski town of Nendaz in the Swiss canton of Valais above the Rhone River valley. /VCG Photo

Competitors, solo and in ensemble…Around 200 people dressed in folk costumes and blowing fiercely into their instruments unite for the grand finale where they play simultaneously. /VCG Photo

Alphorn, the traditional instrument, look like gigantic smoking pipes. Used historically by herders to call to their cows and are often blown in the evening, they resonate sounds that travel for miles. /VCG Photo