If ski hills can guarantee snow, those around Gstaad, Switzerland, will certainly be among them.

Gstaad hasn’t messed around with snow conditions this year.

The Swiss ski area has invested an impressive amount of resources into snow making over the course of the winter season.

Bergbahnen Destination Gstaad AG, the area’s lift operating compant, added snow making equipment to provide an extra 11.8km of additional snow-covered slopes.

Continue reading ‘It’s all about the snow at Gstaad’

Once the ice and snow leaves, all that's left are cracked rocks which cause dangerous rock slides.

Rock slides blocking prominent alpine routes have become a prominent issue in the Alps.

Due to global warming, the permafrost is unfreezing by degrees, giving way to a fast erosion of high peaks like the Swiss Matterhorn.

An interdisciplinary team from the Universities of Basel and Zurich and other organisations are researching the processes involved in a project called “Permasense” and have installed battery-powered sensors in some of the key affected areas including the Matterhorn above Zermatt and the Jungfraujoch to gather information.

Continue reading ‘Researchers dig into Alpine rockslides caused by global warming’

This toboggan run has a long history.

The famous Cresta Run at St Moritz was first built as a toboggan run several decades before downhill skiing took off as a winter sport.

Built by visiting British tourists in the mid-1880s, the run celebrates its 125th anniversary this winter.

The Cresta Run remains privately-operated by the British St. Moritz Tobogganing Club, which is based in the original St Moritz luxury hotel, The Kulm. The Club still only allows men to descend the run, except on the last day of its operation each winter, and the high speed run on a small metal sled is not for the faint-hearted. The ‘Cresta kiss’ impact injury is a common occurrence.

Continue reading ‘The run that’s older than skiing itself’

Swiss fans celebrate in Whistler Village on Monday night.

On this fifth day of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Switzerland and it’s fans in Whistler are still celebrating yesterday’s two gold medals.

Swiss skier Didier Defago took the men’s downhill crown on Monday to hand his country a first Olympic gold medal in downhill in 22 years. The veteran Defago clocked 1:54.31 down the 3,105-metre-long Dave Murray downhill run at Whistler.

On the same day, Switzerland’s Dario Cologna underlined his status as one of cross-country’s rising stars by taking Olympic gold in the men’s 15km freestyle.

The Swiss fans celebrated in the Whistler Village all night, chanting, dancing, and ringing their cowbells.

Continue reading ‘Olympic Update: Swiss ski sensations, men’s super combined postponed’

The Alps have some of the most picturesque mountains and glaciers in the world, but some fear that may change.

Bollywood film companies and stars have been asked to help promote an eco-friendly message in the Alps by environmental groups.

Bollywood film companies are currently making up to 20 films a year in the Alps, thanks in part to inducements by the Swiss government, with Innsbruck a particularly favoured spot. Now the Austria-based Alpine Convention is asking them to highlight the plight of Europe’s leading mountain range in the face of global warming.

Continue reading ‘Filmmakers, shed a light on the melting Alps: Environmentalists’

Nendaz is a less crowded alternative to nearby Verbier.

If you aren’t getting enough excitement from your Alpine vacations, you may want to try flying through the air at night.

Nendaz, near Verbier in the Swiss 4 Valleys, has introduced an unusual attraction this winter – hang-gliding by moonlight.

This rather energetic evening activity begins with climbing the slopes in snowshoes and ends with a return to the valley with a tandem para-glider flight by moonlight. The resort also offers fondue served in an igloo especially constructed for the occasion, or if conditions are not good for igloo-building, in a mountain hut.

Continue reading ‘Paragliding by moonlight’

Igloo villages are a big tourist attraction.

Iglu Villages have opened for the winter at seven Alpine locations, each requiring 3000 tonnes of snow to provide their storm-proof lodging.

In addition to Gstaad, Davos-Klosters, Zermatt, Engelberg, the Zugspitze and Grandvalira in Andorra, an Igloo Village will also be offered for the first time in St. Moritz.

The new St. Moritz igloo village has been created at a stunning location next to the top station Muottas Muragl, offering a view over the Upper Engadine lakes. Two large igloos, decorated with artistic ice sculptures, provide guests with the perfect setting to while away the hours in cosy surroundings – whether as a place to stop during a winter hike, for some reinforcements before tobogganing down the slopes or for a gourmet evening by candlelight.

Continue reading ‘Bringing igloo villages to the Alps’