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Car-gazing, sailing on Lake Geneva or skiing this weekend: you choose

We’ll start with some photos, to help the choice

click on images to view larger

Iced-up boat in Versoix near Geneva, 10 March 2010 (photo Peter Brodbeck)

Geneva Motor Show 2010 (image: Mr Kio)

Jura near Geneva, 10 March 2010 (photo: Shirley Curran)

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The sun is shining, slopes are gleaming, the ice around the edge of Lake Geneva is melting and the wind has finally died down after a week’s drubbing. Skiing beckons, all the  more so with Swiss skier Carlo Janka putting in a spectacular performance in Germany Friday morning, winning the World Cup’s Crystal Globe for the most points all season.

Weather forecast

Pull out your skis, but keep the warm clothes, including that rarity in the Swiss Alps, thermal underwear, handy. Friday and Saturday mostly sunny with highs of 5C on the plain and 7C in canton Valais, -8C at 2,000 metres. Sunday sunny to partly cloudy, temperatures the same.

Good news once you’re off the slopes: it should warm up to 10C Tuesday and 15C Wednesday. Welcome March spring weather!

Alpine resorts

It’s the winding down season, but the slopes are in good shape with recent snow and cold weather keeping it powdery.

Events in Alpine resorts this weekend:

• Crans-Montana, Friday night skiing is be open again and with clear skies should be spectacular
• Vercorin, a good family resort, has 20 teams competing in dog races this weekend
• Villars has off-piste skiing

If you’re looking for something a bit different and are free on Tuesday 16 March, you can snowshoe in Zinal, at the end of the Val d’Anniviers, and visit inside the Zinal glacier! From 09:30-16:30.

Jura report, from Shirley Curran

Conditions are wonderful in the Jura resorts at the moment. We still have an excellent cover of snow which is rock-hard and likely to last until the next thaw that is predicted towards the middle of next week. Be warned, though. Conditions are arctic up there. We have had high winds and were “frigorifiés” according to one of the lift operators – so take your face mask and lots of warm clothes. Even with the sun, which has been shining all day, conditions don’t warm up much. We registered -12C Wednesday!

Sadly, the Crozet sector is going to be closed on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays starting next Monday, 15 March. It is for reasons of economy, not for lack of snow. This means that there will be no access to the resort of Crozet/Lélex from the Geneva basin via the télécabine du Fierney and the télésiège des Bergers. If you have bought a season ticket, I feel that you have good reason to write a letter of protest. La Faucille/Mijoux and the Lélex sectors will be running until the end of our season, on 6 April, and both resorts will operate fully on Wednesdays, at weekends and on Easter Monday.

Lake Geneva boardwalk (photo 2010, Peter Brodbeck)

Boating on Lake Geneva: we cannot recommend this for the weekend. Take a closer look at the ice on and around Lake Geneva, photos by GenevaLunch regular contributor Peter Brodbeck. One visitor to GenevaLunch commented that his favourite is the frozen bench. “Looks like a good place to sober up.”

Geneva Motor Show: this weekend is your last chance to see vehicles that range from the phenomenal to sweetly green. Whether or not you make it to the often-packed show, which is not for the claustrophobic, you can gaze at the cars in the Geneva Motor Show 2010 album of photos by contributors Mr Kio and Peter Brodbeck. We’ll be adding to it over the weekend. Motor Show tips, hours and more from GenevaLunch

And if skiing, boating and car-gazing don’t tempt you, hold your breath. The Swiss Indoor National Apnea Championships have just been announced: 18 April in Lausanne. “Some 30 athletes will be competing in static and dynamic apnea disciplines where capacity for breath hold and stress management will be crucial to winning a national title,” and the competitions are open to foreign athletes as well as Swiss-based ones, according to the press release sent out. Start holding your breath, now.