Xherdan Shaqiri, moving to Munich from Basel in 2012 (photo, Wikipedia)
BASEL, SWITZERLAND – Months of speculation in the football world ended Thursday 9 February with the announcement by football club Bayern Munich that it has signed Swiss player Xherdan Shaqiri to a four-year contract.
The transfer from FC Basel 1893 takes place 1 July 2012.
Shaqiri, an international player who plays for Basel in the Swiss Super League as well as on the national team, is just 5-foot six tall.
The midfielder was described as “one of the most sought-after talents in European football” by Bayern director of sport Christian Nerlinger.
The 20-year-old grew up in Basel and in January 2009, despite being wooed by other clubs, he signed his first professional contract with FC Basel.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A 17-year-old Valais youth was caught by an avalanche Sunday 5 February while skiiing off-piste with his 47-year-old father near Anzères in canton Valais.
The two, who were ski touring, had just left a groomed slope for Pointe d’Hérémence. At 2,750 metres, between La Motte and Chamossaire, the avalanche was triggered as the first skier, the son, headed down. He stayed on top of the avalanche, which was 250 metres long and 40 metres wide. His father immediately called for help and the youth, who suffered minor injuries to his knees, was flown to the hospital in Sion.
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND’S – Lewis Hamilton‘s five-year relationship with Switzerland appears to be drawing to a close, with the Formula 1 racer said to be moving from Zurich to Monaco, according to the Daily Mail. Hamilton moved to Geneva in 2007, then to Zurich in 2010. He will join a small herd of F1 drivers in Monaco, which hosts one of the circuit’s biggest races.
"El Pisolero" Alberto Contador during the 2011 Tour de France (photo, SaxoBank)
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Spain’s Alberto Contador has been suspended from cycling for two years after the CAS sports tribunal in Lausanne, TAS, found him guilty on one count of doping. The winner of the 2010 Tour de France loses his crown as a result; it should now go to Andy Schleck of Luxembourg who came in second.
Contador was accused of using clenbuterol. The rider argued that he ate steak from a Basque producer, which accounted for its presence in his system.
Clenbuterol is sometimes used by farmers, although its use is banned in Europe. The hearing was in November but the CAS issued a statement earlier saying the final decision would be delayed because media rumours about the fairness of the hearing had prompted the organization to ensure the parties all agreed to the members of the panel.
The three-member panel’s president, Efraim Barak of Israel, had refused at one point to accept testimony of an expert witness brought in by Contador’s lawyers.
The two other members of the panel are Swiss: Quentin Byrne-Sutton, a Geneva lawyer, and Ulrich Haas, a Zurich professor.
Contador is the second Tour de France winner to lose his title for doping; Floyd Landis, American, lost it in 2006 title after testing positive for testosterone.
MURRAYFIELD, SCOTLAND – England achieved a rare win in Scotland, 4 February, but it did little convince the fans that there will be much attractive rugby coming from the team. The one try was from a clearance kick being charged down by Charlie Hodgson, while Scotland wasted many scoring chances with careless handling. The game ended 6-13. France looked far better as they swept past Italy 30-12. The most exciting game was Ireland against Wales, where the visitors fought back to take the game 21-23 in the final minute.
Links to other sites: RBS 6 Nations, Guardian, Wales Online
Pack your thermal underwear!
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – We’re heading for the slopes shortly, so this will be short and sweet: a great weekend of skiing and snowboarding is out that for those who are ready to brave the cold.
Weather forecast, avalanche conditions, snow depth
Snow whipped off rooftops and swirled around village streets near Lake Geneva, Friday morning
From now until Tuesday: sunny skies with icy temperatures. Everywhere. Wild winds that are already whipping up Lake Geneva are likely to continue through the weekend, “adding to the impression of fierce cold”, says the national weather service, MeteoSwiss.
Temperatures of -10Cwith a high of -8 in Geneva Friday will keep falling, to -12 with a high of -6 by Sunday, and only -7 Tuesday.
Southern Alps areas and the Jura will be some of the cold spots, with La Chaux-de-fonds and Zermatt having overnight lows of -21C Saturday.
Strong winds, up to 55 and 65 kph over the weekend will build in strength, reaching 75kph in many areas and 95kph in Eastern Switzerland at the start of next week.
Snow depth
Small amounts of new snow have fallen in most mountain areas in the past three days. The depth at 2,000 metres throughout the Alps remains more than 200cm and will remain that way given the cold spell. The depth in the Jura is 20-50cm even at 1,200metres.
Avalanche risks are relatively low, 2/5 in most areas except northern Ticino, where it is 3/5.
Jura report
by Shirley Curran
Although the snow conditions are superb, it is extremely cold up on our local hills and the temperatures are due to drop every day until Sunday when we might expect a very slight rise, from the predicted -20C to minus 17! The bise wind is due to strengthen.
If you enjoy feathery light snow and extremely cold weather, this is the time to head for the Jura – but wrap up well and plan lots of stops for hot wine or hot chocolate. The cold is fearsome! As always, I recommend that you check the webcams and the website at Monts-Jura.com before you load up the car.
Alps report: sun and cold weather should provide some perfect skiing, but check resorts for wind closings before you head out, given that the wind is likely to pick up as the weekend goes on. Check our previous winter weekend snow and winter sports reports for links to a number of resorts.
Verbier piste avalanche 1 February 2012
Avalanche on the piste at la Croix de Cœur, Verbier, 1 February 2012
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – There were happily no victims when a sizeable avalanche swept across a groomed ski slope in Verbier at 10:30 Wednesday morning 1 February.
The run was open but rescue workers, who immediately combed the area,say there were no victims. The avalanche occurred at la Croix de Cœur (Le Clou) and it is not yet clear what triggered it. It was 200m long, 20m wide and less than 2m deep on the piste.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Frederic Veseli, a Swiss Under-17 defender, says he is “very happy” to be joining Manchester United, which pinched him from rival Manchester City. He moves onto the team’s reserve side initially.
Veseli, 19, went to Manchester City in 2008 from Lausanne Sport. He made his name in 2009 when he captained the Swiss team to the Under 17s World Cup championship.
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA- It took more than five and a half hours, ending after one thirty in the morning, 29 January. Novak Djokovic finally wore down Rafa Nadal in the men’s final of the Australian Open 5-7, 6-4, 6-2,6-7, 7-5. Nadal took the first set but Djokovic swept past him in the next two and looked like he would cruise to victory. That would have happened against any other player except Nadal, but the Spaniard battled back to take the fourth and then seemed to be grinding Djokovic down in the fifth. The Serb found more energy from somewhere to break Nadal’s serve in the 11th game and then had only to hold serve to win. Nadal twice played his get out of jail cards but eventually he could do no more. The longest Grand Slam final was finally over.
In the women’s final Victoria Azarenko, from Belorussia, swept past the Russian Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-0 in one of the shorter finals. The win also took Azarenka to the top of the WTA rankings, taking over from Caroline Wozniacki, so at last we have a Grand Slam winner who has won a Grand Slam tournament.
Links to other sites: Australian Open, Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald
Putting the Russians on ice takes on a glorious new meaning in Sheffield
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Evgeni Plushenko came out of retirement as a figure skater and Saturday evening in Sheffield, England, the 29-year-old, in a best-of-career performance, gave the crowd more than they asked for. He won the European Championship title, his 7th, with 176.52 points in the free skate for a total of 261.23, bettering his previous total of 258.33 in Torino in 2006, according to ESPN. The performance had the crowd on its feet as the only living holder of three gold medals in the sport skated to “Tango de Roxanne” from the film Moulin Rouge.
He plucked the title away from his protegé, fellow Russian Artur Gachinski, age 18, World bronze medalist, who out-skated him Thursday night in the Men’s Short Programme, by a hair, with Gachinski scoring 84.80 and Plushenko 84.71 points to put the younger man temporarily in the lead.
France’s Florent Amodio came in third.
Saturday night’s win was all the more impressive because Plushenko didn’t have enough points to enter the competition and had to be given an exemption, following health problems. A knee that requires surgery will keep him out of the World Championship in March.
You don’t have to be Russian or a figure-skating fan to be in awe of the show Russian skaters have put on in Sheffield this week for the European figure-skating championships, taking top titles. They won the top three spots in the Pairs Free Programme Thursday and Gachinski and Plushenko took first and second in the Men’s Short Thursday, then reversed roles for the final this evening.
Links to other sites: ESPN, Europeans 2012 official site, Yahoo Eurosport
Thursday’s short programme, Plushenko, European 2012 Championship
ABU DHABI, UAE – The England cricket team again snatched defeat from the brink of victory when the batting collapsed to 72 all out in the second test against Pakistan, 28 January. It looked like England had a good chance of leveling the series when Monty Panesar celebrated his return to the team by taking six for 66. However, the English batsmen failed to cope with the Pakistani spinners Abdur Rehman (six for 25) and Saeed Ajmal (three for 22.) The England position at the top of the test rankings is looking increasingly suspect.
Links to other sites: Yahoo Cricket, Guardian, Hindustani Times
GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHE, GERMANY – Didier Cuche won his second successive downhill race since announcing he would retire at the end of the season. He beat Canadian Erik Guay by 0.27 of a second on the Garmisch piste with Austrian Hannes Reichelt coming in third, 28 January. The veteran skier fronm Neuchatel had to wait till Bode Miller came down wearing number 46 to be sure of victory as the American star was sent down the start list for being late for the distribution of dossardss. Cuche also went into top spot in the downhill World Cup classification as the Bernese Beat Feuz only came in 23rd.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – This report is coming to you a bit later than usual as we waited for the ski news to improve and, happily, it has, but it’s not the perfect weekend for beginners. Sunday promises occasional glimpses of sun.
Yes there is snow, fresh snow, throughout much of the Alps, the depth is excellent everywhere and there is good powder. The snow line has been falling since early morning, to 400 metres in some areas.
The less happy news, for those who like blue skies, is that there aren’t any: gray is the norm. And for less confident skiers, whiteout conditions come and go, especially at relatively low altitudes.
In the news: Vaud is studying the option of a super-region that would connect Gstaad-Diableret-Villars-Gryon. The canton has ordered the “Vision Alpes vaudoises 2020″ study that estimates it would cost CHF160 million to build new lifts to link up the resorts and to recreate others, notably in the Glacier 3000 area. Other runs could be closed.
Note that the Vaud Alps resorts share an information web site, which has useful information in English, but if the links don’t take you anywhere try switching to French.
Keep French and Swiss school holiday dates in mind if you’re planning a ski trip in the near future, as the slopes become much busier at these times. Geneva school break starts 11 February, Vaud and Neuchatel break starts 25 February and French schools break at these times depending on their zones.
This weekend Swiss mountain roads are very icy and chains will be needed in more places than usual, with daytime temperatures just above zero then falling at dusk.
Weather forecast
Temperatures will start to fall, with daytime highs of 2 Sunday in most of Western Switzerland. A mixed snow and sun picture: intermittent snow is expected, with occasional sunshine.
Looking ahead, MeteoSwiss says we could be in for one of the coldest snaps in February in years, with highs next weekend already falling, to -6 and -7.
Special activities, offers in resorts this week
Anzeres has a deal worth considering: reserve before 31 January and you can get 20 percent off on several things including a number of hotels and apartments, ski passes, and equipment rentals.
Gstaad kicks off a winter season of 16 concerts at the beautiful old Rougement church, Sunday 29 January.
Leysin/Les Mosses hosts the start of the beautiful Transalp dog races 30 January. This run that covers 160 km of mountain terrain ends 5 February and is one of the highlights of the Alpine purebred Huskies dog race season.
You can now buy package tickets that combine various fun things like fondue dinners with the Villars Night Show that starts 11 February and is on Saturdays and Wednesdays through March.
Jura report
by Shirley Curran
We have another week before the French holidays begin in earnest and we have been favoured this year by great falls of snow. More is expected at the end of the week. As always, it is a good idea to log in to Monts-jura.com and check the webcams to see our impressive conditions for yourself. Snow depth: 120-155cm, depending on the station.
Ed. note: the site corrected Friday evening’s forecast noting that Saturday morning opened with clear skies, although the web cams show clouding over by noon, so definitely check the site for the latest updates.
Alpine resorts
Holding up against the snow - just
Anzere The snowcross (snowmobile) races as well as the 4x mountain bike on snow races scheduled for Saturday 28 January have been postponed; stay tuned for an update.
Crans-Montana Mostly open, with little wind in the region. Snow conditions superb.
Gstaad 80% of runs are open, but whiteout conditions throughout much of the area
Leysin Slopes open, except superpipe snow park, and hints of sunshine. A highlight this winter, with the great snow, is the village toboggan park that features 8 corridors of 150-200 metres and snow tubing, open from 10-20:00
Verbier Virtually everything open, avalanche risk down to level 2, snow depth at Les Gentianes at 310cm and for the good skiers who love this place, the gray skies won’t matter, although with temperatures at -3 to -10, it’s chillier than it’s been.
Villars Mostly open, 10cm of fresh snow added to the 235cm depth.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Rafael Nadal is back in form, at Roger Federer’s expense, with the former winning their Australian Open semi-finals match 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4Thursday morning 26 January, Swiss time. The match had some fine moments, but Federer failed to rise to the challenge at times, and at one point lost 11 straight points. But he also came to net 57 times and won 35 of those points.
In the end, it was Nadal’s increased aggressiveness that wore down Federer, who has not won a Grand Slam match against the younger player since 2007.
The pair have been playing another match in the background, according to the Australian Open, a feverish social media popularity competition.
Nadal now plays the winner of tomorrow’s match between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic.
Links to other sites: Australian Open, ESPN, Sydney Morning Herald
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The long-discussed future home for the Geneva-Servette Hockey Club came closer to reality with the announcement Tuesday 24 January that it will be built on the Trèfle-Blanc site in the commune of Lancy. The canton, city and club jointly announced the news, saying that they have agreed with Lancy to undertake an in-depth feasibility study, which is being assigned to an international group of professionals, that will include the broader economic impact of the rink.
GSHC’s current rink is scheduled to be replaced by 2015.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Rafael Nadal defeated Tomas Berdych Tuesday 24 January in the Australian Open, 6-7 7-6 6-4 6-3 , giving himself an invitation in the process to face off against Roger Federer in the semi-finals. Berdych made Nadal work for the win, which took 4 hours 16 minutes.
The Nadal-Federer match, with both players in top form, is Thursday morning Swiss time.
Federer for his part played his 1,000th match Tuesday morning and showed no signs that being 30 is slowing him down, commented TSR (Fr). He won solidly against Juan Martin Del Potro, 6-4 6-3 6-2.
KITZBUHEL, AUSTRIA – Neuchatel veteran Didier Cuche won his fifth victory on the legendary Streif course, breaking the record of Austrian hero Franz Klammer, 21 January. The downhill course was shortened by more than a third because of the amount of fresh snow and limited visibility but this did not prevent Cuche, who had announced just two days earlier that he would retire at the end of the season, from dominating. He already holds the record as the oldest skier to win a World Cup race. Austrian skiers took the next two places in the race. Beat Feuz, the Swiss winner of the previous race at Wengen, came in sixth to maintain his lead in the World Championship race.
Mountain roads alert – very icy
Pressure builds on the metre-high fence as more snow arrives in the Alps (here, at 1,100 metres)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Snow again, and plenty of it throughout Swiss and French mountain regions. The roads were very icy Friday night and, very exceptionally, we needed chains at 800 metres, for the slippery surface rather than deep snow. Snow has been falling steadily since Friday afternoon and the wind has picked up from central to eastern canton Valais resort areas. Be sure to carry chains if you’re driving to the mountains.
Weather forecast
Snow expected through Tuesday in the Jura and the Alps, although Jura areas can expect it to turn to rain in the afternoons this weekend.
The snow line will move up and down between 600 and 1,400 metres and by Monday in canton Valais it will start to be drier, with intermittent sunshine and temperatures rising to 8C at lower altitudes.
Expect sunny slopes again Wednesday, says MeteoSwiss.
Ski report, Alps
Several lifts are closed Saturday morning due to a mix of snow and high winds, with local situations varying considerably. At 10:00 Saturday:
Crans-Montana Entire area closed due to high winds; next update at noon Saturday.
Gstaad Snowing and winds of 45kph and 32 of 57 lifts open. La Vidamanette and Glacier 3000 area closed.
Morgins La Crete and La Tuche closed, but the rest of the lifts are open, 20cm of fresh snow; snowing.
Verbier About 50 percent open, with Mont Forte and Gentiane closed. Winds at 15-35kph, snowing. Snow depth now at 330cm at Col des Gentianes.
Villars-Gryon Mostly open but Glacier 3000 area closed and link to Diableret opening at 11:00, 30cm of fresh snow.
Zermatt Three Furi lifts open but the rest closed. Snowing, but should end by afternoon, with snow Sunday morning and sun/partly cloudy weather in the afternoon.
Avalanche bulletin
Considerable risk, level 3, in most areas and notably for back country skiers and ski touring, although a large swath north of a line running from the Upper Goms Valley in canton Valais to Andermatt and over to Chur in canton Graubuenden has a high risk, level 4.
“The bonding of the new fallen snow and snowdrift to the surface of the old snowpack is generally unfavourable. The old snowpack is favourably structured far and wide. Particularly on the Main Alpine Ridge and in the Upper Engadine on north facing slopes above approximately 2500 m, the snowpack layers near the ground are weakly bonded. Numerous avalanche corridors are filled to the brim with snow or have been effectively obliterated by earlier avalanche releases,” reports the national avalanche research centre’s daily bulletin.
Jura ski resorts
by Shirley Curran
Conditions in the Jura resorts have been exceptional. The very cold weather has permitted the making of vast mounds of artificial snow at Crozet and Lélex to fill bare spots later in the season. Sadly, the long spell of clear cold weather broke on Thursday. Three or four days of snow and rain are now predicted. As usual you are encouraged to go to the website of MontsJura.com to see for yourself what the conditions are like on the slopes.
Didier Cuche announcing his decision to retire from World Cup skiing at age 37 (image: TSR television))
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Swiss ski star Didier Cuche, who was named Swiss Person of the Year earlier this week by thousands of television viewers, announced Thursday afternoon that he will retire from the sport at the end of this season.
The 37-year-old’s decision came as no surprise.
But Cuche is not just one of the oldest skiers on the world circuit, he’s been a fixture and a winner for the past 10 years. The announcement was made at Kitzbuehl in Austria, where one of the toughest downhills of the season will take place Saturday. Cuche won it last year, making him, at age 36, the oldest winner of a World Cup event.
The Neuchatel skier was emotional during his press conference but said his weak performance in Wengen last weekend did not play a role in his decision. “You don’t make a decision based on a single race,” he said, but noted that he was distracted by the sense that he needed to make a decision. “i had this gut feeling that the time had come.”
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Xamax, the Neuchatel football team, lost its license Wednesday 18 January, the latest in a string of major distractions off the field, for the team and Swiss football fans. Controversial club owner Bulat Chagaev has five days to appeal and show that the club is financially sound.
TSR, Swiss public television, Wednesday evening carried a series of reactions to the club’s bump from the Super League as the result of the move by the Swiss Football Association.
The license was taken away after a string of financial incidents, from unpaid supplier bills to unpaid social security bills and alleged fake statements showing that the Chechen owner has $35 milion with which to back the club.
Fox Sports reports that the license loss has prompted an ownership group to prepare “to save the publicly humiliated club from an apparently inevitable demotion of at least two divisions, and possible bankruptcy under its current Chechen owners.” TSR, Swiss public television, reports Wednesday night that
Swiss football has been suffering in recent weeks from other off-the-field fights, with Sion being fined 36 points by the Swiss Football Association, a move the club has hotly contested.
WENGEN, SWITZERLAND – Beat Feuz became only the second Bernese skier to win the classic Lauberhorn downhill race at Wengen, Saturday 14 January. The 24-year-old edged out the Austrian Hannes Reichelt, Italian Christof Innerhofer and Swiss Carlo Janka. American Bode Miller was fifth after taking a wrong line in the lower part of the course.
Beat Feuz placed second in Friday’s combined and also now heads the World Cup downhill classification, ahead of Bode Miller. Swiss veteran Didier Cuche was well out of the running in 15th place.
Cuche was named Swiss Person of the Year Saturday night, winning 21 percent of the vote of television viewers during the annual TV broadcast event, out of a field of 18 nominees.
In the women’s downhill at Cortina in Italy it was also a home victory Saturday when Daniela Merighetti edged out American star Lindsey Vonn and Germany’s Maria Reisch. But Vonn easily took the Super-G Sunday, setting a new record with her 17th victory in the specialty.
Links to other sites: Swissinfo, Washington Post
SportAccord has produced a video on integrity in sports gambling
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – SportAccord, an umbrella organization for 105 Olympic and non-Olympic sports federations, Wednesday 11 January kicked off its new programme to fight match fixing worldwide.
The programme offers a set of generic tools, free of charge to international sports federations, their athletes and officials, to raise awareness about responsible sports betting behaviour.
The special unit dedicated to sports integrity was set up in 2010. It announced today that “the international sports movement has recognized that the fight against the manipulation of results is an absolute priority and therefore, with the support and expertise of the WLA (World Lottery Association) and the EL (The European Lotteries), the Global Programme has been developed.”
Other SportAccord activities include an online video portal, The Sports Hub, organizing multi-sports games, and special activities centred around doping-free sport, as well as sports’ social responsibility and sports’ integrity.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A quick Saturday morning update on the status of Swiss and neighbouring France resorts this weekend, following the heavy snowfalls of the past two days:
Alps
Zermatt, early Saturday morning (photo: William Olenick)
Major resorts now have at least some runs open, but many remain closed as crews try to prepare the pistes following more than 100cm of fresh snow in just one day, Thursday, with more snow Friday and heavy drifting.
The quality of the snow is excellent: powder skiing available everywhere.
Anzere 14 of 52 km open, but the rest being prepared
Crans-Montana Plaine Morte and Aminona are closed Saturday; rest is open or being prepared. Snow depth on the Plaine Morte glacier has reached 380cm and in the village it is 150cm.
Gstaad Snow depth is 85-380cm, one of the best years in recent memory for the resort. Saturday: 44 of 57 runs are open.
Verbier Some open, some closed, snowing. Ski depth at Gentiane is now 307cm.
Villars + Gryon Mix of sun and clouds, lifts open, but some snow activities not available
Zermatt Several lifts and runs remain closed, and while the day started with clear blue skies and -10C, Sunday’s clouds, with warmer temperatures, are already on the way. Forecast: three days of sunshine starting Monday.
The avalanche risk is unusually high throughout the Alps, down to 3 (high) but remaining at 4/5 throughout the eastern Alps. Daily avalanche bulletin and map from WSL/SLF.
Jura
by Shirley Curran
Severe winter conditions have affected skiing for most of this week. This means that we have no lack of snow in the Jura resorts but high winds have frequently interrupted the running of the lifts. Next week will probably be very cold so you should wrap up well and enjoy fresh powder. Consult the webcams at MontsJura.com and
their information about what is in operation before you set off!
Ed. note: starting Monday 9 January we are back from the holiday break and posting news as usual on GenevaLunch, including our regular more expanded weekend snow and winter sports report.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss Football Association came down hard on Sion FC 30 December in the long-running battle of the Valaisan egos, between Sion owner Christian Constantin and Sepp Blatter, head of Fifa. The SFA fined Sion a total of 36 points, three for each game in which the team fielded an ineligible player this season, in a saga dating back to the 2008 signing of Egyptian goalkeeper Essam el-Hadary.
The fine moves Sion from third place in the Swiss Super League to last place with minus five points and almost certain relegation. The SFA was reacting to the threat from Fifa to suspend all Swiss teams from international competition, starting with Basel being expelled from the European Champions League match against Bayern Munich.
Had Basel been expelled Manchester United would have taken their place in the knock-out stages of Europe’s biggest club contest. FC Sion complaimed that the SFA had been cowardly in backing down in the face of blackmail by Fifa.
Clearing the roof, 30 December 2011, near Crans-Montana, Valais
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Too much of a good thing, with more and more snow falling, means that many lifts in the Swiss Alps are not open Friday: more than a foot fell overnight, more is expected Friday night and Meteoswiss is predicting strong northwest winds throughout the Alps Saturday.
Alps and avalanche reports
Check directly with resorts as the situation is rapidly changing for piste closings and openings, due to weather:
Anzere, Crans-Montana, Leysin-Aigle, Verbier, Villars-Gryon, Saas-Fee, Zermatt
The Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, WSL, bulletin concludes with: “On Saturday, continuous and intermittently intense snowfall is anticipated in all regions of the Swiss Alps except the furthermost south. The northwesterly wind will be blowing at strong velocity. The snowfall level is expected to ascend towards 1800 m over the course of the day. On Sunday, the precipitation will taper off in northern regions. In southern regions it will be sunny. The avalanche danger will escalate significantly on Saturday, presumably giving rise to increasingly frequent naturally triggered avalanches.”
Jura report
by Shirley Curran
With more snow falling, we look set for a good season. The cold weather and snow are expected to continue until Saturday when milder conditions are expected with some sunshine. The start of January promises to be warmer than recent days and our resorts will have a fine covering of snow, with the fresh that is falling now. Crowds will have diminished. Now is the time to enjoy ski-ing less than half an hour from the Swiss frontier!
Ed. note: at noon Friday the ski runs were open - check for updates
Great weather for snowshoes, ski touring, ice skating and sledding!
Snowshoes in canton Valais: perfect way to get around 30 December
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Fifa has threatened Switzerland with expulsion from all Fifa events unless the Swiss Football Association punish FC Sion in the long confrontation over the Valaisan team playing unregistered players. The Sion chairman Christian Constantin responded in his own inimitable style by threatening to sue Sepp Blatter, the Valaisan head of Fifa. Unless the Swiss Federation react by 13 January 2012 the Swiss participation in the Champions League, as well as the national youth and senior matches, will be suspended, as will all the Swiss referees. FC Basel would be the first to suffer as they would be barred from playing in the Champions League match against Bayern Munich and would be replaced by Manchester United in the competition.
On the field Barcelona confirmed their place at the top by winning the Club World Championship by beating Brazilian team Santos 4-0 in Tokyo. In the Premier League Manchester city beat Arsenal 1-0 to regain their first place, ahead of Man United, 0-2 winners at QPR. Spurs are third after a 1-0 win over Sunderland. Chelsea fell back after a 1-1 draw at Wigan.
Links to other sites: TSR, Premier League, Guardian
Snow, snow and more snow throughout the Alps!
"Snow is getting deep here and no end in sight", from a GenevaLunch friend in Zermatt, 18:00 Friday (good luck!)
Updated 21:50 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Weather is top of the weekend news, with snow falling and falling in the mountains, at long last, even down to the plain. Zermatt, Verbier and all other major resorts now have snow, an abundance of it, in the villages at the bottom of the slopes, and more is on the way.
A white Christmas is guaranteed at this point, whether or not you’re on the pistes!
If you don’t yet have winter tires on your car, don’t delay: the snow will be mixed with rain and ice in many areas, with wild high winds Friday and Saturday in some areas.
Chains: you rarely need them in Switzerland because main mountain roads are cleared promptly, but be sure to have a set in the car for the winter.
Weather forecast and snow
Golf course in the centre of Crans-Montana, at 1,700m altitude, with snow falling at 09:20 Friday morning (source: CM webcam)
Note for Geneva residents: the city frequently had more than 50cm of snow a year until the mid-1980s, but the amount of snow has dropped since then (flip side is that the amount of sunshine has risen). That doesn’t mean Geneva will be snow-free this winter, but the weekend forecast is for temperatures of 3-9C with rain and strong winds by Saturday, gusting at 90-115kph on the plain.
Jura, but especially northern Jura areas can expect continuing gusts above 110kph.
Driving conditions in the Valais mountain resorts are treacherous late Friday, with snow plows struggling to keep up with the heavy snowfall, so if you’re heading up for a first skiing session, take care. Warm foehn winds blew in lower Alpine areas Friday morning, but by afternoon colder winds with gusts of up to 150kph hit some parts of the Alps, while others had steady but quiet snow falling.
Canton Graubuenden, with its famed resorts of Davos, Klosters, St Moritz and more, has “abundant” snow falling, with lower temperatures than other resort areas, -7C to highs of -1C.
Alpine resorts
Note that they are virtually all closed Friday because of high winds and heavy snowfalls; check the resorts for open runs before heading there for a day on the slopes.
Diablerets and Villars: free skiing (limited number of lifts) for everyone before Sunday 17 December! Snow falling, Glacier 3000 reports snow depths of 50-85cm.
Verbier reports a very high level of avalanches, plenty of snow in the town by late morning and snow continuing to fall. Note that the Friday reports on the web site were a bit behind, noting for example a snow depth of 110cm at Les Ruinettes (2,200 metres) and none in the village (report from 08:00).
Crans-Montana, steady snow falling this week, snow depth has reached 117-150cm in the past two days!
Jura ski resorts
by Shirley Curran
(late Thursday) Last weekend, there was enough snow for our season to begin at the Col de la Faucille, though conditions were rather wet and gloomy. It has snowed and rained intermittently since then and the resorts are now boasting 25cm of snow with more falling steadily and a significant cold snap expected. The official opening date of 17 December 17 seems to be on target. The webcams give you an honest view of the situation.
An attractive offer is being made by the Lake Geneva Tourist Office for anyone visiting the area. Here is an extract!
“For one overnight stay or longer in a partner hotel, you can familiarize yourself free of charge with snowshoeing or cross-country skiing, while exploring the vast spaces of the Jura mountain range. Relax as you discover our 405 km of cross-country trails and our 105 km of snowshoeing trails for all difficulty grades. Well maintained and safe trails await you and will allow you to discover new experiences.”
Neighbouring France resorts
Snow has continued to fall this week and there is no shortage of the white stuff at Meribel, Val d’Isere, Courcheval and other main resorts.
Sarah Meier, Didier Cuche, winners of best Swiss athletes of the year awards (photo: Alexandra Wey / Photopress for Credit Suisse)
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Some like it cold: Switzerland’s male and female athletes of the year, awarded the titles by Credit Suisse, are winter sports specialists.
Didier Cuche at age 37 is one of the longest-enduring top athletes in the country, still at the top of his ski form with World Cup titles in downhill and super-G.
Sarah Meier is the queen of ice, and at age 27 she says she is “living a dream” since winning the European Championship in Bern after being plagued for years by a foot injury.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND -Alvaro de Miranda of Brazil riding AD Ashleigh Drossel Dan took maximum points in Geneva Sunday 11 December in the series final of the Rolex FEI World Cup Jumping, Western European League event.
The crowd had their money’s worth watching the 38-year-old rider and his 13-year-old gelding, in the second-round race against the clock, “a thriller in which the lead changed again and again”, according to the FEI.
Rolf-Goran Bengtsson from Sweden, the 2011 European Champion, was runner-up and Patrice Delaveau from France riding Orient Express was third. Sunday’s results have strengthened Bengtsson’s position at the top of the series, but Miranda, in 18th place, is now reportedly looking for a spot at the Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping 2011/2012 final in The Netherlands next April.
Val d'Isere in France was the winner for snowfalls this week!
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Winter has definitely arrived, and if you are up for skiing, the slopes are ready for you!
We are kicking off GenevaLunch’s winter season weekly snow and sports reports, a Friday morning roundup from Swiss and some French resorts with weather forecasts, snow conditions, avalanche reports , travel news, competition results and more.
Shirley Curran once again reports every weekend from the Jura and Ellen Wallace from the Alps, with others occasionally contributing videos or special reports from the slopes.
Weather forecast
Wednesday and Thursday the Alps had very strong winds, adding some instability to snow on the slopes: MeteoSwiss measured 149.8 km/h at Chasseral, 148 km/h at the Titlis and 130 km/h at Diablerets. Chasseral was particularly affected with the average speed of the wind over 10 minutes more than 100 km/h for more than three hours.
For the weekend: temperatures hovering between 2 and 8-9C throughout the region this weekend, with some rain in the Jura and generally dry in the Alps, but temperatures below zero at altitude will allow the fresh snow to remain. More snow is expected Tuesday, but then the snow line should rise to 2000 m before falling next Friday to 1,000m, as schools break up for the holidays.
Snow conditions
This slope in the centre of Val d'Isere was technically closed Thursday, but skiers decided otherwise
Variable is the best word, with the snow that fell at the start of the week falling heavily in some resorts, less so in others.
Valais police are warning caution, with the snow base unstable. A six-year-old child caught by an avalanche Wednesday died during the night after being hospitalized.
Snow levels in Alpine stations Thursday: see the SLF snow depth map for Friday, showing all of Switzerland. Crans-Montana opens this weekend, with powder, but the base is still only 20-50cm. Verbier, Les Ruinettes has 44cm. Central Valais had more snow early in the week than lower Valais, closer to Lake Geneva, and Zermatt has snow down to the village, with virtually all lifts operating. Vaud Alps also received heavier snowfalls, so Gstaad has 20-65cm.
Switzerland’s most reliable and richest source of information on snow conditions is the daily Avalanche Bulletin published in English and other languages by SLF, the Swiss Snow and Avalanche Research Institute.
Jura report
by Shirley Curran
Things are looking very promising for our Jura resorts – better than last year when we had a magnificent dump of snow at the start of December that was all washed away during the second week. There is already snow on our summits and the official opening of Crozet-Lélex, and La Faucille-Mijoux and, of course Menthières and Le
Vattey is 17 December. The higher resorts will, exceptionally, be running this weekend if they deem that there is sufficient snow. You can see the state of snow coverage for yourself if you visit the official website and click on ‘Webcams’.
The plan at the momentis to run the Telecombi at the Col de la Faucille and two other lifts during the weekend. Of course, that depends on the weather.
France Voisine, Val d’Isère
If you want to remind yourself what glorious winter snow is like, head for the French resort, just under three hours from Geneva Airport by car or shuttle bus. The peaks had 1.7 metres in just three days at the start of the week and the village itself, at 1,850 metres, is heavily covered and charmingly wintry. Temperatures are hovering around zero on the slopes, so the snow is in good condition.
