The Swiss national team
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss football team is down one man due to injury. The Swiss football federation announced Christoph Spycher’s knee injury is preventing him from playing at the World Cup.
Spycher had planned to retire after the world championship but his injury is forcing him into early retirement.
The defender will be replaced by Ludovic Magnin who is recuperating from a broken hand. According to the Swiss coach, Magnin will wear a cast during training camp which begins on 25 May.
Switzerland will play Costa Rica on 1 June in Sion, and Italy in Geneva on 5 June as part of its pre-World Cup training.
Snowbikes, World Cup races, good snow in the Jura
Crans-Montana, Switzerland
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The season is winding down, but there is still plenty of good snow around. And with the Geneva Motor Show pulling in thousands of visitors, the slopes might be less crowded. The big news this weekend is World Cup Skiing, with the women competing in Crans-Montana.
Weather forecast and snow conditions
Bundle up and don’t fall into the trap of thinking that longer days means warmer weather: not in March in the Alps!
Snow falling at noon Friday 26 February, at 1,000 metres, below Crans-Montana, Valais
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The locals and visitors from other parts of Switzerland will have their mountains to themselves again this weekend, with most of Europe’s school winter holidays over. Expect to climb high for decent snow, with warmer temperatures for the past few days thinning lower slopes. The outlook is brightening for the weekend but the picture remains mixed.
Traffic and weather forecasts, history of skiing show, horses on ice, motorcycle fair and other good train deals, horses on snow, giant greeting card
Plenty of snow in the Jura! February 2010 (photo: Shirley Curran)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – This weekend it is Geneva residents who head for the ski slopes en masse, with school holidays the week of 22 February. Expect crowds in all Swiss and nearby French resorts.
History of skiing and extraordinary collection of old skis – don’t miss it!
Conthey history of ski exhibit, Coop centre
Ski collection of Laurent Donze, more than 2,000 skis showing centuries of history
The newly redone large Coop in Conthey, two minutes off the autoroute in the heart of a large shopping complex, is home to an extraordinary collection of skis until 28 February. This is a must-see exhibit which recounts the history of skiing from ancient times, put together by Laurent Donzé, who has been president of the Swiss Cross Country Ski Federation. He told GenevaLunch he began collecting skis more than 30 years ago and he now has over 2,000 skis in his collection.
If you think downhill skiing began with the arrival in Switzerland of the British, you might find history shows it is a bit more complicated than that. The exhibit is well documented and illustrated, but the skis themselves offer a reminder of how the need for skis and their designs have changed.
Weather forecast
Rain mixed with snow Friday afternoon on the plain. Snow down to 700 metres in Alpine and Jura areas. Saturday: gradually clearing on the plain, with highs of 4-5C,. Snow Saturday in the Alps, with highs of 9C in the Alps due to warming foehn winds. Winds moderate on western edge of the Alps.
Traffic forecast
Geneva begins its vacation, but so do 10 other cantons Friday 19 February, so TCS warns that traffic will build during the afternoon. The area around Lausanne and heading towards Valais, around the Glion tunnel, are expected to be the worst-hit areas. List of expected heavy traffic areas and time, TCS. For current traffic advisories: TCS in French and the federal truck site in English. Reminder for drivers leaving Geneva: expect delays around Nyon and Gland due to roadworks that continue until 25 February.
Alpine resorts
by Peter Brodbeck and Ellen Wallace
Chateau d'Oex 2010 (photo: ©2010 Peter Brodbeck)
Richard Ashford, Emma Hurst, Chateau d'Oex 2010 (photo: ©2010 Peter Brodbeck)
Collection of photos from the Chateau d’Oex balloon festival, GenevaLunch album by Peter Brodbeck and Josh Fassbind
Chateau d’Oex, Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A sky filled with colourful giant hot-air balloons against a backdrop of wintry Swiss Alpine peaks is “simply magical”, says balloonist Richard Ashford. It can be improved on only by being in one of the balloons, at the height, so to speak, of the party.
Ashford, when asked about his favourite ballooning moments, says, “If I had to narrow the choice, I’d say flying over mountain tops on a sunny day with a 360-degree view is hard to beat. The silence is amazing, aside from the occasional burn to keep the balloon at a certain height, and everything below looks like a toy town.”
The Chateau d’Oex Balloon Festival
Richard Ashford and Emma Hurst are British, the pilot/owner and co-pilot of one of the balloons that participated in the 2010 Chateau d’Oex balloon event, which ended Sunday 31 January. They say there is nothing quite like it. “Chateau-d’Oex is a special event. The whole town is behind ballooning. It has the balloon museum with the Breitling Orbiter, shops hang model balloons in their stores and everyone and everything is about ballooning.” And, for the scores of balloonists, enthusiasts and the public, “there is also a whole night scene happening with parties and events and street music. It is very well organized and attracts the best from around the world.”
Chateau d'Oex 2010 (photo: ©2010 Josh Fassbind)
Balloonists who travel the world attending events like this tend to find old friends. “Yes, ballooning is relatively small, but it is part of the fun of the sport. We generally know each other and it is through this network that we often get invited to different events.” It is a very social sport, he adds. “We are a close-knit circle of enthusiasts worldwide, which creates a level of camaraderie. We’re like a big family, and this in itself makes it all worthwhile.”
Ashford says he has been ballooning for about 20 years. “It all started by chance when I unexpectedly came across a balloon landing in a field. I went to the balloon, helped the owner, and was immediately hooked.
The state of the AI en route to the mountains, glorious Jura snow
Weekend walk and circus special in Nyon, Swiss skiers and boarders
Jura (Crozet) Wednesday 20 January (image: S Curran)
Crozet with blue skies - Geneva in the fog below
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - It’s January, so expect a mix of Spring moments and sudden snow showers on the lakefront but pure winter goodness in the mountains this weekend.
Wednesday it snowed in Nyon and along the lakefront, throughout the week the Jura has thrived, as large amounts of the white stuff came down, and the Alps have had sunshine again after gloomy spells.
The road out of town
If you’re heading out of the Geneva area to the Swiss Alps be aware that this is the first weekend when the new A1 autoroute signaling system is open, adding a third lane in each direction between Morges and Lausanne. The system is very easy to follow and there have been no accidents since it was put in place Monday, but you do need to drive attentively, with other drivers sometimes surprised to find the system there. It operates only in the afternoons, until Monday 25 January when it goes into use full-time.
Weather forecast
Latest on Jura and Swiss ski conditions, weather forecast, avalanche courses, winter vineyards walk
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Let it snow, let it snow! City dwellers might have had enough of the white stuff in the past week, with the airport closed and cantons scrambling to find enough salt for their slippery streets. But on the slopes, it’s been good news, especially in the Jura resorts close to Geneva. Swiss resorts report that the holidays were good, with enough snow to keep most visitors happy. The Christmas-New Year’s period was one of the five best in the past 15 years.
Weather and snow outlook for Alps, update on avalanches, non-ski options
Fresh snow in Switzerland's canton Valais: near Visp, 7 January 2010
Update 13:00 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Snow and cold have been taunting much of northern Europe for the past week, but the Swiss Alps have had only moderate amounts of fresh snow and little of the killer cold that has struck Britain and other regions. The worst snow news in the Swiss Alps in the past week has been several deaths and injuries from avalanches.
Winter in the Lake Geneva region offers more than just downhill skiing and snowboarding. Portable ice-skating rinks (list for Vaud) became popular two years ago and they have allowed a number of small towns to offer this to the public for affordable prices.
Moon rising above Leukerbad, Switzerland: after the rain, before the new snow, 30 December 2009 (click on image to view larger)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Precipitation is not in short supply in Switzerland at the moment, but the picture from the mountain-tops has been mixed: heavy rain in most areas all day Wednesday 30 December, and into the night, washed away much of the snow below 2,000 metres in the Alps. The Jura was short on snow to begin with and the rain did not improve things.
But temperatures have been dropping and as of 10:00 Thursday morning snow is back in the Alps, down to 800 metres: it is snowing heavily in the Sion-Brig resorts area (Anzeres, Crans-Montana, Saas-Fee, Zermatt).
Jura report, from Shirley Curran
The Jura resorts are all poised ready for the big snow which is taking its time to appear this year. Harsh weather conditions mean that you are probably better off by a log fire with a good book this weekend.
Alpine resorts report
When the snow and snowplows look like this at 1,000 metres, you know the skiing is getting better up above!
Snowing hard at 1,000m near Crans-Montana, Switzerland, 10:00 Thursday 31 December
All regions: use care if you’re considering going off-piste: High temperatures plus fresh snow = increased avalanche danger, with the SLT (federal avalanche institute) bulletin indicating “considerable avalanche danger widespread” (level 3), throughout canton Valais and the northern flanks of the Alps, which includes the higher resorts in canton Bern.
Crans-Montana Friday night skiing, from 19:00-22:00, should be good New Year’s day, but check after Thursday evening. Cost: CHF15.
Cliff viewed from Lauterbrunnen, heading towards Muerren, one of scores in the area
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – High mountain areas are places of danger, a fact sometimes overlooked by visitors, a police spokesperson from canton Bern says. The officer was answering questions from GenevaLunch about whether the police are investigating the possibility of foul play or a link between the disappearance of two men in their early 20s in three years, from the small town of Wengen. The second man, Myles Robinson, age 23, disappeared 22 December. His body was found in a wooded area below a high cliff Monday 28 December.
Media reports shortly after his disappearance raised the question of a possible link with the unsolved death of Daniel Baptista, age 21, in 2006.
The police cannot comment on the investigation into the hours before Robinson’s fall or his death in particular, which has been handed to an investigating judge, or magistrate.
But the officer cautions against speculating, noting that the danger of the mountains is a factor that has to be considered for the many unresolved cases of missing persons in the region over a period of several years.
Valais, Switzerland (click on image to view larger)
Davos, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The danger of avalanches in the Swiss Alps has been at level 3 (“considerable danger”) for the past few days in many areas and is set to rise on Wednesday 30 December. Fresh snow and winds have created drifts, some of which are building up to dangerous levels. The greatest danger areas are above 1,800 metres on northern flanks of the Alps.
“The avalanche-prone locations are to be found on steep slopes of all aspects above approximately 2000 m,” according to the late Monday report from SLF, part of the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research.
Title: Sheep come back from the Alps
Location: Champery, Valais
Link out: Click here
Description: Sheep come down from the summer alpine pastures
Start Time: 11:30
Date: 10 Oct 2009
Title: Cowbell exchange and autumn market
Location: Romainmôtier
Link out: Click here
Description: Autumn fair, cows down from summer alpine pastures, with special feature: one of largest cowbell markets around
Start Date: 16 Oct 2009
End Date: 18 Oct 2009
Lake Geneva region, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Highs of 30C throughout most of the region and sunshine on Thursday, MeteoSwiss is promising us. The weather will likely be mixed on Friday and for the first part of the weekend, with intermittent showers then sunshine but cooler temperatures – high of 21C Saturday.
You’ll have to go to 4,500 metres to reach zero degrees.
Click on images to view larger: changeable weather, Valais, Switzerland, 26 August 2009
Existing three towers will be joined by 5 more; view of Aminona from village of Mollens
Correction 16:00 Mollens, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Russian company Mirax has passed a first, major hurdle in getting a green light to build a CHF350-plus million complex in the small resort of Aminona, next to Crans-Montana in Valais. Mirax specializes in large development projects including hotels and resorts. The first part of the project is for a hotel which has four buildings (correction: we earlier noted that this includes several towers, but these are part of a second phase, not yet approved, Mirax told GenevaLunch).
The larger project proposed to the commune of Mollens, of which Aminona is part, will have a five-star hotel, 32 chalets, five towers and luxury services. The complete project is expected to have 2,500 beds.
Three people died in separate mountaineering accidents in the Alps 23 August.
A guide from Annecy in neighbouring France fell to his death on the Italian side of the Matterhorn. On the Mont Blanc mountain, another climber died near Peuterey, France, and a 75-year-old man became ill and fell 50 metres in the Pasubio massif near Vicenza in Italy.
Related: Le Dauphiné Libéré (Fre), Romandie News (Fre),
Butterflies in Swiss Alps, soaking up the sun
Saint Prex, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Summer weather forecasts don’t get much better than this: sunshine for the next five days, highs of 30-32C and night-time lows of 18-20C. Soak it up! And if you don’t like the heat, head for the hills: temperatures are generally about 5-6C cooler at 1,000 metres.
For the heart, better up than down: the Swiss Alps and Lake Geneva
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Researchers at the University of Zurich, in a study of 1.6 million German-speaking Swiss people over a 10-year period, confirm that the risk of having a heart attack or stroke is dramatically lower if you live above 1,000 metres, and that climate is probably a key factor. Previous studies have provided conflicting results, in part because of the mixed populations studied, say authors David Faeh, Felix Gutzwiller and Matthias Bopp for the Swiss National Study Cohort Group.
The people with the lowest risk are those born at high altitude who continue to live there, their study shows.
The risk of coronary heart disease falls by 22 percent for each 1,000 metres of altitude and the risk of stroke drops by 12 percent per 1,000m. The study included men and women ages 40 to 84, who lived at altitudes ranging from 259 metres to 1960m.
American Heart Association, 28 July 2009
Valais sheep, photo E Wallace
Leukerbad, Valais (GenevaLunch) – The Gemmi pass, linking cantons Bern and Valais, is normally a relatively isolated high mountain area dotted with occasional sheep and hikers trekking across. Sunday 26 July the crowds flocked to see the annual shepherds’ festival: some 2,500 people to watch 800 sheep race down from the higher alps for their midsummer nutritional snack, Glaeck.
Verbier, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - An international camp in Verbier has 14 confirmed cases of A/H1N1 among its students, ages 8-18, and another 20 students are being tested. Those who are sick have been isolated and are being given medical care, says the public health department in Valais, but none of the students are a cause for worry.
Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The summer travel season begins in earnest 30 June and the Swiss federal government has issued its list of roads and dates when travelers can expect heavy traffic.
Les axes routiers et les jours présentant un fort risque de perturbations sont les suivants :
Autoroutes
Heading south
- A1 St Margrethen – Geneva, between Zurich and Bern, between Lausanne and Morges (roadworks), customs at Geneva/Bardonnex
- A2/E35 Basel – Chiasso – Milan: Bâle/Weil am Rhein customs, between the Belchen tunnel and the Wiggertal junction, between Erstfeld before the north end of the Saint Gotthard (see Gotthard below), the Chiasso/Brogeda customs, to the Como/Grandate toll booth
- A3 Basel – Zurich: between Basel/Saint-Louis customs and the Wiese junction
- A13 Sargans – Bellinzona: between entre Nufenen and Hinterrhein (roadworks), to the north entrance of the San Bernardino tunnel
- Ring roads around Bern (A1/A6), Lausanne (A1/A9) and Zurich (A1/A3)
Times when you can expect traffic jams
Fridays between 15:00 and 21:00 and Saturday from 08:00 to 16:00
Dates with particularly heavy traffic
July: 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, 25
August: 1
Heading north
- A1 Geneva – St. Margrethen: Geneva/Bardonnex customs, betwee entre Morges and Lausanne (roadworks), between Bern and Zurich
- A2/E35 Milan – Chiasso – Basel: from the Como/Grandate toll booth to the Chiasso/Brogeda customs, between Quinto and the south entrance to the Saint-Gothard tunnel, between Reiden and the Härkingen junction, to customs at Basel/Weil am Rhein
- A3 Sargans – Zurich – Basel: between Zurich/Brunau and the end of the autoroute, Basel/Saint-Louis customs
- A4a Zoug – Sihlbrugg: between Baar and the end of the autoroute at Sihlbrugg
- A9 Martigny – Lausanne: between Bex and the Glion tunnel
- A13 Bellinzone – Coire: at the southern entrance to the San Bernardino tunnel, between Hinterrhein and Nufenen (roadworks)
- Ring roads around Bern (A1/A6), Lausanne (A1/A9) and Zurich (A1/A3)
Times when you can expect traffic jams
Fridays 15:00-21:00, Saturdays 10:00-20:00 and Sundays from 13:00 to 20:00
Dates with particularly heavy traffic
July: 11, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26 and 31
August: 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 22, 23, 29
September: 5
Saint Gotthard tunnel
Heading south
Tailbacks are likely at the north end of the tunnel on these dates: Friday 3 July from 12:00-24:00, Saturday 4 July 05:00-18:00. The nights of 10-11 and 17-18 and 24-25 July, non-stop from Friday 12:00 to Saturday 18:00. Traffic jams are also possible Saturdays from 08:00-16:00 during August and up to mid-eptember, as well as Sundays in July from 10:00-16:00.
The entrances to the Göschenen, Monday to Thursday during July, noon to 20:00 are also likely to have traffic jams.
Heading north
Traffic jams can be expected at the south entrance to the tunnel these days: Fridays, 10-31 July from 12:00-22:00, 7-14 August from 10:00-23:00, 21 August to 4 September from 13:00-20:00, Saturdays 11-25 July from 10:00-22:00, 1 August and 8 August from 09:00-01:00, 15 August to 5 September, 10:00-21:00, Sundays, 19 July to 6 September, 11:00-21:00.
Traffic jams could occur Saturday 4 July, 10:00-18:00. From mid-July to the end of August, traffic jams can also be expected occasionally afternoons Monday to Thursday, noon to 20:00.
Main roads inside Switzerland and customs stations
Heavier traffic can be expected on the following roads within Switzerland: Spiez-Kandersteg (start of holidays), Gampel-Goppenstein (end of holidays), Bellinzona-Locarno, Wädenswil-Hirzel-Sihlbrugg, Sihlbrugg-Zurich (Sihltal), Flüelen-Brunnen (Axenstrasse), as well as on some Alpine region roads, including main Alpines passes. Expect some delays at these customs stations: Au, Koblenz, Sankt-Margrethen and Thayngen.
For traffic updates
• Telephone in French, German and Italian: Viasuisse (No 163 – 50 cts/call+50 cts/min)
• Radio DRS/RSR/RSI
• web sites: www.tcs.ch, www.cff.ch, www.teletext.ch (rail: p 486/487, road: p 491 – 497), www.bls.ch.
Bern and Sion, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Southeastern Valais will continue to have five small airfields high in the Alps, the Federal Council has decided as part of the country’s sustainable development review of mountain airstrips. Landing and takeoff altitude and seasonal restrictions will be put in place as part of the approval process. The Federal Aviation Office has outlined the new system, after months of study and consultations with groups that included environmentalists, tourism offices, local residents and heli-skiing fans. Four of the five exist already, but one, Unterrothorn, will disappear and be replaced by a new airstrip in the Trift region near Zermatt, which will be a base for heli-skiing. The airfields are used by mainly by pleasure craft.
GenevaLunch is posting limited news today 1 June due to the Whit/Pentecost holiday in the Lake Geneva region.
Take advantage of the day off to visit our blogs, with recent posts added on Paddy Ashdown’s new book (and presentations in the region in coming weeks), snow in the Alps, buy American? by guest blogger Andy Sundberg – and if you’ve missed the scoop on where to walk your dog off the leash in Geneva, it’s time to visit Laila Rodriguez’s blog, New to Geneva? Me too.
Lake Geneva, Alps, March winds
Changeable March, near Sierre, Valais
Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Gray skies and relatively warm temperatures are the rule on the plain 28-29 March but on the peaks the snow is still good, with a solid base. Aminona, Valais, at 2,400 m, still has a base of 220m, for example, with powder. World Meteorological Day was this week, so we’ll turn the spotlight for a moment on those good people who’ve helped us plan our winter weekends during the ski season.
World Meteorological Organization in Geneva to host major conference
The impact of climate change remains a hot topic, but the relationship between climate and weather is not always well understood.
Grindelwald, Bern, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – One of the bodies of two 21-year-olds who died 24 or 25 March on the Eiger has been recovered, but difficult meteorological conditions have hampered rescuers trying to reach the other body. The two, both very experienced climbers, appear to have been caught by bad weather. Police have now confirmed that the climber whose body was recovered died of hypothermia.
The young men were Swiss, but police will not release more information until they have been formally identified.
Earlier story, GenevaLunch
Lake Geneva, Vaudois Alps, 19 March 2009
Lake Geneva region, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A reprieve from winter during the past week, with heavy coats and jackets left at home, may have weakened your desire to head for the mountains, but if the weather forecast is right about cold and snow coming our way by next Tuesday, you might want to reconsider. Pick up some sun this weekend and watch the pros in Verbier!
Read more…
Swiss forest
Appenzell, Switzerland (Independent, UK and International Herald Tribune)- The popularity of hiking in the buff has caught on in the canton of Appenzell, if you believe international media, but not necessarily with support from the local population. Swiss and foreign hikers alike continue to take advantage of the fact that no law currently exists forbidding being naked in public, says the New York Times, whose story, also a feature in the International Herald Tribune, ran around the web like wildfire 17 March. Not so, according to a January report in Britain’s The Independent, which warns wannabe nude hikers that they now risk a CHF200 fine.
Lake Geneva region (TSR, Fre) – Snow is on the way again, with 10-20 cm expected down to 500 metres late Thursday and 20-30 expected on the north side of the Rhone Alps between Thursday and early Saturday.
Jura: rubbish
Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Winter beckons, so we’ll be brief this week and let you enjoy the magnificent photos taken by our Jura specialist, Shirley Curran.
This week Geneva could be seen from above, as the cloud cover disappeared.
Weather forecast
Partly cloudy on Friday, mostly sunny Saturday and Sunday, with temperatures climbing to 12-13C. Did someone say Spring? Expect some foehn (warm) winds in the Alps.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The balance of road and rail transport of goods across the Alps remained stable in 2008, with trains carrying 64% and road haulers 46%.
