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.
A bus driver lost control of his vehicle, which plunged down a hilly mountainside, killing 22 passengers and injuring 9 in Kashmir’s Kishtwar district, where road conditions and mountainous terrain are the cause of frequent accidents. CNN
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
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.
Updated 19:00 30 January with resort activities, avalanche risk information and more.
Promising weather for the weekend and the great snow continues to hold up in the Alps and the Jura.
