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.
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.
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.
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.
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
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Police in the Swiss cantons around the Lake Geneva region have been kept busy over the holidays with road and mountain accidents, bank and post office robberies, and in one happy instance finding suspects and two stolen locomotives from the train park at Le Bouveret in canton Vaud.
Chavannes-de-Bogis, Grosse-Pierre / Morges post offices, hit by armed robbers
Two men held up the post office in Chavannes-de-Bogis Tuesday morning 27 December at 07:00, grabbing the manager as he arrived for work. Despite his cries and efforts to fight them off the two men knocked him to the ground and were able to force him, at gunpoint, inside where he gave them the cash on hand.
The two fled in a blue metallic BMW that was stolen a few weeks ago. The car was found shortly afterwards, completely burned, on a forest path next to the Route des Coudres, in the direction of Bogis-Bossey. Police say a relay car was undoubtedly waiting to pick them up there.
A manhunt was set up immediately. Vaud police say they are looking for two men, both 180cm tall with athletic builds, who speak French without accents. One was wearing a lightweight black cagoule (balaklava), black clothes, glove and carrying a pistol.
The other man, European in appearance, had long hair, to his shoulders, which was very dark and straight. He was also dressed in black and was carrying a knife.
The post office manager was in a state of shock following the robbery, but otherwise unharmed.
The hold-up follows an attempted robbery early last Friday, 23 December, at the Grosse-Pierre post office in Morges. A 47-year-old woman arriving for work was surprised by two men, reportedly 170 cm tall, dressed in dark clothes, one carrying a knife. Her cries frightened them off and a witness called 117 to alert police.
Anyone with information about either crime is asked to phone Vaud police at 021 644 4444.
Verbier avalanche slightly injures 2 in family of 4
An avalanche caught a family of four skiing off piste near Verbier Monday 26 December at 12:15. The group managed to get out from under the avalanche, which was 10 metres wide and 150m long. The 16-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy both suffered minor injuries and were taken to the hospital in Sion to be checked.
The avalanche was triggered at Mont Gelé, at about 2,900 m.
Icy roads behind crashes
A 25-year-old woman from the Avenches region whose car skidded on the road near Salavaux and Avenches at 10:25 Tuesday morning is in serious condition after her car crossed the line and hit another car head on. The 41-year-old man driving the other car sustained lighter injuries and was hospitalized in Fribourg.
A crash caused by ice on the road was responsible for closing the Col de Pillon near Gsteig Tuesday morning, a main route to the Gstaad area from Lake Geneva.
Fires in Geneva and Morges send several to hospital
Thirteen people, including a year-old child, were injured, four of them seriously, after a fire broke out on the ground floor of a three-storey centre for asylum seekers in Geneva, Tattes, 1 chemin de Poussy in Vernier. Four are in serious condition, two from injuries sustained after they jumped out of second-floor windows and two others for burns and smoke inhalation, say Geneva police.
Sixty people were evacuated from the building.
The fire department received scores of calls Monday afternoon at 15:22 and the fire, which spread to the first floor, was brought under control by 16:15.
In Morges, canton Vaud, cigarettes thrown into the garbage are suspected of being the cause of a fire in a third-storey apartment in an 11-storey building at chemin de la Grosse-Pierre 9 early Friday morning 23 December. Two tenants ages 20 and 21 were hospitalized, as well as their neighbour, an 85-year-old woman, for smoke inhalation. The fire was brought under control by 03:15.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A Swiss and French white Christmas is guaranteed if you’re heading for the mountains.
Weather forecast
Valais Alps, 24 December 2011 snowfall
The weather in Switzerland Saturday 24 December is a mix of rain on the plain and temperatures of 2-5C, with fog, snow and some sunshine in the Alps, highs of 4C and lows of -2C. Christmas day: sunshine with high clouds. Next week, highs of 4C in the mountains, mixed cloudiness and sunshine with snow at higher altitudes by Thursday.
Jura
by Shirley Curran
We are hoping for slightly milder weather and have the best snow cover we have had for years at this state of the season, with most of our installations running in the Jura Mountains: 75cm on the lower slopes, 100cm Saturday at the top. Check the daily bulletin for details of all ski areas (infos neige). Have a wonderful ski week.
Alps
Snow on the peaks now has depths of at least 130cm everywhere, reaching 200-plus in Zermatt. In some cases the resort villages have more snow than the tops of the mountains: in Crans-Montana the village, at 1,800 m, has 180cm, while the glacier above has 130cm!
Several resorts have had to keep some of their runs closed, however, due to a mix of high winds and avalanche risks.
Crans-Montana 3 of 27 runs open Saturday, due to high winds. Some 40,000 guests expected this week, according to tourism office CEO Philippe Rubod.
Gstaad area (includes Glacier 3000) 43 of 57 runs open, snow 60-300cm
Saas-Fee several lifts closed Saturday due to high winds
Verbier runs mostly open, with lower winds than in central canton Valais; snow depth 50-170cm. Note: if you’re in the area be sure to take in the special Christmas concert put on by the Friends of Verbier Festival: Thursday 29 December 2011 at 18.30 in the Eglise de Verbier with Japanese violinist Sayaka Shoji and French pianist Julien Quentin. Tickets are on sale from +41 848 771 882 or by e-mail caroline.bertee@verbierfestival.com, for CHF60 (CHF30, under 16s). Starting 26 December, tickets available at the Verbier tourist information center.
Villars-Gryon 11 of 15 lifts opened Saturday. Avalanche danger remains high. Sledge pistes open from 24 and 26 December in Frience and Cergnement.
Zermatt higher lifts mostly closed due to high winds Saturday, Sunnegga and Gornergrat have several lifts open.
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.
Performers include Martha Argerich, Joshua Bell, Nelson Freire, David Garrett, Valery Gergiev, Leonidas Kavakos, Angelika Kirchschlager, Evgeny Kissin, Gidon Kremer, Mischa Maisky, Anne-Sophie Mutter, René Pape, Vadim Repin, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Bryn Terfel and Yuja Wang.
The 2011 programme includes an evening featuring the Béjart Ballet of Lausanne.
Location: Verbier, Switzerland
Link out: http://www.verbierfestival.com/?utm_source=Verb…
Start date: 15 Jul 2011
End date: 31 Jul 2011
Sembrancher accident killed one, injured two
SION, SWITZERLAND – A car driven by a 19-year-old en route from Bovernier to Sembrancher, on the main road that leads to Verbier, swerved left and into the path of an oncoming car at 21:15 Wednesday night, 18 May. The 17-year-old passenger in the car that crossed into the other lane was killed. Police have not yet determined why the car swerved.
The accident happened on a stretch of road near an area called Trappistes.
The driver was hospitalized in Martigny but police have provided no further details, and the driver of the other car, a 37-year-old man, was taken to Sion hospital with slight injuries.
Snow conditions, Spring skiing deals, this season’s improvements, Aminona resort, upcoming events
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Winter is officially behind us, clocks spring forward this weekend, and the snow is gone from the lower slopes, so this will be GenevaLunch’s final weekend snow and winter sports report for 2010-2011 season.
There is still time to ski and even sled, so snow fans have little to worry about, but you’ll need to check first to see where the snow is. Be sure to take along the sun cream!
Weather forecast
Snowpark at Corvatsch, St Moritz, 25 February 2011
Highs on the plain and at low altitudes, including Geneva, of 18-20C Saturday, with sunshine, but clouds building in the afternoon. Expect mountain highs of 16C Sunday and snow Sunday afternoon down to 1,700-1,900 metres.
Resorts closing, but special offers in some that stay open
This is the final weekend of skiing for most resorts at lower altitudes. This includes the Jura, where there is still, happily, enough snow for a few final downhill runs. Shirley Curran reports:
“Our Jura ski season closes Sunday, 27 March, but it is still possible to ski at Crozet and Lelex. Indeed, in the middle of the week, the run right down to Lelex was still in operation, though the cover down there is thin. Eight lifts will be running on Saturday and Sunday but it is a good idea to get up there early as the snow becomes very soft in the afternoon. You will need suncream too. The season is already over at the Col de la Faucille.”
MySwitzerland, the national tourism office, has a list of resorts that remain open in April, with special spring skiing deals as well as a list of the glacier resorts, some of which offer summer skiing later on.
GenevaLunch’s series, Swiss dream ski week, will be completed Sunday 27 March with the final article, on Zermatt, the slopes and the town. The report on Davos published 25 March points out that great skiing and snowboarding is available there until the end of April.
Avalanche alerts, for those going off-piste or doing back country skiing: moderate / level 2 on the northern flank of the Alps, but high / level 3 on the southern side, from lower Valais to the Goms. Details in the national daily avalanche bulletin, in English.
Looking back, changes during the 2010-2011 ski season
Snow machines are everywhere
Snow has been falling at higher altitudes, although not in great quantities, as on the road to the Simplon Pass 14 March
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Blue skies and 10C in Geneva Friday morning 18 March make it hard to use the word “winter” but resorts are still open and the snow remains decent to good in most areas.
Weather forecast, snow conditions, avalanche warnings
Highs of 10C around Lake Geneva, 14C in Valais for the weekend, with occasional cloudiness, but mostly sunny, turning sunny for the start of next week. Snow down to 900 metres in cooler areas, which could give the Jura a final spring covering on the slopes. Details, Meteosuisse (Fr)
MySwitzerland’s snow conditions report indicates that it has snowed in several resorts in the past 24 hours, although in most places, such as Crans-Montana, the snowfall above the resort was 10cm.
The avalanche warnings are at level 3, “considerable” throughout all mountain areas: warm late winter days are the peak time for them. The national avalanche institute notes that “The old snowpack is thoroughly wet in all expositions below 2000 to 2200 m. Particularly on west to north to east facing slopes, the old snowpack is prone to triggering.” Even north-facing slopes below 2,200 metres are at risk where steep slopes have not yet discharged, it says.
Hikers are starting to walk in the mountains, thanks to the warm weather and low snowfall this winter which means many areas are clear of snow. Use caution: a man died near St Luc Friday 17 March after slipping on ice and then sliding 100 metres, while on a mountain walk.
Resorts news
Les Faucilles, Jura, 5 March 2011 (photo, ©2011: Shirley Curran)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Blue skies, warm weather, and the snow is holding in most places, although this will clearly go down in the records as a winter when it mostly forgot to snow during the ski season. This week we bring you an abbreviated edition of the winter sports weekend news to continue producing our Swiss dream ski week series, with Scuol next, after St Moritz.
Weather forecast
Western Switzerland will have almost summery, balmy weather, with highs of 15-16C and sunshine Friday and part of Saturday, with cloudy skies and rain gradually moving in. Highs of 12-13C Sunday. The Alps show a mixed picture, with highs in canton Valais of 16C this weekend, and yet snow is expected at high altitudes. The dry, warm foehn wind will be blowing at lower altitudes. Details, in French, MeteoSwiss
Southeastern Switzerland, however, will have highs of 3-6C, starting around Zermatt, and in Samedan in Graubuenden, the high for the weekend is expected to be -1C.
Snow conditions and avalanche warnings
Moderate, level 2 warnings for avalanches Friday, 10 March and snow conditions remain generally good, but check daily snow reports from MySwitzerland, by resort.
Jura ski report
by Shirley Curran
Conditions remain surprisingly good in our Jura resorts, as the weather becomes milder. From next week, the Crozet telecabine will be running only on wednesday and at the weekends, though you can reach the resort from the Lelex side of the mountain. The Faucille will remain open for your end of season ski-ing with a variety of lifts and pistes available.
Dream Swiss ski week
Snowpark at Corvatsch, St Moritz, 25 February 2011
If you’re a good skier and dream of heading off for a week of some of the best slopes in Switzerland with a friend, this is for you.
Share a week in some of Switzerland’s top resorts for good skiers with reporters Nick and Liam Bates: Verbier, en route by train, and St Moritz have been published. Scuol, Davos and Zermatt will be published Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Freeride, Bas-Combe, Verbier (photo ©2011 Verbier St-Bernard / Yves Garneau)
Take two good skiers, two different ages, give them one week to cover as many good slopes at top resorts in Switzerland as they can manage, using trains to get around, and you have a Swiss ski dream week.
GenevaLunch’s weekend sports writer Nick Bates and son Liam Bates, 22, who writes occasional travel reports for GenevaLunch, hit the slopes with a pair of skis and a snowboard, the last week in February. Nick has been skiing in Switzerland for 30 years and Liam grew up skiing most weekends in canton Valais, then spent four years near the Whistler resort area in Canada.
Like so many skiers in Switzerland, though, they have tended to return to the same places, and this year, they decided to test and compare.
We’ll give you their daily reports from the week, with high and low points, plus tips for each resort.
Switzerland’s ski season continues until mid-April (check individual resorts).
Click on images to view larger
Day 1: Verbier, Monday 21 February
Freeride, Mont Fort, Verbier, in better weather (photo ©2011 Verbier St-Bernard / François Perraudin)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The village of Verbier is at 1,550 metres, but the good skiing, especially the off-piste where Verbier has an enviable reputation, goes as high as 3,300m. Off-piste here, “ski-tour”, is a large area set aside and marked for this, where slopes are not groomed.
Verbier is not the ideal resort for beginners or the faint-hearted, but it is justifiably a favourite with fast and serious, experienced skiers, who also like their après-ski, so there are plenty of options at the end of a long day outdoors.
The Swiss winter of 2010-2011 has not offered the kind of heavy snows that shows off Verbier at its best, but this is a resort that can always offer good skiing.
Verbier and its skiers like to think of it as more “sporty” than most other resorts. It has a solid international mix of returning skiers: British, Swiss, French and Scandinavian skiers are regulars. There are other good outdoor options, including the longest slide run, 10 km, in French-speaking Switzerland, open at night.
Ski area Verbier: 27 lifts, 100 km of runs
Verbier, a wealth of good skiing (photo ©2011 Verbier St-Bernard / Yves Garneau)
Nick – “We had lots of cloud, but the snow was pretty good on the pistes, with a few centimetres of fresh snow. The snow from January has held because it’s been cold enough.”
Liam – “But they still need a big dump so people can go off-piste and do more at the snow park, which wasn’t busy.”
Nick – “At 10 in the morning, the queues are not too bad, even during a school holiday week.”
Liam – “Some parts get a bit crowded but you can get away from them, easy.”
Nick – “It’s challenging skiing, with a big variety of slopes for intermediate to good skiers.
Liam – It’s not really aimed at little kids.
Nick – There were a lot of little kids on the slopes, but they were really, really good!
Nick – The Mont Fort piste from the very top is large mogul field.
Sion, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The skier who was killed 2 February in an avalanche in Crans-Montana has been formally identified by DNA tests, police in Valais announced Friday: a 40-year-old Canadian, resident in Valais.
Surefoot staff in Verbier have confirmed to GenevaLunch that the skier was Scott Mann, manager of the ski boot specialty shop in Verbier. He was a popular, well-known and very experienced off-piste skier who knew the area well and who had often skied around Mont Bonvin, where he lost his life Wednesday.
The avalanche was 50 metres wide and 700m long, on a very steep run.
One of his friends told GenevaLunch “Scott had skied that face countless times and it is known to be his mountain because of this. Because the conditions have been really poor in terms of snow this year, i think everyone was just waiting for a dump of the good stuff, and that is why he would have decided to go up there and take the risk because it was the first chance for a good off piste ski and this was his favourite face to ski in deep pow. . .He was a good skier and he knew what he was doing and the risk he would be taking to go up there.”
Surefoot also has a shop in Crans-Montana, which Mann had managed, and he was well known in the resort as well.
Google’s Street Views to add Swiss ski slopes
Verbier on a blue skies day in January 2011
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – We will soon be bringing you a wonderful special feature, a report from two good skiers, one young and one a few years older, who’ve decided to see how many top Swiss ski resorts they can pack into a week.
They are looking at what’s involved in making a perfect week, away from family, minds focused on the slopes, from getting from point to point and whether the fabled slopes are as grand as their reputations.
They’re busy touring and gathering tips for that dream week of yours, but they are also sending brief daily reports on conditions to whet your appetite.
Here’s the first one, from Verbier, 21 February:
“Lots of cloud, snow was pretty good on the pistes with a few centimetres of fresh snow. They still need a big dump so people can go off-piste and do more at the snow park, which wasn’t busy. Left the slopes early for good apres-ski due to poor visibility. Challenging skiing, more sporty than other places.”
Meanwhile, a few peaks away, Zermatt snowmobiles carry Google cameras
Thomas Imboden of Zermatt Bergbahnen in front of the Matterhorn Monday 21 February with the Google Street View snowmobile
Google has starting filming in Zermatt as part of its plans to map Swiss ski slopes. The company began filming Monday 21 February, using a snowmobile on the Sunnegga, at 2,288 metres, and will continue to the Paradis glacier at 3,883.
The images will then be put through a quality control check and assembled, so it will be some months before they are available to the public.
Google plans to film as many other ski areas as possible, a plan that Thomas Winkler, a member of the board of the Swiss national tourism office calls “a gift for Swiss tourism”.
The filming in Zermatt has begun a week before a court case comes up that will consider the legality of Street Views under Swiss privacy laws.
Courts aside, the Swiss population is enjoying Street Views, Google says, in a statement about the new ski slope shooting: its Google Maps have seen a 20 percent increase in use since the August 2009 start of Google Street Views.
In recent months a tricycle has filmed hard-to-view areas such as the Chateau de Chillon in canton Vaud and the Aletsch glacier in canton Valais.
The slopes don’t pose the same problem as Swiss streets because they are being closed while Google’s cameras, on snowmobiles, film the pistes.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Weather: glorious. Snow: not bad, inching up to good. Competition: some good shows on for spectators.
Topping the list this weekend, though, is surprisingly good snow reports from the Jura.
It’s also the second and final weekend of the hot air balloon show in Chateau d’Oex (see our report last week) and the weather looks more promising than last weekend, when strong winds kept them on the ground much of the time.
Hot-air balloons over Montbovon 24 January (photo ©2011 Keepps on flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/isg-online)
We have added a photo album of the world of beautiful hot air balloons from the festival in Chateau d’Oex but also balloons drifting above Montbovon, where the weather was more cooperative last week, to set your sites a little higher.
Weather forecast for Lake Geneva region, Alps and Jura
The Swiss national weather service, MeteoSwiss, has dealt us a great hand of weather cards, with sunshine and occasional clouds in the mountains, just below freezing at night and warming up to 5-7C in most of western Switzerland.
Slightly more cloud cover and weak cold bise winds around Lake Geneva, with clouds sitting below 1,000 metres.
Swiss and neighbouring France resorts report
Jura skiing, from Shirley Curran
Jura slopes (photo: Shirley Curran)
Where is everybody? The resort web site is not exaggerating when it announces that conditions on the slopes at Crozet/Lélex are very good. We have been skiing up there every morning this week. The neige de culture combined with bitterly cold weather and first-rate slope grooming means that there is a good cover on the main slopes that are open: the chairs and telecabines and one poma lift as well as all the lifts on the Crozet nursery slopes. Above the clouds the weather is superb and the slopes have been almost empty. Who could wish for more. Well, yes, we would all like more snow, but there is enough!
Check the openings, weather and snow conditions daily at Monts Jura, where the snow was described as “excellent” Friday evening.
Swiss and French Alps, skiing
The snow cover varies hugely, from none to very thin, even at 1,700-1,800 metres in Verbier and Crans-Montana, to good in Gstaad, at 1,100 metres, but the quality of the snow in most resorts is very good, thanks to continuing cold weather. You just have to go a bit higher for the snow.
Chamonix, in neighbouring France, is hosting World Cup ski races this weekend (see Competitions, below), so expect crowds and thrills on the difficult Verte des Houches. This is the likely area for the 2018 Winter Olympics ski races if Annecy wins the bid. The resort, which is actually four, is big enough to fit everyone and every winter sport, so if you’re more interested in sending yourself down slopes than watching the experts, you have plenty of options. A year ago, in January 2010, the four main villages in the valley became a federation of communes. One result is that the ski offer is clearer, from runs and jumps for hotshots to gentler skiing if you’re a family with beginners or wobbly-on-skis guests.
Chateau d'Oex 2011 Hot-ar Balloon Festival (photo, ©2011 Mr Kio on flickr)
Chateau d’Oex should have perfect conditions this weekend for the International Hot Air Balloon festival. If you’re driving from Geneva or Lausanne you can do a nice loop via Aigle in the car, going one way over the Col des Mosses, and the other via Diableret, since both are open.
Crans-Montana is hosting the Juniors World Championshiop in skiing 29 January to 6 February, a great chance to watch the world’s next generation of ski stars. The first race is the giant slalom, Sunday, ending with the super-G next Friday and Saturday. Complete programme
Verbier has a freeride fair 29-30 January, Saturday and Sunday, and one of the features is the chance to try out new equipment.
Competitions: skiing, mountaineering, free ride, figure skating and horses
Alpine ski races: men are at Chamonix and the women are racing at Sestrières, with both on TSR in Switzerland. Didier Cuche led the men during the training runs, which were marred by the second serious accident in a week that involved an Austrian skier.
The world men’s freeride races, six thrilling events during the season, move from Chamonix to Corvatsch in Engadine-St Moritz for this weekend, before leaving Europe. The final event of the season brings them back to Verbier. The French are leading the racers in snowboard and ski after Chamonix. An interesting twist is the first-ever telemark skier joining the races.
European figure skaters finish a week of competition in Bern
Tickets are still available for Saturday and Sunday’s exhibition show in Bern, for the European figure skating championships that have been running all week, 23-30 January. Ladies’ and Men’s freestyle events are on Saturday. A British professional photographer based in Helsinki, who works with the Finnish team, has been posting a series of beautiful images on flick: Tyke Tiler.
Zurich hosts major horse show
The Rolex FEI World Cup horse jumping is on this weekend in Zurich, with the series picking up after a four-week pause. World No. 1, Kevin Staut is one of the features. Tickets are available (suggestion: combine it with a visit to the amazing Picasso exhibit, which ends Sunday) or you can watch live on FEI television.
Information posted on earlier weekend snow and winter sports: check past posts for useful general information.
Click on images to view larger
Jura slopes (photo: Shirley Curran)
You may have to go higher for the snow in Verbier, but the view is great and there is snow on those mountains!
We will be publishing our regular Swiss weekend winter sports report here Friday evening, a bit later than usual, but we can already tell you this much: the snow in most places is in good shape thanks to the cold weather, with the Jura in surprisingly good shape. And prepare for great weather for the weekend! Temperatures rising to 5-7C with sunshine and low winds in most parts of western Switzerland.
More to follow, including beautiful hot-air balloon photos, details about the Junior World Cup ski races in Crans-Montana and the Nissan Free Ride World Tour, on in St Moritz Sunday.
Ski resorts update, weather forecast, snow sports competition
Blue skies, thinning but skiable snow above 1,800-2,000 metres
(video, Albrecht returns to the slopes) Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The best news for skiers is that the sun is shining in the Swiss Alps, but fresh snow and colder temperatures to keep the snow from melting would be very welcome. The situation in the Jura is a dramatic change from December, with few ski areas open at the moment. Ski conditions in Alpine resorts are decent above 2,000 metres, with hard snow, but take sunglasses and plan on just a t-shirt on the veranda during your break: this is more like February!
Ski resorts: the higher, the better
Jura report, from Shirley Curran
The condition of the slopes at Crozet/Lélex was surprisingly good this week but we had rain up to 2,000m on Thursday and the temperatures remain high. The plan, at the moment, is to open the Crozet side of the resort on Saturdays, Sundays and Wednesdays only, until we get our big fall of snow. The Lélex télécabine will be running every day. Sadly, the Faucille resort and Menthières are closed until further notice. You can consult the resorts at monts-jura.com to see the latest news and the webcams.
Alpine resorts
Details for resorts: our GenevaLiving blog this week reminded locals to check MySwitzerland for a detailed list of resorts with snow depths, quality of the snow, etc. Note that this service used to be less reliable because it depends on resorts supplying up-to-date information and they were not equally good about doing this. The service has improved and while it’s not 100 percent correct, it’s a great starting point; do also doublecheck directly with the resort for the latest information.
TSR, Swiss public television, provides a useful Bulletin d’enneigement that provides lift ticket prices as well as the latest snowfall information. Note that it’s organized by canton and is in French.
Highlights in resorts this week: Crans-Montana invited former Italian ski star Alberto Tomba to help inaugurate its new lift, Audemars Piguet Bellalui, 14 January. La Bomba, as he was known, had a place on the podium for the first time in 1987, at the World Championships in Crans-Montana.
The new four-seat chairlift went into service before Christmas, and 31 December it carried nearly 10,000 skiers in one day. The new lift has the potential to double the capacity of the old lift and button lift it replaced.
Verbier: plan ahead for the weekend of 29-30 January if you want to test top-quality freeride equipment, part of Ultimate Test Tour.
Zermatt: when you’re up skiing at 3,900 metres, think about Swiss beauty queens, who chilled out on top Friday 14 January for a day-long photo shoot for the next Jelmoli catalogue. Brrrr, but they say they loved it.
Weather forecast
No snow in sight and unseasonally warm weather, is what MeteoSwiss, the national weather service is offering us throughout Switzerland for the next five days. Even Zermatt, normally chillier than the rest of canton Valais, will have highs of 2-6C throughout the week, and on south-facing Alpine villages highs are expected of 6-9C. Geneva will hover around a springlike 12C.
Remember to keep an eye on the weather on GenevaLunch’s weather pages for Geneva and Zurich.
Ski, snowboard races: competition
It’s a busy weekend for sports competitions, many of which are televised on public TV, and you can also watch downhill live on the web, on TSR. The men’s super-combined in Wengen, canton Bern, was won Friday by Croatia’s Ivica Kostelic, followed closely by Switzerland’s Carlo Janka, but one of the key moments was the return to competition by Daniel Albrecht, badly injured nearly two years ago in a crash.
The Wengen men’s Lauberhorn downhill race is one of the highlights of the season: at 12:30 Saturday, televised.
The women’s giant in Maribor is also being televised.
Ski and snowboard tips if you’re flying to Switzerland from abroad: Easyjet came out the clear number one airline at Geneva for 2010, with 36 percent of the traffic, but Swiss, in second place with 15 percent, has been making a real push to rebuild its Geneva traffic since the old Swissair went nose down and the company reduced direct Geneva flights. Both airlines are now offering several daily connections between the UK and Geneva for the winter season. Note that Swiss allows you one piece of winter sports equipment free of charge, but you must book your luggage, including skis, when you book your flight. Easyjet makes a clear distinction between sporting goods and baggage, and you must show up with the combination allowance you’ve booked.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Let is snow, let it snow, preferably on our turf! Frankfurt and Paris were snowed in, but the sad news for skiers in Switzerland 10 December is that the snow that fell last week in the Jura has turned to mud, and the Alpine ski resorts are still waiting for the big snowfalls to arrive. You have a few more days to continue your pre-season warmup exercises and to reflect on safety on the slopes.
Weather forecast
Sun today! The first village house to get warm rays, canton Vaud 9 December
Temperatures are expected to go no higher than 2C throughout the Lake Geneva region this weekend, with sunshine alternating with partly cloudy skies. Expect resorts in Valais to have the same weather, but if you are longing to get warm, head for Ticino, where temperatures will reach 15C.
Alpine and Jura resorts updates
Shirley Curran writes from the Jura resorts area that “sadly, after last Saturday’s memorable start to our ski season where we were skiing with feather-light powder up to our knees, not a cloud in the sky and no crowds, this week’s torrential downpours and high winds have blown or washed away most of the Jura snow. The lifts will not be operating this weekend. However, they will be running every day from 18 December. You can keep up to date with information and webcams at montsjura.com.”
Several resorts in the Alps are offering reduced fares and special family offers. Sierre-Anniviers, which groups together several medium-sized resorts above the lakeside town of Sierre, including family-friendly Zinal and Vercorin, has a new special deal for parents. It allows a couple to share one ski-pass, for parents who are alternating taking care of children. It’s valid only in low season, basically January and March, but offers a good practical solution for many couples with small children or babies.
Anzere has a very good deal for this weekend, 11-12 December: CHF10 for kids and CHF20 for adults for a day pass, or CHF15/20 for two days, well below the season day pass price of CHF47. Slopes open for the season 17 December. Children up to age six are free and families of four get a 10 percent discount.
Verbier has put together an information page on parking and public transport, with useful emergency numbers, part of the effort to encourage skiers to be a bit greener.
On the lakefront, Geneva remembers a glorious moment from its past, and eats chocolate
Glacier Patrol 2010 finish line in Verbier: you have to be fit to run with your skis at this point (photo 2010, PdG)
Verbier, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A mere 5 hours, 52 minutes and 22 seconds to ski from Zermatt to Verbier: the daunting Glacier Patrol run across the top of the Swiss Alps saw 20 minutes sliced off the old record Saturday 24 April. The previous record was set in 2006 by a French-Italian team.
The winning men’s team of Florent Troillet, Martin Anthamatten and Yannick Ecoeur from canton Valais enthused about the excellent conditions when they finished the race: they were in form, the snow was hard and fast, and they were never cold.
Troillet’s sister Marie was part of the winning women’s team, which finished in 7 h 41’18”, also a record, by 12 minutes.
The race has its origins in the second world war, when the Swiss military were preparing to move fast in case of invasion. The 2010 race had more than 1,500 skiers racing in teams of three.
Background, GenevaLunch
Links to other sites: Glacier Patrol. Le Matin (Fre), TSR (Fre)
Dawn among the peaks near Zermatt for the Glacier Patrol 2010 (photo ©2010 Juerg Kaufmann/PdG 2010)
Heading up, Glacier Patrol 2010, Swiss mountain race from Zermatt to Verbier (photo 2010, PdG)
Glacier patrols depart from Zermatt to Vevey
Famed Glacier Patrol has good weather
Vevey, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Glacier Patrol race is on. The PdG, as it is known for its French acronym, is a long-distance endurance race that takes place every two years across the 53km of glaciers, summits and passes between Zermatt and Verbier. A shorter 26km version covers the peaks between Arolla and Verbier.
The three-person patrols compete in male, female and co-ed categories. Traditionally, race participation was restricted to military personnel, but civilians are now welcome. Most of the patrols take 12 hours on average to complete the race, although top athletes finish in almost half the time.
Televerbier prepares to invest CHF40 million
Sion, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss ski resorts are ending the season on a relatively good note, reports TSR, Swiss public television, in a roundup of resorts’ finances: overnight stays were down 3.5 percent but the number of visitors to ski lifts was stable. In canton Vaud, the number of overnight visitors was down 1.5-2 percent. In both cases, the fall in overnight guests was less than expected, given gloomy prognoses for the season, made in December 2009.
The number of British tourists was down in Valais, due to the weak pound sterling, but the number of French, Italians and Americans rose. Christmas and New Year’s were relatively weak, but February was excellent in most areas. Weather and snow affected resorts differently and St Moritz, for example, saw a 10 percent decline in ski lifts, while Zermatt expects to end with a season comparable to last year’s.
Several resorts closed for the season this weekend, with some of the larger ones closing in the next two weeks. Verbier closes at the end of April.
Televerbier, which operates the ski lifts in the resort of Verbier, and the nearby town of Bagnes, are planning to invest CHF40 million in new lifts and infrastructure, according to Le Nouvelliste, the Valais newspaper. The first of several projects is scheduled to start in 2011. It will move the current skilift at Creux-Savoleyres, where the start of the lift is in an avalanche zone. The new lift will start in the Esserts area and finish above the current Sud skilift, which will be closed.
Weather forecast, Jura and Alps reports, Easter weekend traffic information
click on images to view larger
Snowline in Valais, near Leukebad
Fresh snow above Aminona, Valais 31 March 2010
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The long Easter weekend is starting and school holidays in Switzerland are well underway: expect traffic jams on the road but a good mix of vacation options once you’re off the road.
Weather forecast
Highs ranging from 9-11C in the Lake Geneva region this weekend, with some rain Saturday, sunshine alternating with overcast skies Sunday. The weather should become more springlike by Tuesday, with temperatures reaching 16C and sunshine. (MeteoSwiss)
Road traffic forecast
Head for the hills: Extreme World Championship in Verbier, balmy weather in the Alps, decent snow in Jura and an affordable new hut in Zermatt
This weekend we won't see fresh snow, but more green
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Temperatures are warming up nicely on the plain, but it remains cold enough in the mountains for skiers to find good snow. It’s not yet clear what conditions will be like for the Easter school holidays that start in a week, but for this weekend, the skiing is good if you stay above 2,000 metres.
If you’re still on the mountainside at 17:32 Saturday 20 March you can celebrate the first day of Spring there.
Snowpacks are weakening thanks to daytime sun radiation, says the Swiss national avalanche centre in its Friday 19 March bulletin, but avalanche danger is low to moderate.
Weather forecast, snow depth
The snow is disappearing in many areas, which the MeteoSwiss snow depth maps show.
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!
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
Update 13 February: this is beautiful Swiss snow on Saturday!
Video (and skier): Anton Muller, at Bec Rond, Entremont, canton Valais, Switzerland (his photos and film clips on flickr)
Carnivals, cold, the down side of off-piste, Verbier and Jura reports
Verbier's February snow! (photo: Jessica Evans)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Glorious snow, biting cold in some places some of the time: call it winter in Switzerland! This weekend promises to be one of the best, with good crowds on the slopes, carnival starting in many areas, conditions great for skiing, sledding, ice-skating and more.
Weather forecast
Not the chalet in Verbier, this one
Verbier, canton Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Tourists have been the victims of a scam where they paid for a non-existent chalet in the Valais ski resort of Verbier, according to the canton’s police. The scam consists in transferring money to a bank account only to find on arrival in Verbier that the chalet does not exist. Several people have complained to the Valais police, who have responded by giving some tips to would-be renters. They explain that little can be done about a scam after the fact.
The chalet was advertised on a site that has since been dismantled.
Vaud ski vacation week starts, heavy snow expected, Jura primed for the crowds
Hot news from cool resorts: Crans-Montana, Verbier, Villar
Crozets, France 20 January 2010 (photo: Shirley Curran)
Update 17:25 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The snow is pouring down, even at the lakefront, and the mountains are promised buckets of it for the weekend, so pull out warm clothes that will keep you dry, whether you are going to the corner store or heading for the hills.
This is the start of the Vaud school vacation week, and nine other cantons plus some German regions start their holidays, so expect crowds on the road Friday night and Saturday morning.
The first carnivals are beginning in some German-speaking areas: this is celebrated over a period of weeks, with dates staggered from one area to another in Switzerland. Also note that Ticino received heavy snow on Friday and although the weather is expected to quickly warm up, some roads will be difficult.
Peak traffic hours are expected to be from 16:00-20:00 Friday and 08:00-15:00 Saturday, heading in the direction of Bern and Valais, according to the Swiss federal Highway Office. Good sources of information about the current traffic situation are Touring Club Suisse (TCS) and the federal road alerts for truck drivers. TSR, French language TV, also has a good map with accident and heavy traffic alerts. TCS also had a predicted traffic map showing heavy traffic areas for the weekend.
If you’re planning future road trips, you might want to check the new TCS web page that lists all the public holidays in Swiss cantons.
TCS offers an excellent course in winter driving, especially focusing on how to behave in snowy and icy conditions. Details
Weather forecast
Top of Saleve peaking out above Geneva's fog, 23 January 2010 (Photo: Obwoodman on flickr)
Highs of 4C Friday and Saturday falling to 3C Sunday, with snow falling to 500-1,000 metres Friday, 600-800m Saturday, with heavy clouds over much of the plains.
