GstaadLife

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By Diana Oehrli

It’s dangerous. It’s sad. It’s getting worse. It’s as much of an issue at local sporting events as it is in trendy discotheques. It’s easier to ignore than to confront. It’s youth binge drinking, and it’s an issue here in Saanenland.

Igniting discussions has been a rash of alcohol-fueled violence occurring outside the GreenGo discotheque at the Gstaad Palace. According to Andrea Scherz, general manager of hotel, there have been three fights so far this season. “We have had to stock up on security,” Scherz said. “This winter, we have been unlucky,” he continued. “One of the main reasons is the lack of snow, as there has been less reason to get up the next day to go skiing. Young people have more energy to stay up at night and get into trouble.” Scherz described the violence not as a new phenomenon, but as happening for “silly” reasons such as jealousy over a girl. He sees the fights increasingly affecting younger people.

Ok, maybe something of an overstatement, but not by much. This week's stunning weather has brought out the skiing crowds here in Gstaad. Normally for the Gstaad Superski Region, crowds and lift waits are not part of the equation. The various hills are spread out and even the busiest days see short waits and clear pistes. Not this week. With the lack of snowfall this year, the only really good quality snow is on the glacier, and that seems to be a secret known by all of Saanenland and much of Vaud and Wallis. The high speed cable car is running at capacity every 10 minutes up and down throughout the day. For each ride skiers are packed in like commuters on a Tokyo subway train. There's plenty of pushing and shoving but it's mostly good-natured stuff. For example you should allow as much as 50 minutes for the trip up from Col du Pillon to Botta, 20 minutes for the trip itself and 30 minutes to wait for the change between the two lines at the middle station (if the line is long we recommend doing a few runs from the middle station down to Oldenegg and checking the length of the line each time you arrive back at the top).

Photo credit: www.gstaad.ch

By Taki Theodoracopulos

Gstaad. There’s more happy dust to be found indoors around here than powder on the slopes. Last week I drove to the Diableret glacier and skied my legs off trying to catch up. At 3000 meters—the maximum height the old prop planes used to reach when crossing the Atlantic—and upwards, the white stuff was perfect. (I mean the snow on the ground).  Although I smoke non-filter Camels and drink the heavy stuff, my lungs felt perfect. My feet hurt like hell, however, and I became convinced while skiing that I had gangrene, or something equally disgusting. After two hours I could bear the pain no longer. I stopped and took my boots off. Eureka! They were not mine, but my son’s old ones, when he was sixteen and at the Rosey. No wonder I thought I had gangrene. But I had to put them back on and ski down for another twenty minutes non-stop, twenty minutes which felt like five days in the company of Paris Hilton and her distinguished family. Never mind. The greens are having a ball with the surrounding greenness, and as the temperature rises daily, so do the predictions that soon Switzerland will be rivalling Palm Beach for beachwear in winter. Mind you, many of the ecologically-minded folk, at least here in Gstaad, drive Porsche Cayennes, Range Rovers or the disgusting Hummer. 

Is Johnny Hallyday's welcome in Gstaad wearing thin? It certainly might do after February 27. On this day the Belgian parliment will vote on whether to grant Hallyday citizenship of Belgium. Why is this important? Because if he becomes a Belgian citizen, then he will have the right to set up residency in Monaco on a tax-free basis (French nationals are not permitted to live in Monaco without continuing to pay taxes to the French treasury). The talk at the dinner parties features a growing resentment towards the spotlight on Gstaad that Hallyday's much publicized tax minimization has caused, because there are many others who have been doing the same thing quietly for years. But they didn't announce it as a snub to a presidential candidate an election year. They just came, talking up the virtues of the landscape, the peace and quiet, and the quality of life.

We’ll say this upfront. This story has nothing to do with Gstaad and it's quite puerile. But it is very funny.  It's about a little village in Austria, and because we have so many Austrian readers we thought we would share it with you. The video is taken from Graham Norton's chat show (which appears on UK and US television), and shows a small segment of an interview he conducted with Roseanne Barr. In the clip, Norton telephones the Austrian tourist office to enquire about a small town in Upper Austria called...Fucking (click map to enlarge). Just watch it…

By Dr Ranja Frommer, Gstaad

Some thoughts around the new equestrian center of Gstaad. As announced in the Anzeiger von Saanen on Feb. 9. and also in English on Gstaadlife.com, there are definite plans now for a new riding/stable facility in Gstaad. It was announced as a modern, state-of-the-art facility, and the German article stated that the stable, as it is now, no longer is “Gstaad-like”. This information, combined with the plans of having 26-40 stables (stalls, boxes) in the new facility, gave me the urge to write down some of my thoughts around horse-keep and the most modern and high-tech possibilities there are for it. As animal/horse lovers, we do not deliberately harm our animals/horses by anything we do to or provide for them. On the contrary, we want to do as well ‘for them’ as possible. In order to minimize the risk of harming them and maximizing the upkeep of their health, it is always helpful to consider their specific characteristics and needs. I will try to do so here, shortly.

Last month GstaadLife.com reported on the Gemeinde's proposals for a new security concept in Saanenland, including the installation of CCTV cameras in public areas. This week's GstaadLife print edition has an interesting article detailing the community reaction received thus far in the questionnaires that the Gemeinde asked people to fill out to give their feedback. About 80 responses have been received with questionnaires still available for completion up till February 28. In the article Markus Iseli of the Gemeinde comments that as many as one third of the responses have come from non-voting guests, with a surprisingly large amount of consensus beween local residents and regular visitors. Most have welcomed the idea of security cameras in such places as parking lots and major intersections, with some in the guest community citing that it was a phenomenon they have become very used to in places such as Monaco and London.

By Diana Oehrli

Last Saturday afternoon (February 17), an avalanche caught a group of off-piste skiers on the north side of the Lauenenhorn. Those buried were rescued rapidly and all have since been released from the hospital. The group began its ski tour on an official slope at 13h55, skiing single-file in a northerly direction. After traversing the slope, the group congregated and contemplated skiing toward the Turnelsalp. Suddenly, the snow bank they had just passed over separated, partially burying two people and completely burying three others. The remaining members of the group requested immediate help and began to search for and dig out the five buried skiers. A group of nearby skiers who had witnessed the avalanche also immediately requested assistance. A Rega helicopter arrived within minutes and an Air Glaciers helicopter brought three avalanche dog teams. It was thanks to the rescue action by members of the Swiss Alpen Club Salvage Station Gstaad and the Rega and Air Glaciers chopper crews that the skiers could be saved. Four people with suspected injuries and hypothermia were flown to the hospital. The avalanche was approximately 150 meters wide and 600 meters long, according to Ueli Grundisch, chief of Mountain Rescue Saanenland. It triggered at 2,400 meters, most likely caused by the combination of southerly winds, layered snow, an incorrect judgment of the slope, and the size of the group. Currently, the avalanche danger in Saanenland is classified as “moderate”.

By Diana Oehrli

On Friday February 16 at approximately 23h00, a 19 year-old driver lost control of his car while trying to overtake four other vehicles on the sinuous road between Rossinière and Château d‘Oex. The vehicle plunged into a ravine, landing on trees 30 meters below. The 18 and 21 year-old passengers died instantly. The driver succeeded in climbing up the embankment before jumping from a bridge into the Saane River. He survived the fall.