GstaadLife

As the snow falls this morning on the hills surrounding Gstaad, we are reminded that discounted ski passes are now available for purchase at the area tourist offices and ski stations. With the price of annual passes up 8% this year (that's almost SFr 1,000 for a non-res pass), you'd be well advised to pick up your pass before October 31 (see: Ski pass prices going up). Those passes ordered and paid for by that date are subject to a 10% discount, canceling out the price increase. Unfortunately Gstaad Mountain Rides doesn't have online ordering, so you'll have to plan a visit to one of the locations listed below, or there's a form you can fill out to order by post (yes, some people still do that). Probably if you're really nice they'll let you order by credit card over the phone at +41.33.744 81 81. Remember kids under nine don't need to pay to ride, but you'll still need to pay the SFr 10.- for the magnetic card deposit.

Our July 27 article on federal government proposals to construct a wind farm above Gstaad on the Hornberg continues to cause quite a stir (see A wind farm on the Hornberg? and Konzept Windenergie Schweiz). This month it's the turn of Frederick Gallagher, Managing Director and CEO of Canadian Enhanced Energy Development Ltd. and regular visitor to Sannenland over the past 18 years, who shares with us his professional insights on the suitability of Saanenland for a wind farm.

By Frederick Gallagher

I noted on a recent trip to Gstaad the discussion of wind energy in your newspaper.I have been a wind energy developer for the past 15 years in Canada having created and lead (Managing Director and CEO) Canada's largest wind energy developer, Vision Quest Windelectric, now a division of TransAlta Corporation. With my depth of experience I cannot think of a place that would be less likely for wind energy development than Sannenland. Specifically, the wind resource (available wind energy for creation of electricity) is poor due to low energy wind patterns in the region and the lack of suitable locations to capture any available wind (hilltops are limited in extent and higher altitudes reduce the wind energy due to low air density). Additionally, the lack of year round mountain top accessibility for service and of course the visual trade-off make Sannenland an overall very poor choice for wind energy development.

By Alison Chabloz

Gstaad must be doing things right. Once again, as with all the major events which took place during this summer season, the weather came up trumps for Country Night. Over 6,000 were in attendance over the two days, and those who didn’t have a ticket for the main concerts were able to enjoy a weekend of fairground frolics and the numerous bars until the wee hours. The weekend’s two concerts were sold out, with impeccably polite staff on hand to guide country lovers to their seats, and a sophisticated array of technical equipment to ensure that everyone had a great view via two large screens on each side of the stage.

Excessive traffic and speeding on Grubenstrasse were hot topics at a farmers’ meeting August 29. Grubenstrasse is a one-lane road that leads from the Brot Bar intersection in Gstaad to Schönried. Tourists, construction workers, ski teachers, and taxis all use the road as a shortcut, much to the dismay of Gruben residents and pedestrians. People are worried that excessive traffic on the lane poses a serious safety risk to pedestrians and especially to schoolchildren. Drivers who use Gruben as a shortcut between Schönried and Gstaad and who ignore the 40km per hour speed limit are especially dangerous, they said. They also noted that construction firms and commuters use the road early in the morning and at lunchtime, when children are walking to and from school.

Above, the Grubenstrasse intersection at Brot Bar, where parked cars can sometimes make it hard to pull out onto the main road between Gstaad and Saanen.

It’s time to put away your classical concert outfits, slip into a pair of skin-tight jeans, don your cowboy boots and your stetson and come on down to the Gstaad festival tent for the 19th edition of Country Night Gstaad. Why Gstaad has such a strong tradition of country music nobody seems to know (surely Marcel is not so omnipotent that he can even force us to listen to his music), but the event is now hailed as Europe’s leading country music festival. The festivities take place from September 21 to 23, with a host of stars and other exciting attractions. Country legend and Hollywood film star Randy Travis is topping the bill, and female bluegrass artist Rhonda Vincent will be making a welcome comeback to the Gstaad stage. Supporting acts include the up-and-coming South Carolina singer Julie Roberts (pictured, click to enlarge), and long-time good ole boys, Riders in the Sky. There are still a few tickets available for Friday’s concert. Call 033 744 88 22 or click here.

A number of you who saw the car in the GstaadLife Garage this week made one particular comment [with incredulous tone]: “a Volvo?!” Yes folks, this week we’ve taken a break from the SUVs and sports cars that are the usual fair around here and taken up our position behind the wheel of the all-new Volvo XC70, available exclusively in Saanenland from Autohaus Iseli in Zweisimmen. The XC70 is one of just a handful of so-called crossover vehicles on the road, a hybrid of station wagon with offroad capability. Basically it’s a jacked up station wagon with the kind of offroad styling that makes city folks feel like they are perennially about to leave for a weekend in the mountains. Volvo invented this segment about 6 years ago, and has since been joined by the likes of Audi with its A6 Allroad. When these types of cars first hit the road they were hailed as the best of all worlds, decent-sized vehicles with car-like handling that could transport family with kit and easily handle the rigors of “everyday” offroad conditions, eg snow on cleared roads, mildly rutted farm tracks, and even the odd curb in a Migros parking lot. Then SUVs became popular, including Volvo’s own XC90, and suddenly the crossover looked like an all-season tire that is good at neither season, with boaty handling compared to the full-on car formats (in Volvo’s case the V70) and no real offroad capability, especially if you actually ventured up into the mountains once in a while. Well the all-new Volvo XC70 forces you to rethink this generalization, with a host of new offroad features packed into a car format, one of Volvo's legendary interiors, and… the fuel economy of a normal car.

Around this time last year, giant fault lines started opening up on our hillsides as construction for the snow-making facilities that saved last year's winter season got underway (see New snow-making construction work begins). Buoyed by the resort-saving impact of these installations, construction work has begun even earlier this year and for ever-more ambitious snow-making projects. The giant trench being dug in the field next to Brot Bar is part of a SFr 3.6 million project to increase the artificial snowmaking capacity in the Schönried-Saanenmöser ski area. Work has begun to install a 4.8 km long pipe to bring water from the Saane River, up the Horneggli, to the Hornberg reservoir. Two pumping stations are being built, one in Gschwänd, and the other halfway up the Horneggli. Each will pump 540m3 of water per hour up to the reservoir located at 1,800m, enabling it to be filled in under 60 hours. The project is expected to take three and a half months to complete and is being undertaken by local construction firms.

CLARIFICATION: the September 7 print edition of GstaadLife carried a photo of Urs Hodler on page 1 accompanied by the headline "Eagle Club president steps down". Please note that Urs Hodler, president of the Eagle Club, is stepping down from his board position at the Wasserngrat 2000 AG operating company. His position as president of the Eagle Ski Club is unaffected. We apologize for the misleading presentation of the headline and photo.

Wasserngrat 2000 AG is officially the only low-lying cable car company in Saanenland that was able to avert a revenue collapse during last winter season's diabolical ski conditions. Whilst passenger numbers did fall, the company’s turnover remained steady at SFr 700,000,and a one-off real-estate sale will enable significant investment over the next few years. Although the company reported its worst results in the last five years with respect to the number of people transported, revenues were in line with previous years. This is partly because other cable car companies in Saanenland fared even worse given poor snow conditions, thus boosting the Wasserngrat’s allotment of pooled ski lift income. Numerous ski-club meetings as well as events in the restaurant and the Eagle Club also helped the company stabilize its operating turnover.

Above: the building on the right, the former Wasserngrat middle station, is now well on the way through its transformation into a luxury chalet.

Blaming the poor weather of the last ski season, Bergbahnen Destination Gstaad (BDG), the company that operates most area cable cars, has announced that they're stiching us up last year's weak financial results. Season passes will go up by 8.8% (so that's now almost SFr 1,000 if you don't have a residency permit) and day passes are rising by up to 8%. Actually before we whine and moan, we should acknowledge that rates haven't gone up in four years, and if we compare our rates with other top ski resorts around Switzerland and the world, we are still cheaper than places like Zermatt and St Moritz, and much cheaper that the likes of Aspen, Vail, and Whistler. Thankfully kids under nine still ride for free, which is a bonus. Let's just hope we get some decent snow this year, otherwise BDG will leave us to pick up the tab again next year.

As the air turns cooler, our thoughts drift from endless summer days (which were few and far between this season) to crisp blue days on piste and powder. Here's a little something from Rupert Gunstone that will send you down to the cellar to check if your skis and boots are ready for the action.

By Rupert Gunstone

Ski lift attendants in Gstaad are noted for their maturity…this is because most are farmers...taking time out from milking to run the lift system that drags tourist over their summer pastures. This also explains the rather dour countenance, plenty of facial hair, the smoldering pipe and the occasional whiff of the cow shed. I am no farmer but in order to preserve my sanity during 6 months of paternity leave, my wife had pulled a few strings and organized employment on Wispile Mountain.