GstaadLife

Les Diablerets, the sleepy village nestled beneath Col du Pillion, is about to undergo some serious redevelopment. And Gstaad is set to become one of the main beneficiaries. With its 1,400 residents, Les Diablerets is a quiet family resort popular amongst Swiss, British and a smattering of Russians. Yet it has been plagued by problems typical of many Swiss alpine resorts: Hotels are stagnating, chalet construction is ballooning, and snow security is limited with most runs below 2,100 meters. The company Diablerets Vrai Village de Montange (DVVM) is promising to change all this. Following recommendations made by Peter Furger (who also engineered the Gstaad Mountain Rides merger) the company intends to connect the Meillerets (Villars), Isenau and Glacier 3000 ski resorts. A cable car will link Meillerets with the Isenau plateau via a 35 metre high pylon over Les Diablerets. A second cable car will complete the link between Isenau and Col du Pillon. The SFr 30 million project¹s completion is set for no later than 2012. It will be funded by the canton, DVVM and neighboring ski lift operators (ie Marcel Bach's Glacier 3000).

Above, the view from La Refuge l'Espace on the back of the glacier looking in the direction of Villars and beyond to Mont Blanc.

One of the reasons many foreign nationals like living in Switzerland are the modest levels of taxation compared to most EU countries. And it's not just the famous income and wealth tax deals that non-Swiss are able to strike with local authorities. It's also about indirect taxation, for example the relatively inexpensive gas taxes (a liter is 26% cheaper than in the UK for example), the reasonably-priced SFr 40 per year to use Swiss motorways, and the low levels of VAT at 7.6% (2.6% on groceries, books, newspapers, and medicine). Well, new proposals working their way through federal and cantonal parliaments might put a stop to all this. 

The headline is ours, and we did it to get your attention. Why is it that as soon as there is snow on the ground, some dog owners think they don't have to pick up after their pets? Hanspeter Grundisch of Gstaad has some thoughts on the matter...

I enjoy my voluntary role as cross-country piste controller. Just like my colleagues I not only control the day-passes, but also the cleanliness surrounding the cross-country ski run. This inevitably involves us removing dog excrement with those convenient red or brown backs. So now my open letter to dog owners:

Dear (few) responsible dog owners: thanks for your mature behaviour towards addressing the dog faeces problem. Cleaning up your dog's excrement deserves our respect. Unlike those (many) irresponsible dog owners: it is time for a stark of improvement of your attitude towards your environment. Nothing should be stopping you - everything is clearly regulated, and the infrastructure is available.

The entire responsibility for this problem lies with the owners, and not the animal. It would be a shame if the authorities had to start using available legal instruments to hold culprits accountable. Meanwhile: I will continue to ensure the security and hygiene of slopes and hiking trails throughout Saanenland, and would be grateful if you could do the same.

Local laws on littering:
Since June 2004 new trash laws have been in force. The new regulations feature a catalog of fines for littering. Under these rules, if dog faeces are not picked up, the owner can be fined SFr 80. Just pick up after your animal...

It's that Oscar time of year, and now that they have been lavished with a brace of Academy Award nominations, many of you are are checking cinema schedules and thinking about making time to see those movies you didn't get around to last year. But did you know that you can recent recent-run movies on DVD from the Gstaad library? (For that matter did you even know that Gstaad has a library?) Lovers of English-language media that you are, GstaadLife recommends the Gstaad Library, located on the first floor of the Kirchgemeindehaus opposite the Grand Hotel Bellevue. The way it works is that you sign up for a video card which is free. So long as you rent at least once in two years, you remain in the system. You can rent good, recent movies with an English language soundtrack for up to a week for just SFr 6 per film. At that price you can rent six movies for the cost of one night out at the cinema...and the film won't stop randomly in the middle! Click here for opening hours.

Above left: George Clooney (with Brad Pitt in Oceans Eleven), nominated for 2008 in the category of Best Actor for his role in Michael Clayton.

This weekend the 30th annual international balloon festival got underway in Château d'Oex. Thousands were on hand under Sunday's picture-perfect sunny skies to witness hot air balloons and airships from all over the world taking part in various exhibition and competition flights. A couple of lesser known aspects of the festival include the fact that there is a champagne and oyster bar right next to the take-off area that is part of the VIP area but is actually open to the public (don't worry, the prices scare most away)...and the fact that you can actually ride in some of the balloons on some of the days, with flights available on a first-come-first-served basis for around SFr 300 per person. The festival continues throughout the week culminating in a fireworks display and mountain lightshow at 19h00 on Friday January 25 that puts even Gstaad's New Year's pyrotechnics to shame. Visit the event's official website here, and watch the video below for a taste of the action.

Here's the big one,  the 64 dollar question, as they used to say in the good old days before inflation: Is Gstaad going to follow Courchevel, St Moritz, Chamonix, Verbier and countless other winter resorts in becoming  yet another playground for Russian oligarchs, their fur-clad girlfriends, their bodyguards, their hookers and their drugs? The oligarchs already have their English football clubs, their superyachts and their multi-million pound country mansions, so will multi-million franc Simmentaler-style chalets be next? Let's start with the bad news because there is no good news - at least as far as I'm concerned. Prices at the above mentioned ski resorts have been driven up to the extent that some local people are thinking of packing up and moving. Small local stores  such as bakeries, vegetable markets and butcher shops are being replaced by luxury boutiques offering Prada and Gucci, not to mention glitzy jewellery ateliers and even expensive department stores. Worse is the reputation of certain oligarchs and their inevitable entourages. They are rude, crude, vulgar and known to act at times like proverbial bulls in a china shop. But let's stick to Gstaad...

The doctors of Obersimmental and Saanenland have been following the controversy surrounding the proposed location of Spital STS AG's new hospital. By replacing the hospital in Zweisimmen and Saanen with a new construction in Saanenmöser, Spital STS AG seeks to secure stationary medical provision for generations to come. Concerned by attempts to undermine the project in Saanenmöser, the doctors feel obliged to issue a statement on the debate.

We welcome the decision build a new hospital. Despite open technical questions it is a courageous step, and the only path through which our region can realistically maintain its medical standard and improve its economic efficiency. The only alternative scenario that was presented to the canton includes a health center in both Saanen and Zweisimmen. This would equate to a massive medical and economic cutback, and must be prevented.

To ensure optimal medical coverage of the area between Boltigen and Gsteig, Saanenmöser is ideal. Its central location is suited not only for a hospital but also rescue services. The strategic decision by the board of the Spital STS also includes the conversion of Zweisimmen's hospital into a health centre for long-term patients. Jobs at this institution would therefore be retained. Despite the hospital's location in Saanenmöser, the Obersimmental and Zweisimmen stand to gain financially from the new situation. It is also likely that many of the new hospital's employees will live in the Simmental.

Current hospital financing models involve standardized payments to hospitals by the canton and insurances. These payments depend on the number and severity of cases. Each hospital also needs to have a minimum number of patients to receive financial support. This combined with new regionalized treatment and organizational models without deficit guarantees, as well as numerous other regulations (eg employment laws, product liability), make it continuously harder for small hospitals to sustain themselves. Indeed, the minimum number of patients can only be achieved in partnership with other larger hospitals.

Spital STS AG operates the hospitals in Zweisimmen and Saanen, and several others throughout Bernese Oberland. Spital STS AG has managed to sustain both Zweisimmen and Saanen thanks to the company's high overall number of patients. Yet the government's plan to reduce the payments further will put the current structures under pressure. Optimization with a new hospital is an inevitable consequence. Not only is it optimal for our region, it is also a unique, final chance to secure medical provision. The window of opportunity has a limited timeframe since it goes completely against the general trend of  medical centralization.

Hence we do not have time for protracted discussions that may delay the hospital project. We view the petition started by Zweisimmen as counterproductive, and distance ourselves from it. It does not have the medical provision for all our valleys at its heart, and runs the danger of undermining the efforts to save the local stationary hospital provision  to the detriment of us all.

Pretty dramatic headline, no? Well, back in November a sheep was actually killed in Teilegg near Saanen. At the time it was suspected that a wolf did the deed, and DNA analysis of feces has now conclusively ID'ed the predator as a wolf. Probably on a walkabout from France or Italy, it is not known whether it is the same wolf that ravaged flocks around the canton throughout last year. And although the wolf’s current whereabouts are unknown, since wolves tend to be nomadic it is likely that it left Saanenland some time ago. In any event, farmers and hikers need not be concerned since, contrary to the images of Little Red Riding Hood that are tatoo'ed into our minds from early childhood, wolves are actually rather wary of humans.

When we compiled our list of 2007's top 20 articles just before Christmas, one of the things that surprised us was the top story, Montblanc to unveil new diamond jewelry collection in Gstaad. Every month, including this one so far, this article appears at or near the top of the rankings, fueled by incessant Google searches for the Montblanc diamond collection (try a search for "Montblanc diamonds" in Google: unbelievably we're the top hit). Well, now comes word that the luxury brand has opened a boutique in Gstaad. Situated next to the spa entrance of the Grand Hotel Bellevue, the new outlet – one of 350 boutiques worldwide - presents a range of luxury goods including watches, jewelry, leather accessories and, of course, the celebrated Montblanc ballpoint and fountain pens. The connection with Gstaad is not new, as the diamond collection was unveiled here, and for many years the brand has been a partner of the Menuhin Festival, creating a limited-edition Menuhin pen for the year 2000 when Montblanc was the main sponsor. So now all you readers can check out the collections for yourself when you're up here, and maybe here at GL.com central,we'll finally get to stop playing referral operator for Montblanc worldwide. Not that we mind...

If you were here over the holidays, you don't need us to tell you that this year's winter ski conditions were nothing short of phenomenal. With plentiful snow falling in both November and mid-December and oodles of sun over the holidays, Gstaad-Saanenland was able to make last year's Schneemangel misery a distant memory, and area ski lifts were operating almost all lifts and runs by Christmas, something that is often not achieved until mid-February. The numbers also bear out the anecdotal observations on the slopes (there were even waiting times for some lifts...what in Gstaad?!), with local lift operating company Bergbahnen Destination Gstaad reporting a 61% increase in revenue during the last week of the year compared to the 2006/7 season. Of course this last weekend we were beset by a headache-inducing Föhn wind, which melted away some of the action, but with a good base and new snow-making facilities up and running throughout the region, hopefully this year's stellar start can continue into February and March. Hotels, restaurants, retail...they're all happy, numbers are up all round, and as we look out the window here at GstaadLife.com central, it's sun and snow all the way down to the Oldenhorn. Come up, slow down.