GstaadLife

The Friends of the Saanen Hospital are convinced: a hospital is paramount for a high-end tourist destination. With this in mind and after discussions with STS AG, the board of the foundation has decided to support the construction of a new hospital in Saanenmöser and the closure of Saanen and Zweisimmen hospitals. This, they say, is in the overall interest of Saanenland’s guests and residents. Interim FoSH president George Nicholson also expressed the hope that medical provision will continue to be provided in Saanen until the new hospital opens its doors. STS AG has yet to make any such commitment. The foundation donated SFr 4 million between 1999 and 2007 for technical and medical equipment at the Saanen hospital, and it will continue to support the hospital, vice-president Constantine Goulandris confirmed. Whether such support would be extended to Zweisimmen is unclear, and while the decision is for FoSH as a whole to make, Goulandris would favor dissolving the foundation if the hospital in Saanen is closed without a replacement in Saanenmöser. Stay tuned...

Above (from left to right): The Friends of Saanen Hospital board members, Constantine Goulandris, George Nicholson, Monica de Dietrich, and Lancelot Frick.

By Taki Theodoracopulos

It was looking good, the merry month of May, forty years ago. I had been living in Paris for ten years, had just moved into a beautiful small farmhouse 10 miles west of the city, had recently become a bachelor again age 31, and had given up competitive tennis for polo and the Bagatelle polo club in the Bois de Boulogne. My horses were young and mobile, the girls were plentiful, the nightclubs as perfect as nightspots can get, and life seemed to be as good as it gets. Mind you, there were some clouds in the horizon, such as the Tet offensive, which had the hippy crowd cheering the little men in black pajamas back in the states, and the US Navy intelligence ship, Pueblo, being captured by North Korea without firing a shot, but all in all May in the City of Lights (and laughter and girls) looked brilliant. It got better when that great conman LBJ announced that he would not seek another term—and then, suddenly, it all went down the you know what.

"One franc, you say?" Above, BDG director, Armon Cantieni, speaks with BDG vice president and Gemeinde president, Andreas Hurni.

Rellerli will be open in the winter after all. Not because everybody thinks that it is a fantastic, sunny mountain to ski on in winter (see Major changes proposed for Gstaad-area cable cars and related comments), or even because of the email campaign by GstaadLife.com readers (see 89% vote for Rellerli to stay open in the winter). No, because some clever people put a clause in a contract signed in 2004 between the Rellerli and Bergbahnen Destination Gstaad AG that says that the Rellerli must stay open until 2019 in the same way as it was in 2004, or if significant changes are made, then the Rellerli can buy back the operating rights for the mountain for a symbolic one franc. Ooops, BDG director Armon Cantieni did not know about this detail in the contract when he recently proposed the new Konzentration model, but to be fair, the contract was signed before his watch as he only took over the reins at BDG in 2006. So what now? BDG does not want to give back the Rellerli for a franc, so Cantieni is now thinking about positioning the Rellerli as a freerider mountain. Then only the gondola and the restaurant would have to be maintained, the other skilifts could be closed, and the slopes would be kept in a natural, ungroomed state for the perfect freerider experience. He will propose something like this to the IG Rellerli people and then we shall see what they think. In the meantime, what do you think?...

Christian Oberson is back! For those of you who missed him on the Rellerli and were disappointed with the restaurant up there this past winter, we have good news for you. Oberson and Fleur Kessels are returning to the Berghaus Eggli next winter. Let's just hope they keep the Schopfen lift open so you can actually get there easily (see The future of Gstaad-Saanenland cable cars and related reader comments). Martin Gerritsen will be taking over on the Rellerli from May 1 in time for this summer season.

Around this time of year we normally get a few emails from readers inquiring about the whereabouts of regular GstaadLife.com columnist Taki Theodoracopulos. Well, following his winter season in Gstaad, he has resurfaced in New York. Here are some of the things that are on his mind right now...

By Taki Theodoracopulos

Sartre was a far greater fornicator than philosopher, but he did come up with the greatest truism of them all: “Hell is other people.” (The last line in one of his plays.) Mind you, a Greek savant has bettered him by proclaiming Hell is other people speaking on their mobiles inside an airplane. Yes, it has come down to this, or, rather, it has gone up to it. Passengers have been cleared to use the most malignant device since television during flights by telecoms watchdogs. The Dubai-based Emirates was the first airline to allow the suckers who fly it to use mobile telephones last week, which I predict will definitely lead to mayhem sooner rather than later. Can you imagine a billionaire goat-herding towelhead shouting orders to some flunky while he picks his dirty toes, or some money-grubbing hedgie showing off at forty thousand feet? There will be blood. People already act funny when in the air, imagine what will happen when some rich developer starts to blabber away non-stop about some football result. Let the government for once interfere on the side of the good guys. Now that they’ve done away with secondary smoke, what about the much more lethal secondary bore.

This past winter, Gstaad Mountain Rides recovered from the traumatically green and financially devastating winter season of 2006/7 (see Gstaad-area cable car operators report results for 2006/7). Results published in the past few days show that lift operators benefited from early November snow, an exceptionally sunny February, and excellent spring snow, and all this despite various infrastructure problems in the high season. Armon Cantieni, the company’s director, was able to announce a 35% increase in turnover compared to the year before, and even a 3.3% turnover increase over the record 2005/6 season. Wasserngrat AG is expected to announce similar results. Only Glacier 3000 was less upbeat. Their mediocre season was the logical consequence of better snow conditions lower down. Bernhard Tschannen, marketing director, hopes figures will pick up with the numerous end-of-season events they have up there, including the Swiss Avalanche Dog Championships, Freeridedays.ch, and the Saanen Bank Cup parallel slalom event on April 19. They are also hoping to re-open the alpine coaster later this month, which has been closed for refurbishment since February.

How many truckloads does it take to remove 100,000 cubic meters of earth from a hill in the Oberbort? That would be 10,000, or around three trucks a minute during the earth removal phase of the Alpina construction period, which alone will take about 6 months. Not to mention the transportation for as many as 400 workers! But the good news is that the northern access road along the Neueretstrasse is now back on the table, with Bach having managed to buy the land and seeking to get the process moving to secure the rights to take Alpina traffic up the back towards Grand Chalet rather than through the Oberbort. In any event we are all going to have to patient with the noise that will be the mother of all Saanenland construction sites (see The Big Dig 2008), and Bach has promised to keep all proactively informed about any inconveience they might face. He has also released more details about the big hotel project (see Alpina construction to begin in the spring). He and Jean-Claude Mimran are investing between SFr 180 and 200 million in the hotel with its 135 beds, 14 luxury apartments and three chalets, and they hope to open the hotel in the summer of 2012. We'll also keep you up-to-date with progress...for the next four years.

Without new dumping areas, Saanenland is at risk to suffocate under the weight of its own rubble due to the heavy construction. So says Heinz Addor, the president of the Abbau und Deponie AG, who is predicting a total collapse of current working practices by the end of 2008/beginning of 2009 if no other dump is opened somewhere. The Alpina alone will cause 100 000 cubic meters of rubble (see Alpina construction: one truck every 3 minutes). Right now there is one dump in Lauenen and another one is due to open soon in Saali/Gsteig, but these landfills do not have sufficient capacity for the amount of rubble being produced right now. The planned dump in Teilegg near Saanen is not going to be open for some years (see GstaadLife print edition February 24 2006, page 7).

Above, the site of the Alpina hotel in the Oberbort, set to open in summer 2012 after the removal of 100,000 cubic meters of earth.

The guests hardly packed their suitcases and closed their shutters after Easter when the construction crews moved into position for the summer season. In terms of building noise and inconvenience, this year promises to be a rough one. The Saanen bypass, the Alpina construction, the Fernwärme project, Gstaad railway station, the new sewage system on the Wispile-Lauenen side of town, the new Pernet Comestibles, the Cartier extension, the new Bahnhöfli in Saanenmöser, and various large scale private chalet works, including the former Al Assir property above the Palacestrasse and a complete floor-through construction in Chalet Rialto. And while the tourist office might not like us saying this...folks, it's seriously noisy up here right now and it's not pleasant. When speaking of doomsday scenarios, Taki likes to fret that Gstaad will become like Monaco (see Taki on the fabric of Gstaad), but believe us, right now it's more like Dubai...between the cacaphony of jackhammers, trucks, helicopters and minivans full of workers from far-flung cantons, it's ghastly scene. And don't get us started on the dust, the mud, and the rent-a-cops who don't know how to direct traffic.

Above, what's left of Pernet (yes that's Charly's at the back on the left). Don't worry they will still deliver anything you want...just call 033 748 70 66.

Above, the journey from Rougemont to Gstaad can take up to 25 minutes in the mornings and evenings. And this is why...

Asides from the public works, there are dozens of private projects underway throughout the region (many spilling out onto the public thoroughfares)...