GstaadLife

The hot air balloon festival of Château-d'Oex has started and until next weekend you will be able to see many, many balloons adorning our mountain skylines. Indeed if the wind blows right you might end up with a few in your back garden, as we did on Saturday afternoon. For the full program click here but make sure not to miss the special shaped balloons display always around lunchtime, and the evening night-glow event on Friday January 29 at 18:58 (don't ask us why it is not at 19:00...) After the jump a few more pics, one of them showing the value of a good satnav system: balloon support teams who didn't quite know how to reach the fields where their balloons were touching down.... quite amusing...

by Taki Theodoracopulos

Gstaad. I went to a wonderful party, three days of a non-stop feast, although not at the Palace, the mere hoi polloi were excluded, in theory at least.

There wasn’t a sign of Kate or a Mick, they must have forgotten the date, actually they were not invited, but Topper (whom no one could say is a pleb—well bred is his motto, or is it well fed?) was there, as was Freddy, and Minnie, and Lolly and Bunny and George, I couldn’t have liked it more.

Sorry, Sir Noel, but I write this rather hung over, the Muse having silently slipped away in the snow around six-thirty this morning on my way home. 430 swells flew over the Atlantic for his childhood sweetheart, for a romantic but spectacular wedding in the snow-covered village of Gstaad, where the groom’s parents have a chalet.

The cable car up to La Videmanette is still not running following the January 16 accident. The Bundes boffins who investigate accidents involving railways and shipping ordered further checks and no decision on the re-opening will be made before this coming Wednesday January 27. We shall keep you updated but one thing is for sure - the ride up to La Videmanette is going to be very very safe in the future.

The Wispile runs are going to be closed for the coming weekend due to a private wedding. Just kidding: actually it's the 25 h freeride Dominique Perret Gstaad race. The gondola will still be running so you can get up to the restaurant, use the winter walking trails up there, or take a sled run down to Gsteig.

Picture: Dr. Klaus-Uwe Gerhardt / pixelio.de).

Just a quick picture update of the Alpina construction. The shot was taken from halfway up the Eggli gondola on a 15x zoom (that's the Palacestrasse in the foreground). It seems to be coming along nicely... 

This past Saturday January 16 one of the gondolas going down from La Videmanette fell from the cables during its descent. The accident was caused by a broken cable clamp. Apparently the automatic alarm system had shown the fault but since nobody was inside that particular gondola the operators decided to let it go down to the mid-station and take it out there. Well it never made it to the mid-station. Thankfully nobody was hurt although passengers had their ski days ruined, arriving at their destination some 2 hours later than the normal 15 minute ride. Since then, the cable car has been out-of-order, and is being repaired, checked and overhauled. We'll let you know when you can go up again.

The new riding center in Gstaad in Mettlen has finally received its building permit. The start of construction is planned for April in order to be finished for Christmas 2010.

by Taki Theodoracopulos

I suppose it’s a kind of solace during these snowy times that Norway, the country with the world’s highest per capita income, has not missed a single working day through inclement weather, and as I write there are thirty feet of snow covering the country. In some areas there is much more than thirty feet of the white stuff, yet the bars are packed at night with people who have put in a hard day’s work and wish to relax. Oh yes, I almost forgot, the last time the schools closed in Norway was when the Wehrmacht occupied her, and only for half a day at that. (German lessons in the afternoon).

Ditto in Switzerland. I’ve never heard of a bus or train running late or being cancelled due to bad weather, except when an avalanche hit the valley and cut off Lauenen (a tiny hamlet six klicks east) from Gstaad, on January 1 2000. The wife of a visiting Englishman had gone there for an assignation and her lover got stuck with her for three whole days and nights. That cooled off the red-hot romance, and since then everything has been honky dory with the Englishman and the wife.

Foto by Ivan Inäbnit 

Doesn't it really look a bit like the Matterhorn? Well it's actually our very own Gummfluh and the picture above was taken from Chalberhöni. Just one of the many pictueres that make you appreciate living here...  See the real thing for yourself here.

Music is life - Alberto Lysy: February 11 1935 - December 30 2009

Alberto Lysy, distinguished concert violinist and revered teacher, died at the CHUV hospital in Lausanne on December 30 2009. Born in Buenos Aires on February 11 1935, Lysy was resident in Château-d’Oex. He was the founder of Camerata Bariloche, Camerata Lysy and Director of the International Menuhin Music Academy until 2008. We will miss him, may he rest in peace.

Family of Alberto Lysy and International Menuhin Music Academy, Gstaad