GstaadLife

 
Above from left Andrea, Laura and Ernst Scherz

The GreenGo of the Gstaad Palace is 40 and celebrated its anniversary with a big party. The theme of the party was the 70s and the grand event was co-sponsored by Dom Perignon and Hublot (which even created a seriously limited edition watch to mark the occasion). Pictures here.

Miranda Lambert is one of the rising stars in the country scene and this weekend she is playing here at the Country Night Gstaad. It is definitely hard to top last year's supreme performance of Kenny Rogers but with Miranda Lambert, Patty Loveless, and Craig Morgan the organziser, Marcel Bach, has been able to get the some of the best young country performers around today. Don't miss the parade down the Gstaad Promenade on Sunday at 11h00.

Oliver Herweg, the man behind the latest rendition of the Jam Pub in Saanen, has reopened the old Rosey hangout, variously known over the past few years as Hush and Rosie's Suite @Hush, under the new name Split. It is billed as a local place where every guest is welcome, as long as he is over 18. The food concept has changed from Japanese to "global tapas", that is fingerfood from around the world. Sounds interesting and Gstaad was definitely lacking something for the nightowls. Opening everyday in high season 16h-03h.  

And they say opposites attract... Last winter the property on the Promenade housing Café Pernet and Richi’s Pub was sold to long-time guests of Gstaad. At the end of August the Pernet family, who are the current operators of Café Pernet and Richi’s Pub, will terminate their business. However, until spring 2009, the Gstaad Palace has agreed to assume responsibility for keeping the café and pub open to the public. At that time, the new owners plan to demolish the building and construct a new restaurant that they hope will continue to attract local customers. They recognize the importance of providing a place where the menu is affordable and local residents can socialize regularly. The decision by the Gstaad Palace has prompted them to hire additional employees to work in the café and pub through next spring.

By Taki Theodoracopulos

The row over Indonesian hobbits has split this beautiful alpine village in half. Alas, it began when I wrote something about the Olden, one of Gstaad’s oldest and most beautiful inns and its owner Bernie Ecclestone, of Formula One fame. The Olden had been owned by the Mullener family since the turn of the last century, and had been run by Hedi Donizetti Mullener for close to 50 years. Her cousin Rudy instructed the greatest Greek skier ever, and, while he was at it, he also turned Sir Roger Moore into an Alberto Tomba double. Now for the hobbits. When Bernie Ecclestone took over the Olden ten years or so ago, the consensus of opinion was that he would keep the place as it was, which was perfect. There were two large public rooms in the front where the local farmers congregated, smoked their pipes and drank the local wine and spirits, one great room in the back done in the local style where the swells dined, and a cave below where the jet-set drank and danced throughout the night.

Fireworks are very much part of the high-season here in Gstaad. Much to the annoyance of many guests and local residents, they also disrupt the tranquility of our region outside the celebration days of August 1 December 31. With complaints piling up (see Dogs and fireworks), the Gemeinde has immersed itself in legislation promising a fireworks crackdown. If their proposals are accepted, it will only be possible for the general public to freely use fireworks on these two days. The authorities remain undecided about how far to extend the restrictions.

It has long been said that there's more powder in St Moritz than in Gstaad. Well, now it's official. A new study, whose findings are published in the UN's 2007 World Drug Report, has analysed cocaine abuse around the world, placing four Swiss cities in the top 20 -- Zurich, Basel, Bern, and St Moritz. Tests on wastewater carried out by a German institute show that an estimated 22 lines of cocaine are consumed daily per 1,000 inhabitants over the age of 15 in St Moritz. The mountain resort, which ranks sixth behind global leader New York (134 lines), outstrips London, Madrid and Paris – plus the other three Swiss cities. Gstaad is nowhere to be found on the list. Swiss police officials in Graubunden have denied that the resort has a cocaine problem and claim the situation is no worse than in other places, pointing to the fact that last season they arrested three dealers and 40 users. Drop...ocean...

Last December, GstaadLife.com took a stab at the Chlösterli for its ineptitude in ruining what was once a good location on the Gstaad social scene (see Why the Chlösterli will never be what it once was...). To be fair current director Chantal Bittel had only recently taken over, the Alain Ducasse concept had only just been dumped, and Martin Dalsass had not yet had the chance to perform his culinary magic for Gstaad’s demanding audience. Now after the first winter season, Bittal and Dalsass sat down with GstaadLife.com sister publication, the Anzeiger von Saanen, to talk about their first year. The main message seemed to be the realization that it takes time to win back the confidence of the people, and that the summer and winter seasons are two completely different animals. Looking back, Bittal acknowledged that from both a physical and marketing perspective, the Chlösterli is stuck between a rock (read Grund) and a hard place (read Feutersoey). The relative remoteness of its location creates a definite challenge, especially with the police cracking down on drink-driving.

Picking up on a theme he began here and here, Taki continues his wistful commentary on the bygone days of Gstaad society with an entry on this own website. Here is a choice passage:

We lived a simple life back then, as funny as it may sound. We got up early to ski, met at the Eagle club for lunch, skied some more and then went to the Palace where we played cards. At night we either went to a small local restaurant or had a more formal dinner at the Palace. That was it. There were no nightclubs and no drugs. We were young and could hold our liquor and start early the next day. But that was then, and this is now. The one thing that has remained constant is the lack of people on the slopes. There are times even today that I ski a slope and see perhaps ten people at the most. This is unique anywhere in Europe.

You can read the full article here.

Photo credit: www.takimag.com. Taki Theodoracopulos, better known as Taki, is a journalist and writer, living in Gstaad, London, and New York. His column ‘High Life’ has appeared in The Spectator for the past 25 years, and he has also written for National Review, the London Sunday Times, Esquire, Vanity Fair, the New York Press, and Quest Magazine, among others. In 2002 Taki founded The American Conservative magazine with Pat Buchanan and Scott McConnell. He is also publisher of the British magazine Right Now! and has been writing for GstaadLife since its first season in 2003/4.

By Christine Zingre

Reader's letter in response to 'Saanenland community confronts teen drinking'

Our small mountain region is in its high season. The streets are teeming with cars, the slopes are crowded with skiers, and the hotel beds are filled. Gstaad Saanenland is a destination for people from around the world. Dutch, English, French, Italians and many more nationalities spend time in our villages – with unmistakable holiday enthusiasm. I really should not need to belabour this point any further; for many years Christmas and February have been true boom periods. Indeed, tourism is Saanenland’s daily life.

Unfortunately daily life is not a holiday for us locals in the way it is for our guests when they are here. Still, it is hard not to be dragged along by the liveliness of the season – especially for our youths. In the GstaadLife edition from 23 February our youths are declaimed for their alcohol problems; the paper argues that because of the lack of snow adolescents do not have a reason to get up the next morning. They resort to alcohol to fill their time instead. GstaadLife demands that parents should not tolerate this problem; it is their duty to control the kids. But is it really only due to the lack of snow and parental care that we are confronted with alcoholism? Is it not society at the root of the mistakes our children make?