GstaadLife

Dear GstaadLife.com readers,

I enjoyed Taki's outrageous article.Thank you!
I came across this small story about my stepfather, Harold Walker who lived with my mother in Gstaad for many years.

Chas Cochand

Once upon a time there was a very gentle old gentleman named Harold. He loved bow-wows, especially airedales, and once when he was on holiday in the village of Gstaad, in the mountains of Switzerland he took a walk. While he was on his walk he was joined by a red setter that he'd never seen before. Harold was delighted to have some company on his walk, especially a bow-wow.

We have received an open letter by Victor Dial (see below) and also included an open letter exchange between Niki Rommel and Ruedi Kunz (in German) which appeared in today's edition of our sister publication, the Anzeiger von Saanen. Feel free to comment yourself on the issue.

Open letter by Victor Dial

Dear Mr. Kunz,

This will confirm the points I raised with you in person during our very cordial meeting on January 5 during which I complained that the indoor tennis courts had been closed for 18 full days (January 4-21) for a joyful private event.

Tennis players are obviously unable to play outside during winter. Believe it or not, there are actually quite a few of us in Saanenland, and during winter we must have indoor courts to enjoy our sport: we are willing to pay high high-season court rental fees for the privilege. School children; retirees; local working people; people from all walks of life regularly use these courts. For me personally, tennis is my major sport: I play three or four times a week for my pleasure and for my training, so this is a real disruption to my life. I know I speak for a number of others who share my point of view, but (perhaps more polite than me) are reluctant to speak out.

In Tuesday's Anzeiger von Saanen a large number of Saanenland guests and chalet owners signed a reader's letter to make their voice heard concerning overdevelopment in Gstaad. The constant construction, they say, results in a loss of the region's charm and uniqueness. This latest letter follows on the heels of a similar one penned by the youth of Saanenland. Their letter spoke of their concern that Gstaad is becoming impossible to live in for locals and that shops are being sold off to millionaires who care little for traditions and who wontonly tear down old beautiful chalets to make apartments out of them. Check out the original German version of this latest letter after the jump -- and have a careful read of the names...there's quite of few familiar ones in there.

In a recent reader's letter in the Anzeiger von Saanen, Daniel Loertscher let his voice be heard rather critically about the recent "Gstaad alive" events on the Promenade, talking about it disturbing the peace and style of the Promenade, its restaurants and its guests with its all its loudness and to-do. What did you think about it? More pics after the jump and on their webpage.

by Diana Oehrli

A letter entitled “Locals Goodbye” that was published in our German language sister publication, Anzeiger von Saanen, has been the talk of the town since it appeared more than one month ago. Signed by over 80 local youth, the letter expresses outrage and sadness over the selling of local real estate to well-to-do guests. Furthermore, it decries the transformation of Saanenland’s villages – namely Gstaad and Saanen with their authentic mountain flavor – into ghost towns that are becoming dominated by ‘unnecessary’ luxury boutiques. On May 11, Der Bund, the regional newspaper in the canton of Berne, picked up the story and printed an article entitled “Gucci statt Gemüse” (“Gucci instead of vegetables”). The article says that Gstaad has the highest quota of billionaires in the world. “And the rich have their special needs: nearly 30 boutiques with fashion from sophisticated houses like Gucci or Prada, line Gstaad’s main street that carries the lordly name ‘Promenade.’” At its May meeting, the commune’s council, addressing the open letter, appealed urgently to landowners to put their financial interests aside and to consider the existent needs of local young people and century-old traditions, when considering future real estate transactions. The letter “Locals Goodbye?!” reads: “Yet again, a business locale on the Gstaad Promenade has been sold to an affluent Gstaad guest.

by Niki Rommel
 
For many years we’ll certainly remember a winter like the one which just started with lovely weather, freezing temperatures and fantastic snow conditions. If the rush of skiers and snowboarders is a piece of good fortune for the cable cars of Gstaad Mountain Rides, the restaurants and the sport shops, there is another less enjoyable side to the coin. The increasing number of severe accidents due to collisions between skiers and/or snowboarders is alarming. 

By Niki Rommel.

The complete report published in the October 24 edition of the “Anzeiger von Saanen” prompts me to make the following remarks. The official presentation of the strategic “concentration” concept on October 17 was made after the representatives of each involved municipality had given their basic agreement to sharing of the SFr 44.8 million public contribution of the SFr 160 million project. People were warned that the entire investment plan can only be initiated if the citizens of every municipal assembly accept the respective credit requests. In view of the financial crisis and the threatening recession, projects of this magnitude are not easy to realize and possibly need to be redimensioned by appropriate savings. Here are some key considerations.

1. 1. What investments are an absolute must? Examples are the Chalberhöni–Eggli (J6), Saanersloch-Chaltebrunne-Parwengsattel (C4+5) and Rougemont-Videmanette (L1) chairlifts.
2. 2. What errors of the past should be corrected? The worst example is the Rübeldorf (Saanen)-Eggli (J3) chairlift which ends in no man’s land instead of near the restaurant.
3. 3. We need learning parks at the Wispile, Eggli, Horneggli and Hornberg for children, beginners and ski-schools with easy to use installations.
4. 4. Even if a new installation is technically and economically a better long term solution we should save existing lifts by retrofit-programs to save money in the short term.
5. 5. The newly planned lifts Gfell-Hornfluh (C10), Lischebode-Horetube (C11) Obern Stutz-Vorderes Eggli (J5) should be postponed for now.

Under the present circumstances it would be my recommendation to reexamine priorities and save money wherever possible.

Niki Rommel, Gstaad

By Niki Rommel.

Hospital in Saanen - care center for seniors in Zweisimmen.

Looking with one eye into the past and the other one into the future I tried to understand the recent decision of Spital STS AG (see Saanen hospital to remain region's primary medical center) and came to the following conclusion.

• - There is no question that the Saanenland-Obersimmental region needs an efficient hospital care system.
• - After the controversy over the initial plan to build a new hospital in Saanenmöser it was necessary to get a second independent opinion from an expert consultant and Mr. Oggier who was selected didn’t have an easy job to fulfill.
• - Mr. Oggier came to the conclusion that according to the cantonal plan for healthcare two “health-centers” were necessary for the Saanenland-Obersimmental region although no stringent definition of “health-center” can be found anywhere.
• - The decision of Spital STS AG to transform the two existing installations, that is Saanen into a hospital for intensive care (general medicine, surgery and obstetrics) and Zweisimmen into a center for extended care for people in the third phase of their life is based on the priorities defined by Mr. Oggier as well as the opinion that setting up the intensive care hospital in Saanen would be cheaper than in Zweisimmen.
• - According to information from local sources it could turn out that the transformation of the Zweisimmen hospital is more expensive than building a completely new hospital and certain people even fear that the existing building might have to be torn down.

According to a reader´s letter in our sister publication by Niki Rommel, we should stop drinking bottled water. Agreed - here in the mountains the tap water is actually excellent and as Mr Rommel points out, drinking it would save energy and money. Indeed, for every bottle of mineral water a quarter of a liter of oil has to be used to make it, transport it, cool it and then dispose of it. So think twice next time you’re in standing in the bottled water aisle at the grocery store, and instead fill your empty Evian bottles with our very own mountain water.

We're guessing someone thought it would be pretty funny to manipulate a survey on GstaadLife.com. Because that's exactly what some joker did, distorting the poll we were conducting on whether the Rellerli should be closed for winter operations. Recently the Bergbahnen Destination Gstaad (BDG), the operating company for most of the region's cable cars, announced plans to realign Saanenland's skilift infrastructure (see Major changes proposed for Gstaad-area cable cars and related comments). The strongly-favored version of these plans (indeed the only one BDG said was workable) called for the removal of all skilifts on the Rellerli. It proved to be one of our most popular surveys ever, with 89% of the more than 200 voters clearly in favor of keeping the Rellerli going despite its struggles for snow the past two seasons. What's odd about someone taking the time to click on the "Yes, Rellerli winter operations should be scrapped" button (more than 150 times) is that it came in the immediate wake of a concerted email campaign from a number of GstaadLife readers, who wrote to Armon Cantieni, Director of BDG, urging him to reconsider the plan that clearly stated next winter would be Rellerli's last. In his responses Cantieni claimed that nothing has been decided finally as yet, and that all GstaadLife reader appeals to save Rellerli would be duly considered. It's just sad that someone with too much time on their hands had to try and fool everyone into thinking that the idea of keeping Rellerli open has no support. It does. To repeat, 89% of GstaadLife.com readers who voted in our survey want to keep Rellerli open in the winter, and no amount of survey manipulation is going to hide that fact.