GstaadLife

As expected, Roberth Speth's Chesery was yet again rated as the top restaurant in our region by Gault Millau - well, it simply is very, very good. We are also happy that the Chalet Hotel Hornberg in Saanenmöser is new in the guide - one of our favorite spots, with possibly the most underrated terrace in the whole of Saanenland. 

Here are the cable car closing dates for the 2010/11 winter season in Gstaad-Saanenland:

Glacier 3000 Pillon, May 8
Glacier 3000 Reusch, already closed March 20 except for weekends in April
Rinderberg, April 3
Saanerslochgrat/Hornberg, April 25
Horneggli, April 25
Rellerli, closed back on February 27 (was it actually open this was season?)
Wispile Gondelbahn, already closed on March 6 
Eggli-Videmanette, March 27

closed La Braye
closed Skilift Lauenen
closed Skilift Gsteig
closed Lengebrand / Parwengesattel
closed Wispile Rütti and Zückerli
closed Wasserngrat

We hope you enjoyed your season and if empty slopes are your thing, now is the time!

Looking for some action this coming weekend? Here are some possibilities: all weekend the Curling Swiss Championships are taking place at the Sportzentrum in Gstaad (see picture below); Friday February 25 2011 sees Snow Night Gstaad at 19h30 at the Gstaad skischool area (see video of last year's event above); on Saturday February 26 2011 we have the 25 heures freeride Dominique Perret on the Wispile from 11h00 to 17h00 (due to the snow conditions it's not actually 25 hours this year, but who's counting); and Sunday February 27 2011 we can offer up the wooden sledge race in Saanenmöser at 12h30 from the middle station of the Saanersloch gondola (see picture bottom).

The time has come and the snow is here in abundance. Here are the opening dates for the skilifts in and around Gstaad-Saanenland:

1.12.10 Saanerslochgrat-Hornberg-Horneggli
11.12.10 Gstaad-Wasserngrat
11.12.10 Château-d‘Oex-La Braye
18.12.10 Zweisimmen-Rinderberg
18.12.10 St. Stephan-Parwengesattel
18.12.10 Gstaad-Eggli
18.12.10 Lauenen
22.12.10 Schönried-Rellerli
22.12.10 Gstaad-Wispile (Skilift Rütti from 18.12.10)
22.12.10 Gsteig
23.12.10 Rougemont-La Videmanette (could change)

Check the maps and webcams before you go as these things are subject to change in the early-season.

The 2001 Gault Millau guide 2011 is out and in it are 14 restaurants in Saanenland boasting a total of 207 points - 16 points more than the year before. As ever the Chesery Gstaad with Robert Speth comes up top with 18 points, followed by Martin Dalsass at the Chlösterli restaurant 'By Dalsass'. Also awarded 16 points were La Bagatelle at the Grand Chalet, Sonnenhof, as well as Le Grill and La Grande Terrasse at the Palace. 15 points went to The Grand Hotel Park's Azaleé, JP's Grill Restaurant at the Hostelerie Alpenrose in Schönried, as well as the Prado at the Grand Hotel Bellevue. 14 points were awarded to the Ermitage Stube and Golf Restaurant of the Ermitage-Golf in Schönried. The Bernerhof, the Belle Epoque at the Golfhotel Les Hauts de Gstaad in Saanenmöser as well as the Alpenbistro at the Chlösterli all picked up 13 points. And finally the Spitzhorn in Saanen got 12 points. Well, there are many, many supreme restaurants in our region and we say it again and again - the Gault Millau Guide knows many of them but definitely not all of them (otherwise they would have included the Olden).

The weather really bites right now - this is seriously the worst summer we can remember in the 10 years that we've been here. But assuming it will get better at some point, here are the cable cars which are already open or opening soon. Already open are: Zweisimmen-Sparenmoos, Col du Pillon-Glacier 3000, Schönried-Rellerli, Gsteig-Sanetsch, Château-d'Oex-La Braye. Zweisimmen-Rindersberg, Schönried-Horneggli and Gstaad-Wispile are opening on June 19, Reusch-Oldenegg on July 17 and Gstaad-Wasserngrat on July 29 - but only from Thursdays to Sundays. So hopefully summer will finally come and we can enjoy our favorite hikes and mountain huts.

Fresh off last weekend's FA Cup victory over Portmouth, Didier Drogba (above) has arrived here in Saanenland to lead the Ivory Coast national team in their pre-World Cup training camp. While his Chelsea teammates warmed the England bench at Wembley this Monday, Drogba, Salomon Kalou and the rest of Les Eléphants worked out in Saanen at FC Sarina's impressive new facilities. For lovers of good football, the Ivory Coast actually features a number of English Premier League and La Liga regulars, including brothers Kolo (Manchester City) and Yaya Touré (FC Barcelona) as well as Emmanuel Eboué (Arsenal). For the groupies, Sven's men are staying at the Golfhotel in Saanenmöser (below second from left, Ivory Coast national coach Sven Goran-Eriksson).

The petition to prevent construction of a new hospital in Saanenmöser has achieved enough signatures to put the issue to a vote. This will take place on September 24 at the general assembly of the local council in Saanen.

Sorry for not having been in touch for a while - Easter holidays, illness and a cloud of volcanic ash kept us away from the computer. Not that much has been going on anyhow. It is now deeply off-season, which means that the only activity of note in town is construction. It's not as bad as the past couple of years, and as the sign above shows, the authorities are most apologetic about the inconvenience (even if the English needs some work). So we made a little tour today and took a few pictures of the mess. More pictures after the jump.

Above: picture taken from Migros roundabout towards the tunnel. It is a one way street now - if you want to come back you have to go through Gstaad via the train station and post office.

Above: Gstaad tunnel entrance - Saanen side

Here are the closing dates for the ski lifts in and around Gstaad: 
21.3. Gstaad–Wasserngrat
21.3. Gsteig
28.3. Château-d‘Oex–La Braye
05.4. St Stephan–Parwengesattel
05.4. Zweisimmen–Rinderberg
05.4. Gstaad–Eggli–Saanen–Rougemont
11.4. Saanenmöser–Saanerslochgrat
11.4. Saanenmöser–Hornberg
11.4. Schönried–Horneggli
11.4. Reusch–Glacier 3000
02.5. Col du Pillon–Glacier 3000

Already closed:
Schönried–Rellerli
Gstaad–Wispile
Lauenen

So not too much time left. It's been an odd year weather-wise but the ski conditions throughout have been surprisingly good. Kudos to the piste prep crews who seem to have surpassed themselves this season.  So get out there over the next couple weeks and enjoy some seriously good (if rather warm -- 17 degrees in Gstaad today) spring skiing conditions.