GstaadLife

The grocery shop in Schönried (see picture) will close down by the end of June 2010. Simple old economic reasons are forcing this, the fourth generation of grocers, Ursula and Hans van den Elshout-Gyger, to take this step.

Click here for the holiday opening hours for last minute food shoppers. 

The season has started - Saanenmöser-Saanerslochgrat-Hornberg and Schönried-Horneggli are already open and here are the opening times of the other ski areas in our region: Zweisimmen-Rinderberg, Gstaad-Wasserngrat, Château-d'Oex-La Braye will all open next weekend December 12. Gsteig will open on December 14, St Stephan-Parwengesattel, Gstaad-Eggli, Schönried-Rellerli, Gstaad-Höhi-Wispile and Rougemont-La Videmanette all open on December 18 and Lauenen is up on December 19. All of that said, it's all very weather dependent right now, and as we write rain is falling again. Check the map in the right column of this page for the latest. Enjoy!

The cantonal department for police and military has announced that the Berghaus Rellerli will remain one of the few places where civil weddings will be permitted to take place into the future.

Now it is certain - the Institut «Le Rosey» is moving to Schönried. Le Rosey has bought the property of the Fraubrunnen Amt holiday home in Erli (see map below for location) for SFr 25 million. The school is planning to build 8 to 10 new builidngs and to move in winter 2011/2012. Construction cost is estimated at around SFr 45 million meaning the school will probably have to sell at least part of its property on Ried (above Gstaad). As the building permissions are not through yet, the holiday home will continue its work for the time being.

Gstaad Mountain Rides AG, the company that runs the operations of most of our region's cable cars, has decided to prolong the winter season in Sector 1 (Saanerslochgrat, Hornberg and Horneggli) by one week. The reason behind the extension is the already-strong level of advance bookings for the week after Easter 2010. So this coming ski season will kick off on December 5 2009 running all the way through April 11 2010.

The John F Kennedy International School in Saanen, which every year holds summer camps during the school holidays, has reported seven children sick with swine flu symptoms. It has now been confirmed that the children were stricken with the influenza A (H1N1) virus, commonly known as swine flu. Altogether 85 kids are participating in the summer camp in the Mountain Lodge in Schönried. The children who got ill were isolated and received the necessary medical treatment. “In most cases the children were completely recovered by the time the test results are made available”, says headmaster Bill Lovell. At the time of the illnesses there was a deputy physician from Canton Bern present, who has assured that there is no danger and no reason for panic. So far there have been 210 cases of swine flu in Switzerland, 26 of them in the canton of Bern.

Did you know that there are 18 public places where you can barbecue in Gstaad-Saanenland? They are run by Gstaad Saanenland Tourismus, don't cost anything, and you do not have to sign up for them in advance. You just have to be the first there. So pack your Bratwurst and head out to one of these beautiful spots: GL.com recommends the ones around Arnensee and Lauenensee.

The extension of the snow making facilities in the eastern sector of the Gstaad Mountain Rides ski region has started. The goal of this next phase is to be able to have all main slopes snow-worthy within 60 hours from 2011 on. The slopes we are talking about are: Saanerslochgrat-Chübeli and Saanerslochgrat-Lochstafel, the new Horneggli-Direttissima and the section Rinderbergspitz-Büelti. The cost of the 2009 snow projects - SFr 18 million...

 

The construction of the Saanen bypass is moving along nicely and this Saturday from 10h00 to 16h00 everybody is invited to check out their progress. Having just recently announced that the whole construction is going to cost "a few" francs more it'll be is a good chance to ask about the whys and hows of the construction business.