 Poster: A snowHead
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The company that runs Glacier 3000 - the summer ski area has gone bust. The result is no summer skiing on the glacier this year... Apparently they invested too much cash in 1999 and never saw enough numbers for summer skiing. They have outstanding debts of 70 million CHF and have been offered 3.5 million by a Bernois group. 25 staff have been laid-off.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Feel sorry for the staff
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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The one and only time I visited the Diablerets glacier it didn't really get my juices flowing. It's a 'great brand name' for a flat glacier which, in winter, doesn't connect very well to anything hugely exciting.
If this mountain - in a beautiful area of Switzerland - is left to rest in piste it will not be a huge loss for European skiing. I wonder if, by Swiss law, defunct ski lifts have to be removed from mountains? This is said to be one reason why technically-bankrupt ski areas in Japan find it hard to close.
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Was there last year in Jan 2004. The glacier is nothing special, just one or two runs and a 20 mins or so drive from the main resort ( unfortunately not linked ). The snow was good however and it probably keeps 'till late season as I think it may be north facing. On the day I was there the piste was empty in high season so I am not surprised that the business has failed.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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The run off the back of the glacier, the Combe D'Audon, is pretty special - isolated, dramatic scenery, and long, particularly when the descent to Reusch is open. But the glacier itself is flat and boring, and the Combe D'Audon typically doesn't open till February, and is frequently shut because of bad weather.
My impression is that there was serious overinvestment in Glacier 3000 compared with the amount of skiing available. The new cable car partly duplicates a perfectly good existing one from Reusch 2km down the road, and the waiter service restaurant at the top seems OTT for the numbers skiing in the area (although admittedly its views are fabulous). Les Diablerets could have spent their money much better in upgrading their links to Villars (which are still lamentable in places), as opposed to indulging in a big ego project like Glacier 3000.
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is this official? any sources to confirm?
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| tinkerbell wrote: |
| is this official? any sources to confirm? |
I've seen the reports and I think they're mostly just guesses. Unfortunately, I've been in touch with the company and the guesses were right. It's now quite sure that they'll be no skiing up there this summer, whether it opens for walking or tourists is not so sure though.
I'm surprised by this, whenever I'm there skiers/boarders outnumber tourists hugely but the summer ski season would only ever have run from June 18th to July 24th so it may be all a little late for them to finance it now.
More interesting is whether they'll reopen for skiing on October or not. It's my local glacier so I'm pretty cut up about it all really, next closest is Engelberg so I guess that'll be the venue for summer skiing this year.
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