Poster: A snowHead
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The Les Diablerets ski area in Switzerland, which went bankrupt last May, is to be rescued by a group of investors and should be operational again this winter. A sum of 5.05 million Swiss francs is being paid by the new 'Phenix' consortium to restart the operation formerly run by 'Glacier 3000'.
Les Diablerets is a glacial ski area, and therefore normally operates in summer, but its lifts have not run for the past four months.
This report (in French) from 24heures.
Background to this story is covered in this earlier snowHeads thread.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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as I commented a few hours ago, we're expecting it to re-open on October 8th, this is pretty much as normally scheduled although last year they didn't open until late November. This was reported on the radio here last week.
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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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There is an article in this months fall line skiing mag about areas that are open now (well technically it's those open around Oct) and I noticed that they'd included Les Diablerets as one of the options.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Elizabeth B, it was always planned to open on October 8th regardless of this deal.
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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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ise, ah. That makes sense then.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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ise, Is the summer glacier operation run separately from the winter one?
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No, but the October date is really their season start, if they aren't able to open for that they'll not open all season, bankcrupt or not that was never going to happen.
The cable car was running all summer as normal, there was just no skiing. They never did much summer ski business but it's pretty popular in Autumn.
Last year though snow was so poor they didn't open until late Nov' though, hopefully it'll be better this year.
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ise, Thanks, the glacier area is part of a large area pass in the winter, I think?. So, will the main lift company provide bulk funding from lift pass sales in the Les Diablerets/Gstaad area? If that were the case it would ease the new co. through the 1st few months. Or do you have to exchange your season ticket on arrival, for their separate day ticket? I hope that you'll be up there as soon as they open for the season
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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It's part of the SuperGstaad pass, or it is for the season version at least. It's also part of a pass area called the Alpes Vaudoises.
Some more information may be apparent after the press conference tomorrow, I'm sure updates will find their way here one way or another.
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Now it is official. The operation is taken over by the company called Gstaad 3000 AG.
Interesting that one of the businessmen behind this company is the Formula 1 boss, Bernie Ecclestone.
Here is the link in German from F1total.com and the title says Ecclestone puts his fingers on Skitourism...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Ecclestone is not one of my favourite business icons, but he is successful. It is surprising to me that this is his first ski related investment.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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This article (in French) from Le Journal du Jura adds some detail: the new owners are planning 12-13 million Swiss Francs of new investment.
According to this report, the company escaped bankruptcy two to four years ago, after costs of new projects overran. A high-altitude restaurant cost 18 million SFr, instead of the intended 12 million SFr.
Les Diablerets generates little interest as a ski destination at present, so it will be interesting to see how this develops. The report suggests that the new owners have diversification from skiing in mind.
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