The once-popular ski runs of Dent-de-Vaulion in the Swiss Jura Mountains are now deserted as unusually mild weather has driven away winter sport enthusiasts and forced ski resorts to close across the country. Abandoned pole rods of the ski lift sway in the wind. Crusty snow dots stretches of yellowed grass. Lift pylons stand alone in rocky terrain where cheerful crowds once puffed steam in frigid temperatures. A view shows the closed Dent-de-Vaulion ski lift amid lack of snow at altitudes below 1500 m due to high winter temperatures induced by climate change, in Vaulion, Switzerland, February 2, 2024. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse Switzerland, a major ski destination, is warming at about twice the global average rate partly because its mountains trap heat, the United Nations Intergover...
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travelogues, travel articles and news from around and about Switzerland
“We are Sweden, not Switzerland”, tourist board wants to end confusion
People still get Sweden and Switzerland mixed up. Every year, 120,000 people google the question: "Are Sweden and Switzerland the same?". Even the most informed and powerful people on earth can't always tell the two countries apart; A world leader, the New York Stock Exchange, and a famous popstar have all experienced this. Determined to end the confusion once and for all, Sweden is now proposing actions. Night is falling over Saltouluokta Montain Station, Norrbottens län. Photo: Jonatan Stålhös/Image Bank Sweden A recent study commissioned by Visit Sweden uncovered that 50% of US respondents are not confident in their ability to decipher differences in Swedish and Swiss cultures. The confusion sometimes has greater implications: one in ten American respondents has admitted to booki...
Read MoreA Swiss Academy of Sciences panel is reporting a dramatic acceleration of glacier melt in the Alpine country, which has lost 10% of its ice volume in just two years after high summer heat and low snow volumes in winter. Switzerland — home to the most glaciers of any country in Europe — has seen 4% of its total glacier volume disappear in 2023, the second-biggest decline in a single year on top of a 6% drop in 2022, the biggest thaw since measurements began, the academy’s commission for cryosphere observation said. FILE PHOTO: Chunks of ice float in a lake in front of Rhone Glacier near Goms, Switzerland, June 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader) Experts at the GLAMOS glacier monitoring center have been on the lookout for a possible extreme melt this year amid early warning sig...
Read MoreA top glacier watcher has warned that a warm early summer combined with a heat wave last week may have caused severe glacier melt in Switzerland, threatening to make 2023 its second-worst year for ice loss after a record thaw last year. Matthias Huss of the GLAMOS glacier monitoring center said full data won’t be in until late September and a precipitous drop in temperatures and high-altitude snowfall in recent days could help stem any more damage. But early signs based on readings from five sites and modeling results across Switzerland suggest considerable damage may already be done. “We can definitely say that we had very high melting in Switzerland and in Europe in general because the temperatures, they were extremely high for a long time — a more than one week heat wave,”...
Read MoreSwiss authorities have ordered residents to abandon a tiny mountain village in the eastern canton of Graubunden because of fears it could soon be buried beneath a collapsing mountainside. A thick coat of fog covered the mountaintop overlooking the village of Brienz on Thursday, where vegetation has been replaced by a slope of mud and rocks. An overview of the village of Brienz and its church in front of the zone of rockslide, Switzerland, May 11, 2023. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse Farm workers could be seen loading cows onto a truck and driving it out of the nearly deserted village. Some areas were cordoned off, with yellow warning signs in five languages that read: "Attention rockfall." Local authorities say Brienz is at risk because 2 million cubic metres (2.6 million cubic yards...
Read MoreSwitzerland Tourism launches the 2023 #IneedSwitzerland campaign film ‘The Ride of a Lifetime’ showcasing the Grand Train Tour of Switzerland featuring the iconic duo Switzerland Tourism has unveiled its new film for its ongoing ‘I need Switzerland’ campaign to promote rail travel and the Grand Train Tour of Switzerland. After having collaborated on screen with Robert De Niro in 2021 and Anne Hathaway in 2022, tennis legend and the global brand ambassador of Switzerland Tourism - Roger Federer will now partner with Trevor Noah, international comedian, best-selling author, producer, and philanthropist for the film. Titled ‘The Ride of a Lifetime’, the film showcases the ease and efficiency of the Swiss Travel System and highlights the famous panoramic rail routes that combine to make ...
Read MoreMillions of years after dinosaurs ruled the Earth, the skeleton of a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex was introduced to the public in Switzerland on Wednesday ahead of its auction next month. The giant carnivore, named TRX-293 Trinity, is expected to fetch between 5 million ($5.43 million) and 8 million Swiss francs ($8.70 million) when it goes on sale in Zurich on April 18. A 67-million-year-old T-Rex skeleton named "TRX-293 TRINITY Tyrannosaurus" and measuring 11.6m long and 3.9m high, is seen during a preview at Koller auction house in Zurich, Switzerland March 29, 2023. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse Standing 3.9 metres high and measuring 11.6 metres long, it is only the third T-Rex skeleton to be offered at auction, and the first in Europe. "The name of this skeleton is ‘Trinity’, becaus...
Read MoreDavid Vencl emerged from the depths of Switzerland's Lake Sils on Tuesday after a record dive beneath the ice to a depth of more than 50 meters without a wetsuit. The 40-year-old Czech diver's record vertical plunge to 52.1 meters in a single breath follows his entry into the Guinness World Records book for swimming the length of a frozen Czech lake in 2021. Czech freediver David Vencl dives to 52 metres under the ice of Lake Sils in one breath and wearing only a swimsuit in this picture taken from a video in Sils near St. Moritz, Switzerland March 14, 2023. David Vencl Organisation/Handout via REUTERS Vencl dived through a hole in the ice then retrieved a sticker from a depth of 50 meters to prove his feat before re-emerging through the same hole. He spat some blood, sat down fo...
Read MoreAsian travellers are expected to support the recovery of the Swiss tourism industry this year after American visitors pulled the sector out of its pandemic doldrums in 2022, the Swiss national tourism association has said. The number of foreign visitors to Switzerland's mountains, lakes and cities collapsed in 2020 and 2021 as countries imposed travel restriction to curb the spread of COVID-19. But overnight stays in Switzerland increased 29% in 2022 to just below 2019 levels as restrictions were lifted and a marketing campaign featuring Hollywood actor Anne Hathaway and tennis legend Roger Federer paid off. FILE PHOTO: Balloons take part in the 43rd International Hot Air Balloon Festival in Chateau-d'Oex, Switzerland January 24, 2023. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse American visitors...
Read MoreTucked in a valley surrounded by snow-capped peaks, the sleepy Swiss town of Chateau d'Oex emerges from its slumber to host a hot-air balloon festival that draws thousands of spectators and flying enthusiasts. During a nine-day celebration ending on Sunday, 60 brightly-coloured hot balloons from 15 countries will soar through the sky over the valley, known for winds that make for particularly good flying. Balloons take part in the 43rd International Hot Air Balloon Festival in Chateau-d'Oex, Switzerland January 24, 2023. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse "The special thing about flying in Chateau d'Oex is that we can take off in the morning, fly in one direction ... and in the afternoon the wind just turns around," Thomas Spildooren, a hot air balloon pilot, said from his bal...
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