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ALPS

Iconic Swiss mountain lights up for first train ride

Switzerland will mark the 100 years since the construction of a railway up one of the main summits of the Bernese Alps, the iconic Jungfrau, with the illumination of its north face until Sunday.

Published: 2 January 2012 16:38 CET
Iconic Swiss mountain lights up for first train ride
Jungfrau.ch

The colours of the Swiss national flag, pictures of the Jungfrau train and the portrait of industrialist Adolf Guyer-Zeller, who founded the Jungfraubahn railway, are beamed onto the massive mountain wall.

Weather permitting, the light show which started up at an altitude of 3,800 metres will take place at least four times.

However, on New Year’s Eve it had to be cancelled because of poor weather.

With temperatures easily dropping to minus 30 degrees Celsius in winter, operators involved in the project moved three weeks’ worth of spare food up the mountain in case they got stuck.

The Jungfraujoch railway was inaugurated in 1912 after 16 years. Trains which are extremely popular with tourists carry about 700,000 people up the mountain every year.

The Jungfrau, German for maiden or virgin, peaks at 4,158 metres and is close to the Eiger whose towering north face is a major challenge for mountaineers.

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SKI

Dad’s ‘miracle escape’ after being buried by avalanche in French Alps

A man out walking with his family in the French Alps has made a miraculous escape from an avalanche after spending more than two and a half hours trapped under snow, rescuers said.

Published: 29 January 2021 11:46 CET
Dad's 'miracle escape' after being buried by avalanche in French Alps
Ski lifts in France are closed, but visitors and locals are free to enjoy other outdoor sports. Photo: AFP

The 50-year-old father was snowshoeing near the high-altitude Val d'Isere ski resort with his wife and two children on Thursday without anti-avalanche safety equipment.

“Thank to the mobilisation of nearly 100 people… the man was found alive after two hours and 40 minutes of searching,” the police for the local Savoie département announced on Twitter.

Because of the depth of the snow, rescue dogs were unable to detect a trace, but the man was eventually dug out by a specialised mountain police team which used a Wolfhound device to locate his mobile phone under the ice.

“I think it's a miracle,” Alexandre Grether from the PGHM rescue team told the France 3 local news channel, adding that the man was found 2.5 metres (eight feet) below the surface.

The chances of survival after more than 20 minutes in an avalanche are usually slim.

“He was protected by a tree, that's what prevented him from being crushed by all the ice that slid down. The snow had surrounded him, but he had a pocket of air,” he explained.

The victim is expected to make a full recovery after suffering a fracture to his hip.

The avalanche risk on Thursday was at its maximum – five on a scale of five – and rescuers urge people to always check the snow conditions before venturing out.

READ ALSO 'Whole season a write-off' – what next for France's ski resorts?

Ski lifts in the Alps, which have seen some of their heaviest snowfalls in years in January, are currently closed because of restrictions imposed by the government to limit the spread of Covid-19.

Visitors and locals are free to enjoy hiking, cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing, but occupancy levels in hotels and chalets are way down and business owners and seasonal staff face serious hardships.

The government has promised an economic support package for the sector.

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