I think there’s a growing number of people who’ve got apartments or chalets in the Val d’Anniviers and I thought it might be interesting to find a way of linking those people up and keeping in contact. This would give us a chance to find other people to ski with, plan trips and maybe arrange days out with local ski guides sharing the costs. For some people it might be a good way to arrange shared transport and for me to ask you all to bring me decaffeinated tea bags !

I’ve created a group in Facebook, I’m a bit new to this Facebook thing but it looks like a good way to do this. Just add me to your network on Facebook and I will add you to the group. If you want to email this to someone else then please do so!

Some local news from the area :

1. Right now most of the roads are being dug up, the most noticeable piece of work is down at the valley, a new exit on on the auto route replaces the the old junction to the Anniviers and some shiny new tarmac is in place. Elsewhere the road seems to be continuing to slide down the hillside and some major work is under way to shore it up.

2. The area has been in the ski press a little , the on-line magazine “Snow” has a couple of mentions for Zinal and Val d’Anniviers.

3. Local press coverage for the proposed new lift between Grimentz and Zinal, this is considered to be a serious proposal locally but it seems to me that 20 million francs is a lot of money and that Zinal might want to spend their money on renewing the cable car!

4. Buy your own snow cannon ! Actually the dead line for this has passed but Grimentz are trying to raise 4 – 6 million francs by public inscription. Some more information here and here.

Grimentz plan to open 22nd December and close 6th April, some weekend opening is planned from 8/9 December. Zinal, taking advantage of the new cannons, are hoping to have some weekend opening from 10th November before opening on December 8th and closing 6th April.

There’s a direct link to that Facebook group here : http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6526671897