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Published On: Jun 07, 2009 12:29 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Jun 07, 2009 12:29 PM
Patrouille des Glaciers
Not surprisingly, this has been a much quieter
week as businesses close and the seasonnaires
leave
The main activity of the week has been the Patrouille des Glaciers
The main activity of the week has been the Patrouille des Glaciers
Not surprisingly, this has been a much quieter
week as businesses close and the seasonnaires leave. There are few tourists in
town and the first lorries appear on the roads as the building season begins
again.
The main activity of the week has been the Patrouille des Glaciers which is a race from Zermatt to Verbier, or Arolla to Verbier if you are not in the elite. The 1600 teams of three competitors leave between 2 and 4 am with the winners arriving in Verbier some 6 1/2 hours later. Madness. The competition is organized by the army though is open to private teams and foreigners. All week there have been the military in town in preparation for this major event. So we have been seeing the odd soldiers come by. In fact, we could almost say that they have been the backbone of our business. Strangely, though, on the day of the race, with the streets packed with people, business was remarkably light. We could have done more business had we brought up the terrace, but the weather forecast not being very positive we decided that it probably wasn't worth the effort and the stats from previous years show that this is very much the case. The neighbouring terraces in the sun were full of people, but on close observation one noticed that there was little movement and hardly any food served. The problem is that all these people arrive with picnics and we had more soldiers than passers-by during the daytime. So the best business of the day (Saturday) happened at 6 pm when we filled the place for the Blackburn v Manchester United football match at which time the streets were empty again and most people had gone home!
One more week and it will be closing for us till June 19.
The main activity of the week has been the Patrouille des Glaciers which is a race from Zermatt to Verbier, or Arolla to Verbier if you are not in the elite. The 1600 teams of three competitors leave between 2 and 4 am with the winners arriving in Verbier some 6 1/2 hours later. Madness. The competition is organized by the army though is open to private teams and foreigners. All week there have been the military in town in preparation for this major event. So we have been seeing the odd soldiers come by. In fact, we could almost say that they have been the backbone of our business. Strangely, though, on the day of the race, with the streets packed with people, business was remarkably light. We could have done more business had we brought up the terrace, but the weather forecast not being very positive we decided that it probably wasn't worth the effort and the stats from previous years show that this is very much the case. The neighbouring terraces in the sun were full of people, but on close observation one noticed that there was little movement and hardly any food served. The problem is that all these people arrive with picnics and we had more soldiers than passers-by during the daytime. So the best business of the day (Saturday) happened at 6 pm when we filled the place for the Blackburn v Manchester United football match at which time the streets were empty again and most people had gone home!
One more week and it will be closing for us till June 19.
Posted: Sun - April 20, 2008 at 10:47 AM