On the 18th of july the Saas Fee Ride 2009 would have taken place for
the 7th time. That was the main reason for us, to travel to the far
Switserland. Unfortunately the competition was canceled due to bad
weather. On friday the forecast predicted much rain and wind, saterday
would be a transition day and only later on sunday the forecast
predicted good weather. Due to these circumstances the crew didn't had
enough time to prepare everything for the contest (shaping, DJ set-up,
...), cancelling the contest was the logical result. It's a little bit
ironic though, knowing that on sunday it was one of the best summer
gletcher days of the year.
Pearl of the Alps
Nevertheless we travelled to the “pearl” of the Alps, because this is
what Saas Fee really is. A cosy gletcher village that is situated on
the highest point of the Saas-Vally, at an altitude off 1800m and
surrounded by over more than ten mountains reaching the 4000m peak.
With the highest mountain of Switserland as the pride & glory who
listens to the name “Dom”. Besides all that, the village is completely
free of traffic, so the calm en cosy atmosphere takes the upperhand
easily.
The ski resort
Saas Fee is during the winter season with her 35 slopes -together 100km
long- no small or negligible ski resort. Also, both in winter and
summer there is a extended snowpark with a halfpipe, rails en boxes, a
boardercross, a kids funpark and some kicker lines, in other words, the
park is perfectly accessible for either pro skier or freestyle beginner.
In the summer there are about 20km of slopes available, but yet again
the freestyle ski & snowboard community is not forgotten. We judged
the summer park with our own eyes en found it more then ok. The
halfpipe was looking fine, the kicker lines were tight en could without
any doubt please many twin-tip skier.
Conclusion: Saas Fee is highly recommended for freestyle skiing in Europe during the summer!
It is noon, the gletcher is closing .. what now?
As for most of the gletchers everything closes around 12.pm. Many of us
would start to look for alternative activities and rest asure, there is
plenty to do in Saas Fee.
Sport accomodations
There is a skatepark where we and our Belgian friends Bram Cooreman,
Timo De Bondt, Katrien Aerts, Robbe Nelissen, Laurens Van Lint and
Wouter Lemmens -who initially would be competing in the Saas Fee Ride-
spend many hours.
Adjacent to the skatepark there is a large terrain where everybody can
go to play some tennis, soccer, miniature golf, jogging and a lot more.
There is also a swimming pool with sauna, whirlpool, sunbed, steam bath
for people who just want to relax after half a day of skiing.
Other points of interest
The adventurers among us can go for it in the park with death rides,
high ladders, climbing webs and lots of other stuff hanging high above
the ground. Ending the day with a ride in the bobsleigh will only
enforce the good feeling you get from your stay in Saas Fee.
Some usefull statistics
The gletcher village counts 1.677 residents.
There is place for 6.900 tourists, whereof 2.500 in hotel beds and 4.400 in appartements.
Saas Fee is mostly visited by Dutchmen (around 10%), Germans (around 23%) and people from Switserland.
Saas Fee has 15 pubs and 3 nightclubs.
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