Weekend at Bernie's

[Telecaster]

Bernie Ecclestone, the man who runs Formula 1 racing, is reported to have paid $3.8m to buy the Glacier 3000 ski area above Les Diablerets, near Gstaad.

Glacier 3000, formerly open year-round, spent heavily on impressive upgrades in 1999/2000, replacing three elderly cable cars with two new state of the art lifts accessing the glacier and building a stunning gourmet mountain restaurant.

However the area subsequently ran into financial difficulties. Following the improvements the resort lost its single legendary black run and saw a reduction of 5km in total skiable terrain down to 55km. Terrain percentages changing from 51% easy, 41% more difficult, 8% expert to 58% easy, 42% more difficult with 0% expert.

On the other hand the new lifts have increased uplift capacity by more than a quarter from 16200 skiers per hour to 22000.

It is now open for skiing from October to July each year Ecclestone’s investment is reportedly being shared with two other investors and intends to double visitor numbers from the current 120000 per year.

[72Twenty]

Wow, you can actually buy a glacier?