Articles
After the Games is before the Games
The French people were not involved in the planning of the 2030 Winter Olympics. Environmental organisations are mobilising for public participation and sustainable Games. Meanwhile, Switzerland is preparing its Olympic bid for 2038.
Sporting commemoration of a ranger
The 29th edition of the “Danilo Re Memorial” took place from 16 to 19 January 2025 in Scuol in the Swiss National Park. This year, for the first time, CIPRA took part in the international meeting of representatives of Alpine protected areas and organisations.
2030 Winter Olympics in Nice
Switzerland’s idea of decentralised, sustainable games has been rejected by the IOC. Instead, the French Mediterranean city of Nice is very likely to be awarded the contract.
Experience the last of the glaciers
Recharge your batteries, go cycling, visit the glaciers: the Alpine Climate Camps project combines mountain sports with climate protection, further encouraging young climate activists. A bicycle tour in Austria at the beginning of September 2023 and other activities in Switzerland and Italy will draw attention to the disappearing glaciers.
Expedition for future female glacier researchers
Stay overnight on the glacier for over a week, climb peaks, carry out scientific experiments: the “Girls* on Ice” project offers girls an awe-inspiring summer experience.
Ski resorts for sale
Vail Resorts from the USA is taking over Andermatt-Sedrun in Switzerland, while a British company is buying Via Lattea in Italy. This is the role played by international investors in the ski circus of the Alps.
Point of view: Let's finally press the reset button in tourism!
Mass tourism in the Alps has collapsed due to the ongoing Corona pandemic, and the opportunities for switching to environmentally and socially just tourism have increased. But they must also be exploited, says Hans Weber, Executive Director of CIPRA Switzerland.
Strange but true!
A “vision,” an innovative “lighthouse project” with “international appeal” – while countless cannons provide the necessary snow in other Alpine regions, eastern Switzerland is planning something really big: an indoor snow sports facility in a mountain tunnel in Flums. What is already possible on Dubai’s indoor ski slope, namely weather-independent winter sports, is to become a reality in eastern Switzerland by 2030.
Sabbatical in the Alps
Take a longer break and give something back: The "Alpine Sabbatical" in Switzerland offers a meaningful alternative way of spending your free time.
Innovative ideas for tourism
Forest cabins that are self-sufficient in energy, mobile ski instructors, taking a break in an empty second home or glamping down on the farm: CIPRA Switzerland’s «Innovation Generator» is supporting the start-up of four tourism projects.
Caught between the season and home
The winter season in the Alps is at an end. The mostly foreign seasonal workers have worked hard for others’ holidays. Initiatives in France and Switzerland are providing ideas on how to improve their situation.
Departure time for helicopters
At a time of declining winter tourism, heli-skiing brings in extra income. While sports enthusiasts might pay a few hundred euros, nature pays a high price.
Economic activity in mountain areas
What can – and cannot – mountain areas do? Two new studies from Germany and Switzerland show the opportunities and weaknesses of regional economies and demonstrate that mountain areas can help in determining their own economic future.
Award-winning tourism
Tourism too has its success stories. Innovative projects in the Alps are drawing attention. A national park in Germany now shows that sustainable tourism can also bring economic benefits.
Swiss reheat Olympic candidacy
Two Swiss cantons, Graubünden (Grisons) and Wallis (Valais), are now competing to host the Winter Olympics – even though voters in Graubünden rejected a proposed candidacy in 2013, and it has already failed several times in Wallis.
Point of view: the enlightened Olympics-free Alps
The referendum decisions against "Munich 2022" and "Graubünden 2022" prove that the Olympic spirit is dead. Simply not everyone has yet noticed.
Oh...!
… The Swiss Alpine Club (SAC) is this year celebrating its 150th anniversary and has got Mother Nature to build it a table of snow and ice at an altitude of 2,700 metres.
CIPRA's point of view: The Alps are far too valuable for the Olympics
The result of the vote held on 3 March 2013 in Graubünden is clear: 52.7% are against the Winter Olympics being held there in 2022. This example shows that there is no desire for gigantism in the Alps.
Next generation to bear risk of Winter Olympics
The Swiss canton of Graubünden wants to hold a "sustainable" Winter Olympics in 2022. While the many open questions regarding the candidacy have stirred passions in Switzerland, Munich's candidacy is not quite so controversial. But time is pressing.
An Alpine "arms race": the desire for fun and games
Europe's highest suspension bridge is being opened in Switzerland, while an Austrian peak is getting a four-armed cross that is accessible to visitors - unbelievable adventures in the Alps.
Olympic candidacy - a questionable venture?
Forecasts estimate that the 2022 Winter Olympics in Switzerland will cost 4.5 billion Swiss francs - or, as experience shows, even more. Is it worth it? In March 2013 the citizens of Graubünden will go to the polls to decide.
Winter tourism: lateral thinking in Savoy
The skiing area of Biot/F sees ever less snow, and the resort is deep in debt. The local mayor now wants to get rid of the lifts and develop other forms of tourism. A visionary decision in the western Alps.
Swiss want to see fewer second homes
Most Swiss people have approved the "Stop the never-ending building of second homes" initiative, providing mountain communities with more protection for landscapes. But the building moratorium is not universally popular.
Olympic Games: no benefit to the national economy
Switzerland is once again discussing its candidacy for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Environmental organisations are warning against the ecological and economic repercussions. Even Marco Blatter, former CEO of Swiss Olympic, has been quoted on Swiss radio, saying that he was glad the 2006 Games were not held in the Valais. He added that in Turin/I the Games had grown out of all proportion. "With all the infrastructure investments Turin cost around CHF 4.5 bn; Vancouver is costing around CHF 6 bn; and Sochi 2014 is officially budgeting for CHF 13 bn," reports Switzerland's SonntagsZeitung.
Uphill with solar energy
The village of Tenna in the Safien valley of the Swiss canton Graubünden is working hard on a world premiere. The Skilift Tenna cooperative has decided to replace an ancient ski lift by the first solar-powered ski lift ever.
Beacons of energy-efficient construction in the mountains
The summer of 2009 saw the opening of the first mountain chalet to be built to the Minergy-P standard. Located in the ski area of Zermatt/CH at an altitude of 3,883 metres, the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise is a model of ecological construction at the foot of the Klein Matterhorn.
Melting glaciers on your local mountain - what now?
On 24th and 25th September 2009 cc.alps is organising an international conference on the impact of melting glaciers on communities in collaboration with CIPRA Switzerland and the Swiss Foundation for Landscape Preservation in Crans Montana/CH.
UNESCO Biosphere Entlebuch wins TO DO! Award 2008
Every year since 1995 the Institute for Tourism and Development (Studienkreis für Tourismus und Entwicklung) stages its "TO DO!" competition for socially responsible tourism.
Advanced studies in the field of sustainable tourism
The Swiss Tourism School Siders is offering a new Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in "Heritage and Tourism - The Mountains as a Living, Working and Recreation Environment" in conjunction with the UNESCO World Heritage property of the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschhorn.