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Saas Valley
The Saastal or the Saas Valley is an alpine valley in the district of Visp, in the eastern part of the Canton of Valais, Switzerland. It is the valley of the river Saaser Vispa. It is separated from the Mattertal to the west by the Mischabel massif. Villages in the valley are, upstream, Eisten, Saas-Balen, Saas-Grund, Saas-Fee and Saas-Almagell. Until 1893, the municipalities of Almagell, Balen, Fee and Grund were a single parish, with the only church in Grund. Mattmarksee is a reservoir built in the 1960s. The region hosts an extensive winter sports region, comprising the separate ski areas of Saas-Fee, Saas-Grund and Saas-Almagell. As well as individual ski passes a combined pass is available; each of these areas is connected to the other parts of the region by postal bus, rather than dedicated skilifts. Geography The Saastal (Saas Valley) is an alpine valley in the district of Visp, in the eastern part of the Canton of Valais, Switzerland. It forms the catchment of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saas-Grund
Saas-Grund is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Visp (district), Visp in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Valais in Switzerland. It lies east of Lenzspitze and Dom (Mischabel), Dom. History Saas-Grund is first mentioned in 1438 as ''grunderro''. On 3 April 1849, an avalanche destroyed a house that served as a refuge in avalanche-prone weather, and killed 19 people. After that winter, each building that abutted the hill was extended with a vault, a ''Lawinengruft''. Each of these underground refuges was about 5 meters x 4 meters large, and had an interior height of 2.5 meters. In 1943, the Swiss Alpine Club's magazine ''Die Alpen'' reported that they were last used in the winter of 1887/1888, and only two of them were remaining. As these vaults served several families, each modification to the vault had to be done with the co-owner's agreement. Geography Saas-Grund has an area, , of . Of this area, 11.0% is used for agricultural purposes, whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Municipalities Of Switzerland
Municipalities (, ' or '; ; ; ) are the lowest level of administrative division in Switzerland. Each municipality is part of one of the Swiss cantons, which form the Swiss Confederation. In most cantons, municipalities are also part of districts or other sub-cantonal administrative divisions. There are 2,121 municipalities . Their populations range between several hundred thousand (Zürich), and a few dozen people ( Kammersrohr, Bister), and their territory between 0.32 km² ( Rivaz) and 439 km² ( Scuol). History The beginnings of the modern municipality system date back to the Helvetic Republic. Under the Old Swiss Confederacy, citizenship was granted by each town and village to only residents. These citizens enjoyed access to community property and in some cases additional protection under the law. Additionally, the urban towns and the rural villages had differing rights and laws. The creation of a uniform Swiss citizenship, which applied equally for citizens of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valleys Of Switzerland
A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over a very long period. Some valleys are formed through erosion by glacial ice. These glaciers may remain present in valleys in high mountains or polar areas. At lower latitudes and altitudes, these glacially formed valleys may have been created or enlarged during ice ages but now are ice-free and occupied by streams or rivers. In desert areas, valleys may be entirely dry or carry a watercourse only rarely. In areas of limestone bedrock, dry valleys may also result from drainage now taking place underground rather than at the surface. Rift valleys arise principally from earth movements, rather than erosion. Many different types of valleys are described by geographers, using terms that may be global in use or else applied only locally. Forma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cirque
A (; from the Latin word ) is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by Glacier#Erosion, glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from , meaning a pot or cauldron) and ; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform arising from fluvial erosion. The concave shape of a glacial cirque is open on the downhill side, while the cupped section is generally steep. Cliff-like slopes, down which ice and glaciated debris combine and converge, form the three or more higher sides. The floor of the cirque ends up bowl-shaped, as it is the complex convergence zone of combining ice flows from multiple directions and their accompanying rock burdens. Hence, it experiences somewhat greater erosion forces and is most often overdeepening, overdeepened below the level of the cirque's low-side outlet (stage) and its down-slope (backstage) valley. If the cirque is subject to seasonal melting, the floor of the cirque most often forms a tarn (lake), tarn (small lake) behind a d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mountaineering
Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become mountain sports, sports in their own right. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, and bouldering are also considered variants of mountaineering by some, but are part of a wide group of mountain sports. Unlike most sports, mountaineering lacks widely applied formal rules, regulations, and governance; mountaineers adhere to a large variety of techniques and philosophies (including grade (climbing), grading and climbing guidebook, guidebooks) when climbing mountains. Numerous local alpine clubs support mountaineers by hosting resources and social activities. A federation of alpine clubs, the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA), is the International Olympic Committee-recognized world organization for mountaineering and climbing. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hiking
A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time. "Hiking" is the preferred term in Canada and the United States; the term "walking" is used in these regions for shorter, particularly urban walks. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the word "walking" describes all forms of walking, whether it is a walk in the park or backpacking in the Alps. The word hiking is also often used in the UK, along with rambling, hillwalking, and fell walking (a term mostly used for hillwalking in northern England). The term bushwalking is endemic to Australia, having been adopted by the Sydney Bush Walkers Club in 1927. In New Zealand a long, vigorous walk or hike is called tramping. It is a popular activity with numerous hiking organizations worldwide, and studies suggest that all forms of walking have health b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glacier
A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as crevasses and seracs, as it slowly flows and deforms under stresses induced by its weight. As it moves, it abrades rock and debris from its substrate to create landforms such as cirques, moraines, or fjords. Although a glacier may flow into a body of water, it forms only on land“Glacier, N., Pronunciation.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, June 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/7553486115. Accessed 25 Jan. 2025. and is distinct from the much thinner sea ice and lake ice that form on the surface of bodies of water. On Earth, 99% of glacial ice is contained within vast ice sheets (also known as "continental glaciers") in the polar regions, but glaciers may be found in mountain ranges on ever ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity only", as people "travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure and not less than 24 hours, business and other purposes". Tourism can be Domestic tourism, domestic (within the traveller's own country) or International tourism, international. International tourism has both incoming and outgoing implications on a country's balance of payments. Between the second half of 2008 and the end of 2009, tourism numbers declined due to a severe Economy, economic slowdown (see Great Recession) and the outbreak of the 2009 2009 flu pandemic, H1N1 influenza virus. These numbers, however, recovered until the COVID-19 pandemic put an abrupt end to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piste
A ''piste'' () is a marked ski run or path down a mountain for snow skiing, snowboarding, or other mountain sports. This European term is FrenchEnglish language ''Fédération Internationale de Ski'' (FIS) website ("trail", "track") and synonymous with 'trail', 'slope', or 'run' in North America. The word is pronounced using a long "e" sound so that it rhymes with "beast". North Americans employ its common European antonym, 'off piste', to describe , especially when referring to skiing outside officially approved areas of a |
Allalin Glacier
The Allalin Glacier () is a long glacier (2005) situated in the Pennine Alps near the Allalinhorn in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. In 1973 it had an area of . The glacier is bordered on the west by the Allalinhorn, Rimpfischhorn and Strahlhorn. It is not to be confused with the Fee Glacier which lies on the northern flank of Allalinhorn. Physical evolution Allalin Glacier flows 6.2 km from the north-east face of the Allalinhorn (4,027 m) to a present terminus at ~2,150 m. GLAMOS surveys show the glacier retreated 1,260 m between 1880 and 2022 and its surface area fell from 9.9 km2 (1973) to 7.3 km2 in 2019. Long-term mass-balance series record a cumulative loss of greater than 33 m water equivalent since 1960, with exceptionally negative years in 2003, 2022 and 2023 when large parts of the ablation zone became snow-free by early July. Ice avalanches and Mattmark disaster On 30 August 1965 approximately two million cubic metres of ice detached ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snowmaking
Snowmaking is the production of snow by forcing water and pressurized air through a "snow gun", also known as a "snow cannon". Snowmaking is mainly used at ski resorts to supplement natural snow. This allows ski resorts to improve the reliability of their snow cover and to extend their ski seasons from late autumn to early spring. Indoor ski slopes use snowmaking. They can generally do so year-round as they have climate-controlled environments. The use of snowmaking machines has become more common as changing weather patterns and the popularity of indoor ski resorts create a demand for snow beyond that which is provided by nature. Snowmaking machines have addressed the shortage in the supply of snow; however, there are significant environmental costs associated with the artificial production of snow. According to the European Environment Agency, the length of snow seasons in the northern hemisphere has decreased by five days each decade since the 1970s, thus increasing the dema ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
