Page 43 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Switzerland

Skater Secrets Up, Up and Away
Nearly everyone can skate in Switzerland, The glacially carved Swiss
and the most beautiful place to get on the ice peaks are not only a play­ Did You Know?
come winter is the lake at St Moritz (p264). It’s ground for rock climbers,
easy enough to hire a pair of skates for a quick mountain bikers, skiers and Paragliders use rising
slide, or to plan a trip to watch White Turf, the snowboarders. Verbier air created by solar
jaw-dropping horse race, and polo or cricket contains some of the most radiation to get into
matches that take place on the frozen well­reputed paragliding the air, in a technque
surface. There’s always a fantastic atmo- schools in Europe, while called thermalling.
sphere at Lac de Joux (p150) in the heart of Appenzell’s Ebenalp cable car
Vaud, too. Here, in deep midwinter, the affords access to consistent
canton’s largest lake is reborn as a com- thermals for experienced
flyers. For those who don’t
petitive ice-skating rink. want to soar too high, airborne
INSIDER TIP freedom can also be found on
Waterways DISCOVER Switzerland Your Way Grindelwald’s First Flyer, a
Starting in the sun- zipline with a one­two punch
of Jungfraujoch’s and
drenched village of Eiger’s summit views.
Nendaz, plot a course
from pastures and
meadows to vineyards
and fruit orchards on A paraglider taking off
in the breathtaking
hiking trips along the
restored Bisses, a series Bernese Highlands
of historic irrigation
channels in Valais.
SWITZERLAND FOR
Horseracing in White THRILL-SEEKERS
Turf at Lake St Moritz

With an enviable backdrop of sawtooth peaks, sheer canyon drops and
hairline ridges, it’s no surprise the Swiss have a love affair with white-
ON THE WATER knuckle adventures. Weekends see the cities empty out as locals
embrace the elements, and there’s ample opportunity to join them, too.

Record-breaker
With two runners, three
The Largest Waterfall wooden slats and a rope
Schaffhausen, a town near the German handle, the Davos sledge is
the world’s favourite tobog­
border, provides a thrilling marriage of
man-made and natural creation: the gan. The first toboggan race in
1883 in Davos saw daredevil
medi eval, fortress-dominated old town riders career through the
and the nearby Rhine Falls, the largest city’s snow­covered streets
cascade in Europe. Plummeting 23 m
(75 ft), at a width of 150 m (490 ft), it is all the way into neighbouring
Klosters. You can try it too, on
an incomparable force of nature by the world’s longest purpose­
European standards, and beguiling
enough to inspire Romantic painter J M W built sledge run, which sends
Turner. Another inspiring cascade can be riders spiraling down from
the Faulhorn summit at
found in the Staubbach Falls, just above 2,681 m (8,796 ft) back
Lauterbrunnen (p97), where spectacular into Grindelwald village
views await behind the water.
above Interlaken.
The Rhine Falls rushing Tobogganing down the powder
down the cliff face to white slopes in Graubünden,
the medieval town East Switzerland
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