Summary of 2007 Event
The 8th Wild Girls on Snow event opened with a wonderful Champagne Reception, kindly hosted by Stephan and Eva Diethelm, at the Hotel Vereina. The ‘Wild Girls’ teams and other guests from Klosters were given a warm welcome by the Diethelms, and also by the music from ‘Echo von Horä’ a very good local trio from Putz, before moving on to Pöschtli Aeuja where Ueli and Cecile Greuter had prepared a fantastic Fondue Chinois for us all. The following morning the teams met their ‘Klosters local’ (their guide for the day) at the Hotel Alpina. The theme for this year’s event was ‘007 – Mission Breast Cancer’ and there were certainly some colourful sights going up the Gotschna as each team was named, and dressed accordingly, after a Bond film. At midday the teams gathered at the Heineken Bar by the Parsennhütte for some Bond style challenges namely paintballing and air boarding. The paintballing was brilliantly organised and run by Doris Bleiker and Cd-Sportz from Zug with the teams shooting at three separate targets from cages. The Airboarding was very adeptly run by Marcel Kunert from Davos Klosters Mountains who had set up a fun timed obstacle course. The sun was shining and the James Bond theme tunes blasted out as everyone enjoyed the activities and the hospitality courtesy of Heineken and Hapy Waser! The biggest challenge was yet to come and congratulations and huge thanks are owed to the five piste machine drivers (Hampi, Hans, Anton, Peter and Jürg) who devised a formidable figure of eight course on a steep slope by the Skihütte Gruobenalp – the drivers patience must have been tested as they sat beside and instructed members of all the teams - It was though the ultimate experience and everyone loved it!
Later on in the afternoon Ralph Krueger took charge of an ‘Autogramm Stunde’ for the local children to get the autographs of the Swiss ski racers from the Swiss National Ski team who arrived following the World Cup Final in Lenzerheide.
Dinner on the Sunday night was at the Silvretta Parkhotel following the theme of ‘Golden Eye’. The dining room and the Salon had been magnificently decorated with glittering gold tinsel curtains and gold wreaths of tinsel from the ceilings – it was a wonderful sight and a lot of hard work had gone into preparing the rooms. Dinner was delicious and the surprise dessert was an impressively decorated ‘eye’ and it seemed a shame to eat it! During dinner we played the game of Heads ‘n Tails which raised just under CHF 4,000 for breast cancer and the lucky winner, Ralph Schultz (ex Mr Germany), won a stunning Graham Chronofighter watch kindly donated by The British Masters. The guests were entertained throughout the evening by the great UK magician Paul Lytton whose magic tricks never fail to amaze his audience! This was a very spectacular and special evening and grateful thanks are owed to Christian and Kristina Erpenbeck and Ulrike Erpenbeck. The evening though was not yet over and those who went on to the Casa were well entertained by top DJ Tanju till very late - I believe it was then back to the Alpina, disturbing the peace of the long suffering night porter Mio, but the Hotel is the base of the Wild Girls and Räto and his staff are very welcoming!
Unfortunately the weather was not on our side on Monday morning and there was nil visibility on the mountain – though it did clear by late morning. Sadly for the first time it was not possible to hold the ‘Wild Girls GS Challenge’ which was particularly disappointing with the Swiss National Ski Team supporting the event but nevertheless the teams enjoyed a morning of free skiing with their allocated racer. It was a disappointment too for the twenty Klosters children from the class of Jöri Luzi - they had all been sponsored by local companies to ‘Race for Breast Cancer’ but nevertheless they put on their very smart race bibs (sponsored by Snowlife) and led their teams and ski racer round the mountain through the fresh powder snow. Urs and Maria Schmidt and their team at the Parsennhütte jumped into action and amazingly managed to seat us all in their restaurant and serve us a magnificent lunch and drinks without so much of a bat of an eyelid! The lunch had been generously sponsored by Früchte Waser, Dorfbäckerei Weber and Metzgerei Stiffler AG all from Davos and Heineken Switzerland and also by Urs and Maria – it was very jolly and gave everyone the opportunity to meet the Swiss ski stars including World Champion Downhill ski racer Didier Cuche, Marc Berthod and Didier Défago. Swiss Ski has supported the Wild Girls whenever possible over the years, and their presence this year, with the top Swiss ski racers was a major contributory factor to the success of the event.
Following the lunch in the Parsennhütte we were all treated to some entertainment by the Klosters children who had been skiing with the teams in the morning. They had obviously been practising their special James Bond performance for some weeks as it was a very slick and well orchestrated show – congratulations must also be given to Gaby Luzi who had worked very hard with the children. It was very enhancing to have had the company of such delightful and happy Klosters children taking part in the Wild Girls and it is certainly something I would like to repeat in the future. At the end of the day, the teams met up to say farewell to the ski racers at the Grastroechni - Gaudy and Vroni had prepared some slightly dangerous ‘Wild Girls Vesper Cocktails’ and it was the perfect conclusion to an enjoyable day on the mountain.
The final dinner was held at the Hotel Pardenn and titled ‘Casino Royale’. The girls all turned up in their best finery and enjoyed the potent Vesper cocktails skilfully ‘shaken not stirred’ by Pascal Wilhelm and his fiancé Miriam whilst the children dressed as mini Bonds gave us once again a wonderful performance of their act. Following the delicious dinner both Eva Diethelm and Isabelle Lamontagne-Müller gave moving speeches on breast cancer before Ralph Krueger conducted a phenomenal auction which raised CHF 33,800.- . Amongst the items auctioned was a dinner for four at the Alpenröstli, a case of Moet Chandon Champagne, a two night stay at the Hotel Maisser in Guarda, dinner for four at Mosimanns private Dining Club in London, a two day golf academy at the Golf Club Klosters, a four night stay at the Hotel Alpina, a case of Kaesler-Semillon 2003, a Ferrari and Maserati factory tour, a gold chain with a pendant and diamond in the middle, a weekend for two (with flights) in a first class hotel of your choice in Switzerland, a case of El Kendal Classic Stellenbosch 2002, a pair of Zai skis and some sporting memorabilia including a signed yellow Jersey from Lance Armstrong Tour de France 2003, a starting number signed by Lasse Kjus and two signed ski race suits given by Nadia Styger and Didier Cuche.
The event concluded with a very lively performance by Peter Sands – alias Elvis and the UK comedian and cabaret singer Bobby Davro. Elvis certainly got the whole room up and dancing and very nearly lifted the roof off the Pardenn! It was a wonderfully happy note to end the event on and thank you to Jean Claude Huber and his team at the Pardenn for a memorable evening. Naturally the party continued well into the early hours at the Casa Antica as indeed it did on all the nights – thank you too to Alex Broggi for his support.
Wild Girls on Snow 2007 would not have been such a success without the support of the main sponsor and grateful thanks are owed to Ivo Romer and Fidustra (a business consultancy based in Zug) who sponsored the event in association with Klosters Tourismus, Davos Klosters Mountains, Swiss International Air Lines, Snowlife, Auto Sudan Zug and Heineken Switzerland. Fidustra has sponsored the event now for two years and I am delighted to say that Ivo Romer has kindly agreed to continue with his support by being the main sponsor once again in 2008.
I am enormously grateful for the loyal support I have received for this event and I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the success of the eighth Wild Girls on Snow by giving sponsorship, donations, auction items, prizes and thank you to all the generous bidders in the auction too. I would also like to say a special thank you to all the ski racers, Klosters locals, celebrities and personalities who gave their time to attend the event and to sincerely thank all the ‘Wild Girls’ (and Boys!) for their loyal support and I hope they will be back next year. Finally a very special thank you to Ralph Krueger whose help and loyal support is an invaluable contribution to the success of the event every year – he is a true star!
Clair Southwell
"Wild Girls on Snow 2007" wäre kein so grosser Erfolg geworden ohne die Unterstützung des Hauptsponsors Ivo Romer mit seiner Firma Fidustra, einem Wirtschaftsberatungs-Unternehmen aus Zug. Im gebührt grosser Dank gemeinsam mit Klosters Tourismus, Davos Klosters Mountains, Swiss International Air Lines, Snowlife, Auto Pierre Sudan und Heineken Schweiz. Fidustra trat bereits zum zweiten Mal als Hauptsponsor des Events auf und ich bin glücklich darüber, dass Ivo Romer seine weitere Unterstützung als Hauptsponsor für das Jahr 2008 bereits zugesagt hat.
Ich bin ausgesprochen dankbar für die vielfache, treue Unterstützung, die ich für den Event erhalten habe und ich möchte allen danken, die dazu beigetragen haben. Ganz besonders:
Räto und Vreni Conzett, Birgit Schulzer und Hotel Alpina, Stephan und Eva Diethelm und Hotel Vereina, Jean Claude Huber und Hotel Pardenn, Christian und Kristina Erpenbeck und Silvretta Parkhotel, Veuve Clicquot, Martel Weine St Gallen, Dieter Mueller, Renata Angehrn, Swiss Alp Fantasy, Phil’s Concert & Showtechnique, Doris Bleiker und Cd-Sportz GmbH, Gaudy’s Graströchni, Johann Bardill und Gotschna Taxi, Esteē Lauder, Nike Sports, Maissen, Pascal Wilhelm, Steven Bentinck, Benno Maisser, Comte et Comtesse Chandon de Brialles, Dirk und Nathalie Wiedmann, Pierre Sudan, Family Schaurte, Switzerland Tourism, Swiss Travel System, Herr und Saager, Lasse Kjus, Simon Jacomet, Brien Donnellon, Key Investment und alle, welche grosszügigerweise eine Spende für die Brustkrebs-Aktion gegeben haben.
Den Firmen, welche ein Kind für das “Rennen für Brustkrebs” gesponsert haben:
Fidustra, Kunz AG, Electro Berchtold, Hodel Treuhand & Immobilien, UBS AG, Denner Satellit Klosters, Bardill Sports, Maissen, Pine Cone, Helios Apotheke, Duty Boardsports, Schauerte, Graubündner Kantonalbank, Mattli & Hew, Brosi & Co AG, RE/MAX, Andrist Sport, Foto Schmelz, Gotschna Sport und Rätia Energie.
Das Mittagessen vom Montag bei der Parsennhütte wurde freundlicherweise gesponsert durch: Früchte Waser, Dorfbäckerei Weber und Metzgerei Stiffler AG und Urs und Maria Schmidt Berggasthaus Parsennhütte GmbH.
Die Sponsoren des „Golden Eye – Dinners“ im Silvretta Parkhotel waren: Molkerei Davos, Beck Hitz, adank gastro, Gastroblitz, Nüesch Weine, Lüchinger Schmid, Howeg, Pistor, Rageth, Gody’s Wine Shop und Silvretta Parkhotel.
Ebenfalls danken möchte ich allen Skirennfahrerinnen und –Rennfahrern und allen prominenten Persönlichkeiten, die dem Event ihre kostbare Zeit geschenkt haben. Ebenso allen, die in grosszügiger Weise gespendet haben, sowie Preise und Gegenstände für die Auktion zur Verfügung gestelllt haben (und natürlich allen, welche die Preise und Gegenstände ersteigert haben!). Ich möchte ganz herzlich allen Wild Girls (und den Wild Boys!) für ihre Grosszügigkeit und ihre Treue danken. Ich hoffe, dass sie alle viel Spass gehabt haben und im nächsten Jahr wiederkommen. Und schliesslich hat Ralph Krüger einen ganz speziellen Dank verdient. Seine Unterstützung und Mithilfe sind immer wieder ein enorm wichtiger Teil des Events – er ist wirklich ein Star!
Clair Southwell
