Feast of the cold in La Brévine, Switzerland's "little Siberia"
Snowy landscape in the Swiss Jura, towards L'Auberson (Sainte-Croix).
AFP - FABRICE COFFRINI
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
If you ask anyone what the coldest place in Switzerland is, most will say it's probably on top of the Matterhorn, the country's most famous mountain.
But no need to go so high for fresh (or icy!) air.
Since 1987, the small village of La Brévine, at an altitude of 1,000 m in the Jura mountains, has held the national record with -41.8° centigrade!
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With our special correspondent at La Brévine,
Jérémie lanche
The thermometer reads +1° centigrade at the start of the festivities.
Is the Fête du Froid doing false advertising?
No, assures Muriel Jeanneret, municipal councilor of La Brévine: “
It is often cold here, it's true, because we have this micro climate which makes us known for the cold.
But no, it's not always minus 41.8 degrees!
".
The temperatures are still low enough that you have to use chainsaws to carve out a pool in the small frozen lake of Taillères, which stretches between the fir forests.
Coming from Geneva on purpose, Miguel Guardia would not have missed the
ritual swim
for anything in the world: “
The first minutes are always very painful, it hurts a lot.
And afterwards, in fact, it becomes addictive very quickly
”.
“ Explosive
”
feeling
Impression confirmed by Ludovic.
This regular lasted just three minutes: “
The feeling is still just as explosive.
You enter the water and when you are in it, you no longer feel anything, it rises, an explosion of joy, pleasure
”.
For the more cautious – or the more normal, it depends – ice skating on the frozen lake or a sleigh ride pulled by husky dogs also works very well.
More than 6,000 visitors from all over Switzerland and neighboring France were expected this weekend.
La Brévine, which calls itself the “Siberia” of Switzerland, also tries to attract tourists in the summer.
By promising them cooler nights, during heat waves.
►Also read
: Swiss glaciers lost 6% of their total volume in 2022, a record
(
September 28, 2022
)
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