Heavy snow in south blocks travelers

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The southern part of Switzerland was recovering Monday from heavy snowfalls in Ticino and parts of Graubuenden, while elsewhere in Switzerland thousands turned out for the craziness of Carnival.

Lucerne attracted an estimated 30,000 people to its colourful Carnival parade while 50,000 came out in Sion for the two biggest days of parades and partying that wind down only tomorrow. Brig is also a big centre for Carnival in Upper Valais, the region that starts after Sierre on the French-German language divide and that includes the Goms Valley.

The weekend was less fun for thousands of motorists who had to wait up to three hours to take their cars on trains through the Simplon tunnel when the Simplon pass was closed due to avalanche danger after heavy snowfalls. The pass is one of the few road links between Switzerland and Italy that generally remains open in winter.

The national avalanche research centre posted level 4/5 avalanche alerts for the Simplon region as well as the val Bedretto and the upper val Maggia over the weekend. By Monday the alert had eased to 3/5 but the centre reported 50-80cm of fresh snow along much of the mountainous border with Italy for the past three days.