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General Meeting of Swiss CCs in Allaman on Saturday 8 November 2008

The report

Welcome to the...

It was with the precision of a Swiss cuckoo clock and on a beautiful sunny day that our dedicated Territorial Delegate, Pierre Mai, opened the 5^e I'd like to thank his son Robin for helping him prepare the small room, his wife Catherine for preparing the (delicious!) dessert and Joseph for offering us the aniseed bread (tasty biscuits - a typical Fribourg speciality!).

22 members and 6 accompanying persons made the trip to Allaman, a pretty little Vaud village nestling among the vineyards overlooking Lake Geneva. 8 members were excused, including Patrick Schleppi, who lost his father this week. We send him and his family our sincere thoughts to help him through this painful ordeal.

A few figures...

6600. No, that's not the number of a new centcolist! It's the number of members registered to date since the inception of the Club des Cent Cols. There are around 2,250 active members, including 57 Swiss members (10 ladies and 47 gentlemen). The youngest active Swiss member is still Robin Mai, the son of our hosts, born in 1994; the oldest is Arthur Ruchti, born in 1931. These 2 sportsmen and women were warmly applauded.

7 new members joined the club this year: 1 lady, Michèle Racine from Geneva, and 6 gentlemen, Kurt Wyer from Meinier, Michael Friend from Grens, Victor de Figueiredo from La Chaux-de-Fonds, Yves Bochent from St-Triphon, Jean-Jacques Monod from Ecublens and Nicholas Niggli from Geneva. Niggli was presented with his diploma and the Revue, and the meeting applauded.

2008 activities...

Photos and reports of the year's outings can be found on the Club's website and will be included in next year's Revue.
Pierre then uses a slide show to take us through the various events organised this year.

Saturday 9 February - Committee Meeting: Christian Binggeli and Pierre Mai travelled to Lyon to attend this meeting.
Friday 29 February: Jacques Bezzola organised a meeting in Châtel St-Denis at which the 14 participants discussed the progress of the season and enjoyed a fondue. Many thanks to Jacques for organising this evening, which was a great way to get together at the start of the season.
From 8 to 12 March - a trip to Agay, between St-Raphaël and Cannes, organised by the Club. Bernard Besson and Pierre Mai came along for 4 days of mountain biking in the Esterel massif. What a wonderful trip! We were able to see for ourselves in the photos, which made our cycling legs tingle...
Sunday 27 July - Swiss centcolists meet in Sembrancher. A magnificent blue sky was the order of the day for this 4^e concentration organised by Bernard Besson from Sembrancher at the foot of the Grand St-Bernard. Like last year, it was twinned with an outing by the Club Cyclotouriste de la Riviera.
24 participants divided into two groups set off to climb a number of passes in the region. At the Col du Lein (CH-VS-1658), a small snack awaited us with a smile: a glass of Fendant, bread, cheese and apricot cake prepared by Yves Bochent, our baker. The day was filled with beautiful scenery and good humour, and ended at the home of Michèle and Eric Cornaro, who cooked us an excellent lasagne! It's worth noting that just 60 years separated the Junior (Robin) and Senior (Michel) riders, who rode together on the mountain bike course.
Thank you to everyone, especially our French friends who came all the way to Valais.
Saturday 9 August - Mountain bike outing in Villars-sur-Ollon: sunshine and warmth were the order of the day for this mountain bike outing from the Swiss TOPO. 18 participants, including 8 from France, came out for a day in the mountains.
A cup of coffee gets us in shape before we set off for 7 passes at altitudes of between 1,500 and 1,900 metres. After a group photo at the top of the last pass, we set off on the descent to Villars, stopping for a beer on a pleasant terrace.
From 12 to 16 August - international concentration in Arêches: 6 Swiss were present (with the flag!) among 200 participants: Michel, Jacques, the two Bernards, Robin and Pierre. 4 days of mountain biking (well, more like 3, as it poured with rain on Friday!). 20 passes, including 6 over 2000 m, with a total ascent of 4285 m, for a total of 133 km. All in all, a great atmosphere and perfect organisation.

2009 programme...

One season has barely come to an end before we have to start preparing for the next.... Pierre tells us about the dates set for 2009.

Friday 6 February: our now traditional start-of-season meeting followed by dinner will be prepared by Jacques Bezzola. Change of venue: "Les 3 Sifflets" in Vevey, just off the Place du Marché.
14-21 March - stay in Tuchan, between Bézier and Perpignan. 8 Swiss members have already signed up for this week in the South of France.
Sunday 12 July - 5th concentration of the Cent Cols Suisses. Pierre meets us in Plaffein (east of Fribourg) for an outing twinned with an outing by the Club Cyclotouriste de la Riviera (CCR), which includes 18 CCC members!
Saturday 8 August: Mountain bike outing starting from Le Flon (above Vouvry). Meeting point 8.30am, departure 9.00am. Route taken from the Swiss TOPO, 4 passes including 2 over 2000 m.
From 12 to 15 August - International concentration at Val Louron in the Pyrenees, on the border with Spain.
07 November: Swiss CC meeting in the same room as today.

Miscellaneous...

The next generation... Pierre congratulates Simon Morard on reaching the 50-pass mark. Robin Morard, who is only 15 passes short of joining the club, and Robin Mai, who has achieved his goal for the year by climbing over 100 new passes! Well done young people!
500 passes... Two diplomas were then awarded to our oldest active member, Bernard Besson, and to Laurent Tinguely. The meeting gave a warm round of applause.
Catalogue of Swiss mountain passes...: the 5 members of the group responsible for validating new mountain passes proposed by members before forwarding them to the CERP have done a great deal of work this year updating the catalogue:
- 74 passes have been deleted. In the early days of the catalogue, research was based on maps, which led to errors of assessment. With the help of computers, the work is much quicker and more accurate. It should be noted that the group has all the 25,000-scale maps of Switzerland.
- 78 new passes were validated.
- Over 250 corrections were made, mainly to the coordinates and quotations submitted by members.
Pierre then reminded the meeting that validated passes are regularly posted on the website and are also included with the magazine at the beginning of each year. Rejected passes can also be viewed on the website, along with the reason for rejection.TOPO Suisse... The catalogue, which came out last year, sold well. Pierre has already received and tested a few routes for the next issue, which he hopes to bring out in three years' time. He would like to thank all the members who have suggested new routes in advance!
Use of layers... Remember that they can be taken from the website; superimposed on the maps, they indicate where the passes are.
Concentrations - stays... Bernard Besson and Jacques Bezzola point out that there are not only 'vttists' at concentrations or stays, and that 'roadies' are in the majority.

The after...

Before enjoying some delicious Mauritian specialities followed by a nasi goreng, a slide show, prepared by Pierre, summarised some of the outings, the International Concentration in Arêches and the Swiss Concentration in Sembrancher.
A big thank you to our Territorial Delegate and his family!

Christine Morard - 6058