Heat wave in Switzerland
Tourists and hikers flee the heat wave at the top of the Moléson
At 2000 meters above sea level, the thermometer offers a refreshing truce for vacationers, while the plain suffocates. Report on the Friborg heights.
Climbing 100 meters is losing about 0.7 degrees. What cause a transhumance of vacationers on the slopes of the Moléson.
Yvain Genevay / Tamedia
- In the heat wave, tourists and hikers come to seek freshness in the mountains.
- The cable car circulates every ten minutes to avoid turning into an overheated waiting room.
- The temperature drops approximately 8 degrees between bubble and the top of the Moléson.
- Some foreign tourists are surprised by the lack of snow on the summits.
Tourists and Helvetians who have remained in the country know it: it was very hot in our regions this week – with 36 degree points in the plain. To escape suffocating temperatures From this heat wave, you had to take some altitude. If the isotherm of 0 ° C (close to 5000 meters) was reserved for experienced mountaineers, the mercury reached a bearable level in the middle mountain stations.
Direction the Friborg Pre -Alps. And more specifically the Moléson, where cyclists and hikers are looking for beautiful landscapes, but above all freshness. This Wednesday afternoon, hundreds of cars cook in the parking lot at the foot of the station. Families are out. A young mother coats her sunscreen offspring, while the dad explains to her son that you have to drink water. “Yes, even if you are not thirsty.”
Céline, Noam, Thalya and Julian sweat under their plastron. Not enough to start their enthusiasm at the time of hitting the mountain bike tracks.
Yvain Genevay / Tamedia
The sun does not stop mountain biking
In the funicular that leads to the top, the Pilloud family is breathless. She was on the verge of missing the start! The competition mountain bikes crashen on two heavyly equipped blonde slows down the troops a little. At least on the rise. “We come to test a new track of Bike Parkinaugurated last year, explain the parents, Céline and Julian, from Pont-la-Ville (FR). On the descent, the speed will refresh us! ”
The young Thalya (9) and her little brother, Noam (7 years old), whose first names are flocked in large yellow letters on their jersey, are already great athletes. Football, hockey and cyclocross, nothing stops them. “Besides, we have to go back down for 6.30 p.m. in Friborg, because we participate in the shooting of pregame show gotteron (Editor’s note: small film broadcast in the rink in pre-match), Slide their mom by checking the time. It may be a bit of a race! ”
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The day’s program is quieter for Danielle and Pierre, two Geneva retirees who came to walk on the trails. “You know, she is of Friborg origin, and it is the very first time in her life, at 74, that she goes up on the Moléson,” denounces Pierre with a teasing little smile. “Yes, it’s a bit ashamed,” laughs at his partner. I must be the only Chassot to discover this emblem of heritage so late! ”
The couple lies in Leysin part of the year: “We have been a chalet there for twenty years, but it is the very first summer which reaches such temperatures! Nearly 30 degrees in the afternoon, it’s quite delusional. Fortunately, the nights remain fresh.»
Danielle and Pierre came to get some freshness at the top of the Moléson.
Yvain Genevay / Tamedia
“But where is the snow?”
The intermediate station clock indicates three departures per hour towards the summit. By these strong heat, the cadence is doubled. “We make the cable car go every ten minutes to avoid waiting people in the overheating cabin,” said an employee behind the window. When the bucket spits hikers at 2000 meters above sea level, it is relief. A small breeze blows on the clothes soaked in sweat.
The cable car circulates every ten minutes so as not to cook the passengers waiting for its departure.
Yvain Genevay / Tamedia
Leaning against a wall of the arrival area, Mariana and Helen rest their tired legs with a first hike in La Dent-de-Jaman this morning. They are part of a group of women from Spain and Latin America. “We are used to the heat in our southern countries, but we did not expect such a furnace in Switzerland!” On the panoramic terrace, one of them is surprised by The absence of snow On the surrounding peaks. “I will say it to my friends, you have to hurry to come and visit your country before the glaciers melted!”
On the panoramic terrace, a group of Spanish -speaking tourists is surprised by the lack of snow on the summits.
Yvain Genevay / Tamedia
Jürg, a peaceful 75 -year -old Zurich retired, came solo. “In town, it’s hell, it is 35 degrees. Here in the mountains, it is as if we entered a fridge. It does a lot of good. ” By his side, two young French tourists fill a grid of Takuzu. After visiting Savoy, this Alsatian couple headed for Switzerland. Objective: to take advantage of “magnificent” landscapes while avoiding the Heat islets. “The beach, very little for us. We prefer holidays in the mountains! ”
Jürg, a 75 -year -old Zurich retiree, came to discover the solo Moléson.
Yvain Genevay / Tamedia
Eight degrees of difference with the plain
A little further, the metal stairs resonate under the footsteps of Joseph and Céline. The couple of Saint-Aubin (FR) came to discover the region in Bettina, a German friend. Only one regret: that the view at the top is not as clear as usual, the fault of the hot weather which “blur” the horizon from the Moléson.
“It’s crazy, we lost almost 10 degrees with the plain!” Exclaims Joseph. It’s not just an impression. Moléson’s ski lift director Antoine Micheloud confirms that we lose “about 0.7 degrees every 100 meters”. If he makes 30 degrees in bubble (770 meters), he will therefore be able to make 22 degrees at the top of the Moléson (2000 meters). “And with the small mountain breeze, we easily arrive at a feeling of 20 degrees.”
Joseph and Céline, from Saint-Aubin, show the region to their German friend Bettina (right).
Yvain Genevay / Tamedia
The operator has also just launched a radio communication campaign to boast the oasis of freshness that the mountain can offer during a heat wave. “When it is very hot, the first reflex of people is to go get a water point, when it is just as interesting to take altitude.”
A successful summer 2025
Contrary to what one could imagine, the stations like that of the Moléson do not record a peak attendance when the mercury exceeds 30 degrees in the plain. “Record crowds are when it is between 18 and 20 degrees at 1500 meters. When it is rather around 28 degrees, attendance drops. ” The fact remains that Antoine MICHELOUD is “very satisfied” from the assessment of the summer of 2025. A success which relates to “all the stations” of the Friborg Pre -Alps.
Ursula and Richard with their grandson Nolan. After a 30,000 km road trip last year, Nolan attacks the Moléson.
Yvain Genevay / Tamedia
In the return cable car, a chirping boy in the arms of his grandparents Ursula and Richard, of Montricher (VD). It is Nolan, 3 and a half, a seasoned globetrotter despite his very young age. “Last year, he went around Europe for ten months with his parents. Thirty thousand kilometers of road between Hammerfest and Antalya ”, proudly explains his grandpa. It is therefore not a heat wave that will destabilize Nolan: “Thanks to his journey, it is a child who adapts very well to the variations in the environment.”
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