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29-658: The Kandahar Ski Club takes its name from the Roberts of Kandahar Challenge Cup ; the first ski race held was in 1911 over the Plaine Morte Glacier in Crans-Montana , Switzerland for a trophy donated by Field Marshal Earl Roberts of Kandahar . The winner was Cecil Hopkinson. The first Winter Olympic Games also took place in 1924 as did the foundation of the FIS . There were only Nordic events at these games and

58-512: A loose synonym. "Romandy" is not an official territorial division of Switzerland any more than there is a clear linguistic boundary. For instance, substantial parts of the canton of Fribourg and the western canton of Bern are traditionally bilingual, most prominently in Seeland around the lakes of Morat , Neuchâtel and Bienne (Biel). French is the sole official language in four Swiss cantons : Geneva , Vaud , Neuchâtel , and Jura ; and

87-675: A population (as of December 2020 ) of 10,218. The historical population is given in the following chart: The Roches des Fées and the Hotel Bella Lui are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance . Crans Montana has a warm summer humid continental climate , (Dfb) according to the Köppen climate classification . Between 1981 and 2010 Montana had on average 101 days of rain or snow per year and received on average 692 mm (27.2 in) of precipitation . Crans Montana has fairly evenly distributed precipitation throughout

116-534: A professional golf tournament, the European Tour 's Omega European Masters , which takes place each September. The area has also been frequently used for bicycle racing, hosting stage finishes of the Tour de Suisse seven times and of the Tour de Romandie eight times as of 2013. In addition, Crans-Montana also hosted the finish of the 20th stage of the 1984 Tour de France , won by Laurent Fignon , who also took

145-661: Is a regional dialectal variant of roman (modern French romain , i.e. "Roman"); in Old French used as a term for the Gallo-Romance vernaculars. Use of the adjective romand (with its unetymological final -d ) in reference to the Franco-Provençal dialects can be traced to the 15th century; it is recorded, as rommant , in a document written in Fribourg in 1424 and becomes current in

174-687: Is composed of 140 km (87 mi) of pistes , and includes the Plaine Morte Glacier . It is topped by the Pointe de la Plaine Morte at 2,927 m (9,600 ft). Crans-Montana is famous in alpine ski racing for the 1987 World Championships and is often on the World Cup schedule, usually for women's speed events. The area hosts the winter mountain pop rock festival, the Caprices Festival  [ fr ] , and

203-718: Is first mentioned in 1224 as Randonni . The resort is located in the heart of the Swiss Alps in the French-speaking part of the canton of Valais . It is located on a plateau above Sierre at an elevation of about 1,500 m (4,920 ft) above sea level , allowing a good view over the Valais Alps and Weisshorn in particular. The resort is a fusion of the two centres of Crans and Montana and belongs to 6 municipalities (Chermignon, Icogne, Lens, Mollens, Montana and Randogne). The skiing area of Crans-Montana

232-720: Is known as Röstigraben (lit. " rösti ditch", adopted in Swiss French as barrière de rösti ). The term is humorous in origin and refers both to the geographic division and to perceived cultural differences between the Romandy and the German-speaking Swiss majority. The term can be traced to the WWI period , but it entered mainstream usage in the 1970s in the context of the Jurassic separatism virulent at

261-702: Is known as Welschland or Welschschweiz , and the French-speaking Swiss as Welsche , using the old Germanic term for non-Germanic speakers also used in English of Welsh (see * Walhaz ). The terms Welschland and Welschschweiz are also used in written Swiss Standard German but in more formal contexts they are sometimes exchanged for französischsprachige Schweiz ("French-speaking Switzerland") or französische Schweiz ("French Switzerland"). Simple Westschweiz "western Switzerland" may also be used as

290-570: Is supported by Radio Télévision Suisse and the universities of Geneva , Fribourg , Lausanne and Neuchâtel . Historically, most of the Romandy has been strongly Protestant, especially Calvinist ; Geneva was one of the earliest and most important Calvinist centres. However, Roman Catholicism continued to predominate in Jura , Valais , and Fribourg . In recent decades, due to significant immigration from France and Southern European countries, Catholics can now be found throughout

319-827: Is the French-speaking historical and cultural region of Switzerland . In 2020, about 2 million people, or 22.8% of the Swiss population, lived in Romandy. The majority of the romand population lives in the western part of the country, especially the Arc Lémanique region along Lake Geneva , connecting Geneva , Vaud , and the Lower Valais . French is the sole official language in four Swiss cantons : Geneva , Vaud , Neuchâtel , and Jura . Additionally, French and German have co-official status in three cantons: Fribourg/Freiburg , Valais/Wallis , and Berne/Bern . The adjective romand (feminine romande )

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348-478: The Léman , Simplon and Mont-Terrible départements , respectively). Suisse romande is used in contrast to Suisse alémanique ("Alemannic Switzerland") the term for Alemannic German speaking Switzerland. Formed by analogy is Suisse italienne ("Italian Switzerland"), which is composed of Ticino and of a part of Grisons . In Swiss German , French-speaking Switzerland

377-433: The canton of Valais , Switzerland . On 1 January 2017 the former municipalities of Chermignon , Mollens , Montana and Randogne merged to form the new municipality of Crans-Montana. Crans-Montana is also a ski resort that was created through the fusion of the two centres of Crans and Montana and belonged to six municipalities (Chermignon, Icogne , Lens , Mollens, Montana and Randogne), four of which merged to form

406-691: The 17th and 18th centuries in Vaud and Fribourg; it was adopted in Geneva in the 19th century, but its usage never spread outside of what is now French-speaking Switzerland. The term Suisse romande has become widely used since World War I; before World War I and during the 19th century, the term Suisse française "French Switzerland" was used, reflecting the cultural and political prestige of France (the canton of Vaud having been created by Napoleon out of former Bernese subject territories, while Geneva, Valais and Jura were even briefly joined to France, as

435-747: The FIS was concerned only with these. The club's aim was to ensure that the Alpine disciplines were included in the future. In the same year the club issued a challenge to the British skiers in Wengen across the valley. The competition was for a slalom and a downhill race, which was won by the Kandahar. The skiers from Wengen went on to form the Downhill Only Ski Club (DHO). Swiss skiers also shared

464-912: The High Alps again, separating the Val d'Anniviers from the Mattertal . Historically, the linguistic boundary in the Swiss Plateau would have more or less followed the Aare during the early medieval period, separating Burgundy (where the Burgundians did not impose their Germanic language on the Gallo-Roman population) from Alemannia ; in the High Middle Ages , the boundary gradually shifted westward and now more or less corresponds to

493-580: The Swiss Jura participate in the Frainc-Comtou dialect spoken in the Franche-Comté region of France. Since the 1970s, there has been a limited amount of linguistic revivalism of Franco-Provençal dialects, which are often now called Arpitan (a 1980s neologism derived from the dialectal form of the word alpine ) and their area Arpitania . The cultural identity of the Romandy

522-580: The Swiss, Germans, Austrians and British. The first Inferno Race took place in January 1928 when 19 members of Kandahar Ski Club climbed the Schilthorn (2,970m) above Mürren to race down the 2,100 metres to Lauterbrunnen, 14 kilometres away. The FIS finally admitted the Alpine events to its programme in 1930 and in 1931 the FIS held their Alpine Championship in Mürren. It was organised by the British. At

551-488: The co-official language – along with German – in the cantons of Valais , Bern , and Fribourg , French speakers forming the majority of the population in the regions of Lower Valais , Bernese Jura and Fribourg francophone ("French-speaking Fribourg "). Bernese Jura is an administrative division of the Canton of Bern, whereas the two others are informal denominations. The linguistic boundary between French and German

580-764: The communities of Morat and Fribourg . It divides the canton of Fribourg into a western French-speaking majority and an eastern German-speaking minority and then follows the eastern boundary of Vaud with the upper Saane/Sarine valley of the Bernese Oberland . Cutting across the High Alps at Les Diablerets , the boundary then separates the French-speaking Lower Valais from the Alemannic-speaking Upper Valais beyond Sierre . It then cuts southwards into

609-467: The end of January each year with over 100 club members taking part. The race is now organised by the Skiclub Mürren , attracting more than 1,700 competitors from 25 countries The Kandahar Ski Club organises Junior Race Training to support British ski racing. Training camps take place throughout the year. Crans-Montana Crans-Montana is a municipality in the district of Sierre in

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638-479: The end of the 1930s, the objectives of the club had been achieved - downhill and slalom racing were internationally accepted under the rules that they had helped develop. The club had over 600 members. The Kandahar Ski Club has its clubhouse in Mürren, where the Scaramanga Roped Race is organised by the club around New Years Day each year. The International Inferno Race takes place in Mürren at

667-432: The high medieval period (see Walser ). Traditionally speaking the Franco-Provençal or Patois dialects of Upper Burgundy , the romand population now speak a variety of Standard French . Today, the differences between Swiss French and Parisian French are minor and mostly lexical, although remnants of dialectal lexicon or phonology may remain more pronounced in rural speakers. In particular, some parts of

696-518: The municipality of Crans-Montana. Chermignon is first mentioned in 1228 as Chermenon and Chirminon . It became an independent municipality in 1905 when it separated from Lens . Mollens is first mentioned about 1250 as Molaen . In 1286 it was mentioned as Moleing . The municipality was formerly known by its German name Molei , however, that name is no longer used. Montana is first mentioned in 1243 as Montana . In 1905 it separated from Lens to form an independent municipality. Randogne

725-606: The objectives of the Kandahar. In Mürren were brothers Walter and Max Amstutz, both of whom were keen downhill skiers and were friends with the British. Walter Amstutz founded the Schweizerischen Akademischen Skiklub in November 1924. By 1927 the club had attracted over 200 members, but Alpine skiing still was not recognised by the various National Ski associations, although at university level, international competitions were being held between

754-499: The overall race win that year. The Golf-Club Crans-sur-Sierre  [ de ] has four courses, one designed by Seve Ballesteros and another named after Jack Nicklaus . The internationally renowned Les Roches International School of Hotel Management is located in Crans-Montana. Crans-Montana has an area, as of 2009 , of 59.66 km (23.03 sq mi). Hamlets ( frazioni ): The new municipality has

783-493: The time. The linguistic boundary cuts across Switzerland north-to-south, forming the eastern boundary of the canton of Jura and then encompassing the Bernese Jura , where the boundary frays to include a number of bilingual communities, the largest of which is Biel/Bienne . It then follows the border between Neuchâtel and Bern and turns south towards Morat , again traversing an areal of traditional bilinguism including

812-531: The western boundary of the Zähringer possessions, which fell under Bernese rule in the late medieval period, and does not follow any obvious topographical features. The Valais has a separate linguistic history; here, the entire valley, as far as it was settled, would have been Gallo-Roman speaking until its upper parts were settled by Highest Alemannic speakers entering from the Bernese Oberland in

841-636: The year, as is common in this type of climate. As with other locations in the canton of Valais , annual precipitation rates are quite low due to its location in the rain shadow of some of the tallest mountains in the Alps. The Funiculaire Sierre–Montana–Crans leads from Montana to Sierre, next to the Sierre/Siders railway station . [REDACTED] Media related to Crans-Montana at Wikimedia Commons Romandie Romandy ( French : Romandie or Suisse romande ; Arpitan : Romandia )

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