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Hannibal For The Chalet 11 Degrees East Were you there? At the Hannibal Glacier Spectacle just down the road from us at Sölden, our neighbours in the Oetz Valley? If you’ve never been to this extraordinary biennial event, you really should try to get there next time – in the spring of 2021!
It’s a huge son-et-Lumiere show staged at 2,684 metres which although it may not have much historical basis (the Carthaginian General’s genuine route in 218 BC was more likely to have been hundreds of miles away, via Montgenèvre, France, close to where the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics took place) it is, nonetheless, riveting, entertaining, and utterly bizarre! It starts at dusk and lasts just over an hour…an hour of pulsating music, lighting effects, pyrotechnics, the odd specially triggered avalanche, and almost 40 snowcats, plus snowmobiles zooming into the air, headlights blazing, parachute jumpers, skiers and even a helicopter in the role of an ancient god! The weather on this occasion (April 12) was a little inclement, so the normal light aircraft that normally provide one of the show’s highlights didn’t put in an appearance. It didn’t really diminish the excitement on the Rettenbach glacier. The event features hundreds of participants, along with make-believe elephants (those snowcats I mentioned). When the show as first produced, back in 2001, they had a couple of real elephants patrolling the ice! Although by general consensus, the Carthaginian General’s genuine route – with anything between 45,000 and 60,000 soldiers and cavalry and 37 elephants – was more likely to have been hundreds of miles away, via Montgenèvre, France, Sölden loves to exploit the possibility that Hannibal’s epic journey could have come this way…across the Rettenbach glacier.. This extraordinary piece of Alpine theatre attracts an audience of some five or six thousand spectators every other year. The action unfolds as dusk descends on the same slopes which host the annual opening of skiing’s World Cup giant-slalom season. The next Hannibal Glacier Spectacle is scheduled for the spring of 2021. Apart from some spectacular skiing(Ski Chalet Obergurgl) during the day, before the Hannibal event – either at Sölden or here in Obergurgl-Hochgurgl, spectators also had the chance to take the Gaislachkogl lift and visit Sölden’s impressive Ice Q gourmet restaurant at 3,048 metres – one of the locations for the James Bond SPECTRE film, and the “007 Elements” show (entry 22 euros, children 12 euros). 007 Elements focuses (apart from a fascinating potpourri of sequences from all 24 of the Bond movies) primarily on the scenes shot in Sölden.
The show guides visitors on a journey through a series of high-tech, interactive galleries , which feature title sequences, dramatic film scores, the inevitable action sequences involving the Bond cars, gadgets and technology, breathtaking locations and of course a host of compelling characters. Thinking of going to the next Hannibal Spectacle in 2021? Combine the best of both worlds, by staying at The Chalet, at 11° East and enjoy superb skiing- Obergurgl ski Chalets season starts early in November and continues fantastically late all the way into May! Today – Mid April we have all the lifts open, amazing sun, and snow everywhere. Original Source: Catered ski chalet in Austria