Articles
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Extended mountain stays are good for you
Mountain air has a beneficial effect also on patients with cardiovascular problems. The optimum effect is achieved at altitudes of 2000 metres above sea level and after a minimum stay of three weeks.
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Nepal: Sports event in aid of the local population
The Friendship Everest Skyrace was held for the first time in Nepal's Khumbu valley on 18 November. The event's main objective was to support the school in the remote village of Thame, and it attracted 150 competitors from Nepal and all over the world.
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UNO confirms global warming poses threat to winter sports everywhere
According to a new study on the economic repercussions of the climate change on winter sports many low-altitude ski resorts are set to face financial difficulties or even bankruptcy due to global warming. The study was commissioned by the UN Environmental Program and presented at the World Conference on Sport and the Environment in Turin/I on 2 December.
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A brochure on "nature-compatible winter tours"
Over the past few years nature-based winter activities have increased throughout the Alps. More and more these activities are spilling into regions which have hitherto been spared the impact of leisure tourism. In its new brochure entitled "Nature-compatible Winter Tours" the Club Arc Alpin (CAA), the umbrella organisation of the eight alpine associations operating throughout the Alps, offers simple, easy-to-apply tips for winter sports enthusiasts on how to adopt a proactive approach and prevent a negative impact on nature and the landscape.
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Promoting produce from mountain regions
The "Mountain Group" of the Forestry Department at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has announced a new research project. Between September 2003 and March 2004 examples of good practice from all over the world are to be collated and evaluated, focusing on instances where quality products from mountain regions contribute to strengthening the local economy without impacting on the environment.
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Kailash: World heritage, not a destination for tourist convoys?
China is planning to build a road around the sacred Kailash mountain in Tibet in spring 2004. Surveyor's marks were already placed along the traditional pilgrimage route during the summer. Supporters of the Kailash initiative believe the Kailash mountain can only be genuinely protected if it is officially declared as a site on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
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The Alps are becoming more and more of a theme park
On 29 November Coca-Cola AG inaugurated its Alpen Club Micky Maus in the ski resort of Arosa/CH.
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New study on the development of alpine national parks
Volume 43 of the Münchner Studien zur Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeographie [Munich Studies on Social and Economic Geography] features the findings of a research project on the regional economic significance of alpine national parks.
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Merger of three "mountain organisations"
The three organisations Association Européenne des Elus de Montagne (AEM), Euromontana and the European Mountain Forum (EMF) have set up a committee of European mountain organisations called CLAME or Comité de liaison des associations de montagnes européennes.
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Studies and conference on rail network extensions in the Alpine Rhine region
The A13/E43 network has commissioned a study in the border region between Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein with the following basic requirements for the future provision of public passenger transport services: Rail links to the large agglomerations in southern Germany and from the upper Rhine valley to the central areas of southern Germany and western Austria; expansion of the S-Bahn network in the region comprising eastern Switzerland, the eastern area of Lake Constance and the upper Rhine valley; development of tram/suburban railway systems such a half-hourly S-Bahn link between Feldkirch/A and Buchs/CH.