Sugar Babies From Evolène, Valais

Sugar babies are women who provide intimate relationships or simple companionships to men in exchange for monetary favors or gifts. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement that can work for both those who need companionship and those who desire nice things or money. It is a type of relationship, not a business transaction, unlike other methods of garnering companionship in exchange for money. Sugar babies are not stereotypical "gold diggers." They come in all shapes and sizes and can be any type of woman in Evolène, Valais.

A sugar baby may be a college student who is paying her way through college, has some spare time to commit to a sugar baby/sugar daddy relationship and enjoys nice things. She may be intelligent, self-sufficient and classy. She may also be the opposite. The thing to remember is that sugar daddies are looking for different things. Therefore, sugar babies can be any combination of those things.

Sugar babies can also be independently successful women. They may have money of their own, spend time traveling as an executive for a big company, be a business owner or be perpetrator of any number of successful business endeavors. This type of sugar baby may find excitement in this sort of relationship. She may not need anything monetary or nice gifts from her partner. She may just enjoy having a man spend money on her, despite having plenty of money of her own. Many men find success attractive in a woman. Therefore, certain sugar daddies may have exactly this type of woman in mind when they seek to initiate a relationship with a sugar baby.

Monetary success and intelligence or lack thereof are not the only things in which sugar babies differ. A sugar baby's appearance is another area that may differ in Evolène, Valais due to cultural expectations or simply differ by personal preference. One sugar daddy may like a classic trophy girlfriend. He may want her to be young and very attentive to her looks on a superficial level. Another sugar daddy may not care how his sugar baby dresses but wants her to be athletic. Yet another sugar daddy may not care about looks at all and simply wants a woman who is entertaining.

When one envisions a sugar baby, the image of a young woman typically comes to mind. This is not always the case. Sugar babies may be older women because older and younger sugar daddies alike may prefer older women. Older women may also seek a life of relative luxury in their later years. It is a good way to have fun, receive gifts and take a break from the hustle of life.

The diversity in sugar babies also applies to ethnicity and weight. There is no set standard for any of these things when it comes to sugar babies. Any woman can strive to be a sugar baby and find the right sugar daddy for her. She can be tattooed and pierced or girl next door sweet. She can be funny or serious. She can be a lover of the arts or a computer geek. In short, sugar baby is as diverse a word as the word woman.

Avalanches of the 21st of February, 1999

On the 21 February 1999, Evolène was the place of a number of fatal avalanches that caused the deaths of 12 people. This was due to a substantial amount of snow which fell on the Alps during the winter of 1999.

Description

Evolène is a municipality in the district of Hérens in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It is located south of Sion in the Pennine Alps. It is one of the last strongholds of the Franco-Provençal language. The commune of Evolène is situated in the Val d'Hérens. At 210 square kilometers (81.1 sq mi), Evolène is the 4th largest commune in Switzerland despite having no more than 1600 inhabitants. This is due to the broken nature of its surrounding alpine terrain, which includes the highest point in the commune, la Dent Blanche (white tooth) at 4,357 m (14,295 ft). Due to its mountain terrain Evolène is subjected to a number of natural dangers such as avalanches and aggressive erosion of its main river due to the recession of three surrounding glaciers. The commune is made up of several close-lying villages. The main village is Evolène, fortunately situated on a plateau above the river (to avoid flooding of the river), as well as being protected from avalanches by a surrounding forest. Thanks to its favourable position, Evolène was quickly established as the safest village to expand and therefore has become the biggest village in the commune. Other villages that make up the Evolène commune, such as Arolla, les Haudères, La Sage and Villaz do not benefit from the same level of natural protection as Evolène and are therefore exposed to more risks and have thus become less desirable to develop. The small village of les Haudères is closely situated to Evolène, at the very extremity of Val d'Hérens. The even smaller villages of Villaz and La Sage are found about 300 meters (984 ft) up from Evolène. Orientated towards the South, Villaz and La Sage benefit from generous sunlight hours. They are also situated near large Swiss mountain meadows which extend up to an altitude of 2,700 meters (8,858 ft). The commune is a popular area for nature lovers and winter sports seekers as well as a popular resort for writers and artists due to its tranquil settings. Traditional annual cow fights are held around the beginning of May each year (signalling the release of cows after spending the winter indoors) and jointly shared between Evolène, les Haudères and La Sage.

Evolution of the climatic conditions

The amount of snow that fell during the end of January and the month of February was huge. In spite of this, the snow was able to retain cohesion due to favourable, relatively constant temperature. The situation, however, worsened on the Thursday the 18th, three days before the drama. Weather reports indicated that temperatures were set to rise and between Thursday night and Friday morning, the temperature rose 5 degrees Celsius. This rapid rise caused a mixing between the old, and the new layers of snow. In this state, the risk of an avalanche was considered to be at level 3, on a scale of 5. The situation was still not considered to be critical and therefore it was not seen as necessary to instigate any emergency measures. On Saturday the 20th of February, the avalanche danger was increased to level 4 due to between 20 and 30 centimetres (7.9 and 12 in) of fresh snow that fell on the older, established layers. Meaning the possibility of the new layer literally sliding off the older layer (after slight melting) increased. The temperature remained constant between Saturday (20th) and Sunday the 21st of February, until midday on Sunday when it began to rapidly rise due to prolonged exposure to the sun.

Language

The official language is French, but the locals, both young and old, still use a variety of Franco-Provençal for oral communication. Evolène is in fact one of the last strongholds of the Franco-Provençal patois across its historical domain. However, as children are schooled in French only, only about a third of all children regularly use patois among themselves. All the same, Franco-Provençal is still spoken spontaneously by people of all ages, which means that the language is alive and well, something which is quite unique in Swiss Romandie.[1]

References

Les Agettes | Ayent | Evolène | Hérémence | Mase | Nax | Saint-Martin | Vernamiège | Vex Valais | Districts of Canton Valais | Municipalities of the canton of Valais

Unfolding of events

At precisely 8.27 pm, the first two avalanches were set off on the slopes above Villaz, at an altitude around 2,600 m (8,530 ft). They were a combination of fresh powder snow and established spring snow and demolished all trees and chalets in their path, as well as the people unlucky enough to be in the chalets at the time. The two avalanches continued to run along the extremities of Villaz and eventually formed as one massive fusion of snow and debris reaching up to 15 m (49 ft) high that came to rest 1,000 m (3,281 ft) down the slope, after taking 12 lives and cutting of the main road between Evolène and des Haudères.