6 Feet of Snow in 6 Days

Denis Balibouse | Reuters

Staff removes snow ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in the Swiss Alps resort of Davos, Switzerland January 21, 2018.

“What shall we do,” the mayor of Davos, Tarzisius Caviezel, said at a news conference on Monday, admitting he was at a loss for how to respond. “It’s impossible.”

There was too much snow to find places to put in the narrow, steep-sloped valley, he explained, and no easy way to take it anywhere else. That throngs of uber-wealthy conference goers and their entourages were trying to push their way toward Davos did not help. A giant purple freight truck wound up in a snow bank on Monday morning across the street from the conference center, temporarily paralyzing the already slow-moving traffic.

“We can do nothing,” Mr. Caviezel said, except wait for better weather to arrive, perhaps some time on Tuesday, and gradually dig out.

The mayor had been expected to be joined at the news conference by Ulrich Spiesshofer, the chief executive of ABB, the Zurich-based multinational. ABB makes some of the world’s brawniest electrical power equipment for the world’s harshest and most remote locations. But Mr. Spiesshofer arrived late because his car was stuck in traffic.

In perhaps the most harrowing indignity for the plutocrats who have made the World Economic Forum their favorite winter meeting ground, even the town’s helicopter pad was closed because of the snowstorm. By early afternoon, a quarter-mile trip in one of the ubiquitous black luxury minivans with plush leather seats that shuttle participants around the town took nearly an hour.