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Farewell tears and great joy: the Christmas tree could hardly have flown to the Klosterplatz in St. Gallen
The St. Gallen Christmas tree has once again flown over the rooftops of the city. The helicopter was only able to fly on very short notice. A story about a special air transport.
The weather almost thwarted the next flight of the St. Gallen Christmas tree: on the hill where the Christmas tree is, of all places, a thick fog has spread. A handful of Heliswiss men have gathered on the esplanade of a farm below the Höchsterwald in St. Gallen and are discussing the airlift of the fir from the neighborhood to the monastery square. A farmer joins the air transport specialists: “Do you think he will come today?” The farmer is skeptical. One of the helicopter carriers responded confidently: “You can already see the silhouettes of the treetops. That means it won’t be long before the sun rises. ”
Around a dozen onlookers stroll in the direction of the old Guggeien-Höchst restaurant, where the helicopter is supposed to land in a cow meadow. Some pedestrians wonder in amazement:
“Where is this Christmas tree?”
A teenager nervously looks at the air traffic radar on his smartphone and finally finds the helicopter:
“He comes!”
The whirring of rotors in the sky announces the transport helicopter. The Kamov KA 32 type twin rotor cargo helicopter slowly hovers over the forest canopy and finally charges in the middle of the cow pasture. On the highway, not far from the landing site, a truck with aviation fuel is ready to refuel the helicopter. The Heliswiss team is preparing the transport device for the St. Gallen Christmas tree. The ropes are placed and the helicopter finally takes off to collect the tree.
The special helicopter lands.
Meanwhile, the entire school and the residents of the neighborhood have gathered in the orchard of the selected fir tree. The couple who planted the tree 30 years ago, Peter von Tessin and Elsbeth Gallusser, are also in the garden. The children are talking nervously and can hardly wait for the helicopter. District Trooper Paul Widrig makes sure no one dares to get too close to the action and that spectators comply with the mask requirement.
The fir is “sharp.”
Green light for removal
The tree is sharpened with a chainsaw by two men from the civil engineering department and prepared for the final cut. One of them shows the Heliswiss employee with a thumb up that the tree is ready to be transported. This informs the helicopter pilot and gives him the green light. The Kamov echoes over the rooftops of the neighborhood. Smartphones are pulled out and pointed at the helicopter. The blades turned by the rotors fly through the air. The audience kneels to endure the wind. The children begin to cry.
An emotional farewell with tears
The helicopter hovers in midair just above the fir tree so the tree can be secured with the rope. In a few moments the fir is separated from its roots and trunk and begins its flight. Seemingly weightless, it flies over the rooftops in the direction of Klosterplatz.
People clap and cheer. Some onlookers head straight for the remaining tree trunk and try to secure a fir branch as a souvenir or to count the rings. With tears in his eyes, Peter von Ticino, 73, goes to the place where his little barrel once stood.
The tree flies in the direction of Klosterplatz.
The landing of the St. Gallen Christmas tree in the video:
The fir tree slowly flies over the city of St. Gallen and finally lands at its destination at Klosterplatz. There, employees of the civil engineering department fix the fir. The tree is secured with steel ropes and then hung from the helicopter. As soon as the tape is removed, the first children frolic around the tree and the spectators look at the tree. Among the onlookers is former St. Gallen cantonal councilor Albert Nufer who admires the still unadorned Christmas tree: “This is a beautiful sign every year when the tree descends from the sky and lands in the square.”
The Gallusser-von Tessin couple also come to the Klosterplatz. Visibly moved, they are happy for the new place of their once small fir tree and they shed tears of joy.
