With the Alpine World Ski Championship scheduled to be held in St. Moritz in Switzerland, in February 2017, it is interesting to explore how winter tourism began in the Swiss Alps 150 years ago.
Johannes Badrutt, a Swiss hotelier in Upper Engadin (St. Moritz), in the Graubunden Canton, was frustrated when, year after year, his foreign guests — mostly English — vacated his hotel at the onset of winter. So, in 1864, he urged six of his last summer guests to stay on. Winter in Engadin, he assured them, was full of sunshine and much better than the cold damp English winters. The deal was made irresistible by Bardott’s assurance that their stay would be free and even travel costs reimbursed if they didn’t enjoy their winter in the Swiss Alps.
It is great fun to hear this story from Phillip Walther, a distinguished retired teacher we met at a traditional bakery on a cold windy day while we were washing down the Nusstorte, a nut pie made with walnuts, with a tall glass of hot chocolate.
But back to Walther’s story. “All of them did not leave till after Easter, nicely tanned (we have been constantly advised to carry a sunscreen cream) , well rested and happy. They became the first winter tourists of the Alps,” he chuckles. And winter tourism in the Alps never looked back.
We reach St. Moritz, nestled in the Engadine Valley, 1830 metres (6000 ft.) above sea level, on a glorious summer day in August. The sky is a clear, copper-sulphate blue, the snow-capped mountains are gleaming, and the fragrance of the pine forest fills the air. We got here after a seven-and-a-half-hour spectacular ride by the mountain train — the Glacier Express that goes through 291 bridges and 91 tunnels.
St. Moritz is famous for its mineral springs. The over-3000-year-old springs promise “therapeutic benefits of the Alpine moor mud and the intense invigorating mountain climate; the result is healing energy”.
After a 30-minute walk around the town, we ascend to one of the most romantic hotels in the world by a 15-minute funicular ride. The lack of a motorable route adds to the Hotel Romantik Muottas Muragl’s mystique and charm.
After checking in and finding the evening light perfect — it’s around 7.30 p.m. — we make a beeline to capture the magic of the mountains. A chill wind is blowing, the temperature is six degree centigrade and the mountains actually speak to you in the golden glow of the setting sun.
The next day our group sets out on what has been described in our programme “an easy panoramic walk of two hours”. But the strict instructions to carry hiking shoes, effective sunscreen lotion and sun glasses are hints that it’s going to be anything but easy.
Amazingly, in Upper Engadin, there are a whopping 580 km of hiking tracks, and over 400 km of panoramic trails for mountain bikes. In many difficult places, the foot hikers and bikers’ paths are segregated, with some narrow trails reserved only for the foot soldiers. On our “easy walk”, some of the trails were narrow enough to allow only one person at a time, and one had to squeeze against the inner sides to allow those returning or overtaking us to go past.
The next morning, we set out around 9.30 a.m. on a glorious, bright and sunny day. The clouds and rain that had tortured us for two days in Zermatt — denying us a leisurely darshan of the famed Matterhorn peak (over 4478 metres) covered in snow and among the last Alpine peaks to be conquered by the English explorer Edward Whymper 149 years ago — are missing.
The terrain is rocky, the paths narrow but the gradient is gradual, and the first 30 minutes are a breeze. I casually ask Christina, the local guide, about the distance we’re going to trek…first she says, “about three to four km” and I breathe easy. Then she pulls out her phone, checks it and says, “Actually it is seven km”.
Even though this information dampens my spirits a little, the several pauses for photo shoots are sufficient for me to keep pace with my much younger colleagues. As we walk, I first shed the jacket and then the woollen scarf, but it is still warm. Like a magician, Christina whips out a pair of hiking sticks from her backpack… they are really light and I quickly learn how to swing my way across the hiking trail, now getting steeper.
It takes three hours to complete the seven km hike, which provides spectacular views of the Upper Engadin… lakes, different varieties of stone pines, sun-washed cottages glistening at lower levels. Small wonder that this Alpine panorama has inspired so many painters and poets. Panting and puffing but on a new high at having finished a hike in the Alps, I join my colleagues for a well-earned lunch at the local restaurant.
After lunch, we take a chair lift from Alp Languard back down to Pontresina. It is quite an experience to have the cold wind singing in your ears as the open chair glides down to the lower plateau.
