ENGLISH ENGLISH Engadin W I N T E R –––––– 1 9 / 2 0 MAGAZINE No. 1 W I N T E R –––––– 1 9 / 2 0 WHITE C H F 10 00_Engazin_Magazin_Winter_COVER_en.indd 3 26.09.19 14:39 Engadin Winter Dear guests, — 19/20 We are delighted to present to you the winter edition of our Engadin magazine. Inside you will find all that makes the Engadin special: Germany mountains such as the Piz Lagalb, with its special connection to the Austria Himalayas; the wide expanses of the valley, whose lakes and forests SWITZERLAND offer endless adventures; the unique quality of the light, which caresses France GRAUBÜNDEN guests throughout the day; and much more. UPPER ENGADIN We wish you happy reading and look forward to welcoming you here! Italy The people of the Engadin m m m m m m m m m m Piz Roseg, 3,937 Roseg, Piz Cover photograph by Robert Bösch Robert by photograph Cover (see 15) page m Piz Bernina, 4,049 Bernina, Piz Piz Palü, 3,905 Palü, Piz Piz Scerscen, 3,971 Scerscen, Piz m Map: Rohweder Piz Cambrena, 3,604 Cambrena, Piz Piz Tremoggla, 3,441 Tremoggla, Piz Piz Fora, 3,363 Fora, Piz m m m Piz Lagalb, 2,959 Lagalb, Piz Diavolezza, Diavolezza, 2,978 Piz Led, 3,088 Led, Piz Piz Corvatsch, 3,451 Corvatsch, Piz Diavolezza 3,433 Murtèl, Piz m Lago Bianco Piz Lavirun, 3,058 Lavirun, Piz Val Forno Italy Punta Casana, 3,007 Casana, Punta Val Fex Corvatsch Punta Saliente, 3,048 Saliente, Punta Bernina Pass Surlej, 3,188 Piz Val Fedoz Maloja Pass Val Roseg MALOJA Swiss National Park Lej da Segl SILS Lej da Silvaplana SURLEJ ST. MORITZ BAD Lej da PONTRESINA Champfèr SILVAPLANA Lake St. Moritz CHAMPFÈR ST. MORITZ DORF Julier Pass Corviglia ➞ CELERINA ZERNEZ LA PUNT- SAMEDAN CHAMUES-CH S-CHANF ZUOZ BEVER MADULAIN North 06 INTRODUCTION 14 Terra alva All about our wonderful white world. 18 ICE 20 Rendezvous on the ice 22 Chilling out before dinner A taste of ice fishing on Lake Sils. 30 Frozen valley Icy experiences. 34 SKI 36 Snow sports conquer the valley 38 8,848 vertical metres Up Mount Everest in the Engadin. P. 50 46 Skiing for all Fun in the snow. 50 NATURE 53 On softest snow 54 The 2 h.p. shuttle service By horse-drawn sleigh into a winter wonderland. 58 Tracks in the snow On the trail of winter wildlife. 64 Under open skies Pristine nature. P. 34 66 CULINARIA 68 Hot flavours in cool venues 70 Pasta party reinvented Back to gastronomic roots. all others: Filip Zuan Filip all others: / 80 Bon appétit! Gourmet treats. 82 CROSS-COUNTRY SKI P. 66 84 A sport for all 86 The Engadin’s favourite race 58 kilometres from Maloja to Zernez. 96 Gliding in style Classic and contemporary. 98 CULTURA 100 The search for happiness 104 Icing sugar and printer’s ink Bittersweet stories of homesickness and returning emigrants. 112 Language of the Engadin people Romansh lives on here. “Cultura” photo: Archiv da la Fundaziun Planta, Chesa Planta, Samedan Planta, Chesa Planta, da la Fundaziun Archiv photo: “Cultura” / 114 PINBOARD 114 A gallery of ideas for magical winter holidays in the Engadin, with even more activities, restaurants, accommodation and cultural P. 18 P. 82 P. 98 attractions. “Nature” photo: Lorenz Richard Lorenz photo: “Nature” 138 Summer preview All about water. Contents ENGADIN Magazine WINTER –––––– 19/20 Contents 6 7 With each step, ski touring Zuan Filip ESTM, Photo: enthusiasts earn their exhilarating descent on Contentsvirgin snow. ENGADIN Magazine WINTER –––––– 19/20 Contents 8 9 Photo: Keystone, Mauritius Images, Clickalps Images, Mauritius Keystone, Photo: Winter fairy tale: a drive through the snowy Contents landscape near Plaun da Lej. ENGADIN Magazine WINTER –––––– 19/20 Contents 10 11 On the ice rink, the backdropHier kommt eine Bildlegende Zuan Filip ESTM, Photo: complementshin, ich bin ein blinder the skater’sBlindtext, der grace geht hier Contentsweiterperfectly. bis hier und dahin. ENGADIN Magazine WINTER –––––– 19/20 Contents 12 13 The Engadin is known as a Klaunzer Peter Keystone, Photo: cross-country ski destination, not least because of Contentsthe Engadin Skimarathon. ENGADIN Magazine WINTER –––––– 19/20 Contents 14 15 Top 5: winter Terra alva bucket list Five things you simply All about our wonderful white world have to experience in the Engadin winter: Go ice skating on frozen Lake St. Moritz. What mountains! Page 31 The photographer Robert Bösch knows the mountains intima te- Tackle the ten- ly. He captures natural treasures kilometre glacier such as the mist-wreathed run in the Piz Roseg in magical images. Diavolezza ski area. Produced in limited edition for Page 47 the Bildhalle gallery in Zurich, the photograph now also de cor- Eat a slice of Engadin ates the cover of this edition. walnut cake and one robertboesch.ch James Bond in the Engadin of Engadiner Torte and pick your favourite. Piz Bernina – Dressed in a bright yellow ski suit, Page 81 Fresh snow: Firn: James Bond hurtles down a slope on the Piz Within the first 24 hours, Old snow that has hardened Bernina, pursued by a group of villains: he skims Take part in the individual snow crystals through repeated melting and between glacier crevasses, jumps from natural can still be recognised. Engadin Skimarathon. refreezing. kickers and glides through the crisp Engadin air. Page 84 This two-minute sequence from the film “The Spy Who Loved Me” (1977) took three weeks of Drive away the winter work by the film crew on the glaciers around at the Chalandamarz the Piz Bernina, in extremely low temperatures and festivity on 1 March. at times under heavy snowfall. The footage was Page 113 filmed by Willy Bogner Jr., former ski racer and film What space! Robert Bösch Robert / maker. Roger Moore, who played Bond in the film, The Upper Engadin extends for was never on the Piz Bernina himself: a stuntman about 50 kilometres from Maloja stood in for him. The Bond film “A View to a Kill” to S-chanf. While this high valley (1985), Moore’s last appearance as 007, once again is framed by towering peaks, the featured sequences filmed in the Engadin. exceptionally wide valley floor creates an uplifting sense of i spa ciousness. The best vantage Artificial snow: point for admiring the boundless More action in the snow Slush: Compact and hard snow that expanses: the panoramic peak Photo right: AF archive, Alamy Stock Foto Stock Alamy archive, AF right: Photo of Muottas Muragl. engadin.ch/ Large-granule snow that melts slowly and helps where / Fire & Ice is soaked with snowmelt. natural snow is in short supply. Willy Bogner Jr. also filmed several ski scenes mountains/muottas-muragl for the sports film “Fire & Ice” (1986) in St. Moritz. The colour of winter What light! All snow is not the same: depending on its happily, in the Engadin winter, these conditions Visitors to the Engadin should temperature and age, the versatile white substance are pretty much the norm! If a strong wind Snow record in the Engadin always remember to carry can feel and look completely different. Take airy, blows, the uppermost layer of snow is compressed The highest snow depth recorded on the valley floor since official sun cream in winter, too, as the light powder snow, for example, which means to produce a hard crust. And then there is the region enjoys an exceptionally measurements began was on the night of 13/14 February 1951, so much to winter sports enthusiasts. In order for unloved slush, from which the meltwater is already high number of sunny days. this kind of snow to form and last, the ambient running, and which often indicates the end of when the snow on the Maloja Pass reached a height of 2.99 metres! At higher altitudes, the sunshine temperature must remain continuously below zero: winter … Foto Stock Alamy stock.adobe.com, left: Photo is stronger still! Introduction ENGADIN Magazine WINTER –––––– 19/20 Introduction 17 Snow flurry Advertising in Surprising facts about the white flakes. the Engadin 4 km/h Tell guests in the valley about your products and services is the typical speed of a falling snowflake. with an advertisement in the new Engadin magazine. 1879was the year of the first Distribution successful photograph of a in the Engadin, snowflake. Switzerland, Germany and Scandinavia. 60° A valley deep under snow The angle between two We cannot complain of a lack of snow in the Engadin: snow depths of more than two neighbouring points of a metres on the valley floor are not unusual. On such occasions, a thick white blanket snowflake is always 60°. covers tree branches and rooftops, and high, white walls line the roads and railway lines. For the Rhaetian Railway, such quantities of snow are not a problem. Thanks to modern rotary snowploughs, even the route over the Bernina Pass remains open all winter; the ride between the sparkling white walls is a unique and thrilling experience. rhb.ch 18 The world in the Engadin 10A snowflake is formed of about St. Moritz – Alfred Hitchcock, Friedrich Nietzsche, a trillion molecules of water. Farah Diba (the last empress of Persia) and various British royals have all visited the Engadin. Some came for the peace and quiet, others for the glamour and of course the skiing. These included John Lennon (pictured), who spent a 10-day holiday in St. Moritz in the winter of 1965 with his first wife, Cynthia Powell Lennon, along There have probably never The magazine is aimed Interesting stories with the Beatles’ music producer, George Martin, been two snowflakes Photo below: Alamy stock photo, Mirrorpix photo, stock Alamy below: Photo / at people with style, and information from and his wife, Judy.