animiert magazin nummer19 winter

Eine farbige Postkarte aus dem Postkarten-Album «Engelberg in alten Ansichten» (Seite 125) zeigt, dass die Kantonsstrasse nach Grafenort ab 1910 sehr beliebt für Bobfahrten war. Später nutzten auch Schlittler diese Strasse. A colour postcard from Engelberg in alten Ansichten (p.125) shows how the cantonal road leading to Grafenort was used for bobsleigh races from 1910. The same road was later also used for sledging. Start auf der Gerschnialp in den 1980er Jahren: Sepp Christen von der Oertigen bereitet die Engelberger Holzschlitten vor. The starting line on the Ger- schnialp in the 1980s: Sepp Christen of Oertigen prepares the wooden Engelberg sledge.

It is something of a paradox that while other sports equipment has evolved, at times unrecog- nisably, the good old wooden sledge has re- mained largely unchanged for 150 years. But while sledging awakens feelings of nostalgia in many of us, it can also confidently be defined as a trend sport – especially in Engelberg, where it has a deep-rooted tradition. A lmost ever y family in Switzerland has a wooden sledge somewhere in the cellar. Af ter a ll, a day out sledging is great f un for the whole family, including young children. “We Thomas Küng, CEO of Luf t- seilbahn Engelberg-Brunni. However, Thomas adds that there are no exac t statistics to indicate the popu larity of a par ticu lar spor t. But one thing he does know for sure is that sledging has well and tru ly become a trend spor t. “That ’s why the sunny slopes of Brunni play an impor tant par t in the range of winter spor ts we of fer. The two 2.5 km descents are ver y popu lar as they are the fastest in Centra l Switzerland.” Titlis Cable- ways a lso considers its Gerschnia lp-Engelberg sledge run an impor tant enhancement to the snowspor ts ac tiv ities in the area. According to marketing head Peter Rein le, sledges glide down this slope 50,000 times ever y winter. Anyone can go sledging – and the same cannot be said of skiing, which needs to be learned and tends to lose appea l for people who do not live close to the mountains as they have to hire or buy expensive equipment. It seems that now might be the right time for sledging to make its big comeback and be given more space in the ski areas. “The positive trend in estimate that around a third of winter guests taking the chairlif t are sledgers, and that they make about 40,000 trips down the slopes,” says

the beginners’ area on the K lostermat te shows that children are excited about learning how to ski,” says Thomas. “But f ive years ago we set up a second permanent sledge run on the former piste on Zigerboden, and we are now ac tua lly looking into how we can create other facilities of this kind.” There are, however, no of f icia l ex tension plans yet. Titlis Cableways a lso sees the impor tance of hav ing a sledge run, because it is no longer a given that a ll children will learn how to ski. “On school snowspor ts days, the number of sledgers, i.e. those who do not

ski or snowboard, continues to grow,” says Peter. “If we didn’ t have a sledge run, the schools wou ld take their kids to other locations and we wou ld a lso lose the skiers and snowboarders.” That ’s why

The sledge runs are an im- portant alternative to other winter sports activities.

the facilities on of fer are rev iewed regu larly to see if there is a need for expansion – these include the sledge run, the Rutschpark snow- tubing park at Trübsee, the snowshoe trails around the Trübsee lake, and the snowXpark. The sledge run f rom the Gerschnia lp down to Engelberg hosts a ver y specia l event on Friday and Saturday evenings. “Night sledging is ver y popu lar, especia lly when combined with a fondue feast in the cha let,” says Peter. The run used to be illuminated with lanterns, f laming torches and cand les, but it is now equipped with f lood lights. Entire days and evenings of sledging had to be writ ten of f in the past due to unfavourable weather conditions. Un like the sledge runs located at higher a ltitudes on the Brunni and Füre- na lp (where v isitors can zoom down the 1 km route on sledges prov ided f ree of charge), the Gerschnia lp-Engelberg run is more impac ted by warmer winters with less snow. But no ef for t has been spared: “Thanks to technica l

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