Hiking the Lower Engadine in Winter (Translated and adapted from an article
by Gerhard Fitzthum in NZZ Online 3/4/04)
Anticipating several days of hiking in the Lower Engadine, we arrive
by train in Lavin. As we fill our water bottles, the snowboarders eye us with curiosity, not expecting to see folks
wearing heavy hiking boots and back packs at this time of year. We're not concerned. The sun here is so strong
that one can doze off while sitting on a bench at mid day. Moreover the Lower Engadine tourist authorities have prepared
136 kilometers of trails to meet the demand from winter hikers. And finally, for us, the scenery of a mountain world
draped with deep snow cover is an incomparable sight.
Within the first quarter hour after leaving Lavin, we've shed
our down jackets, along with memories of the damp chilliness of the city. Guarda rises before us like a dream, silhouetted
against the cliffs of the Inn valley. Before reaching Guarda, however, we first stop at a place that no longer exists
-- Gonda. In winter you can see the ruins of the church, obscured by vegetation at other times of the year. First
mentioned in 1161, Gonda was abandoned in the early 17th century, perhaps because of the danger of avalanches, economic decline,
or invasions by the Austrians. No one knows for sure.
No avalanche tracks endanger Guarda. The town is
perched on a terrace facing south above the valley. Spared from fires since 1620, the town looks as it did 400 years
ago. But it has not been spared the fundamental issues facing mountain settlements in the 21st century: Every
third house is a vacation home and stands empty much of the year. And half of the residents are elderly. The number
of children has declined so dramatically that the local school will close at the end of the year. If the trend
is not reversed, Guarda will become a museum village, alive only on weekends and during holidays.
Beyond Guarda we
hike along the Senda Culturale, a trail that connects the towns of Guarda, Ftan, Sent, and Tschlin. Before the valley
road was constructed in 1860, this trail was a major trade route between Como and the Tyrol, traversed by countless people
and pack animals -- it has a human scale.
The next morning we branch off from the Senda on to a new winter trail between
Ftan and Sent which skirts the south flank of the Piz Soer, almost 2200 meters above sea level. The winter stillness
is broken near Prui as we encounter skiers and snowboarders and then pass by the enormous ski lift of Motta Naluns. A
group of snowshoe-clad young people are on their way to the "igloo village" near Scuol, where techno-music is blaring. We're
not too bothered by it, since we soon re-enter the still realm of the mountains in winter
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