Melchsee-Frutt
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Melchsee-Frutt (also just called the Frutt or just Melchsee ) is a summer and winter sports resort as well as an alp in the municipality of Kerns in the canton of Obwalden in central Switzerland .
location
The village of Melchsee-Frutt is at an altitude of 1920 m above sea level. M. on a high alp on Melchsee . The high plateau with the two lakes Melchsee and Tannensee is surrounded by mountain ranges that almost completely surround the high alpine region.
Melchsee-Frutt can be reached from the valley village of Stöckalp during the summer and winter seasons by a gondola lift and from around the end of May to the beginning of November via a single-lane road with alternating traffic. A cable car continues up to the 2168 m high Bonistock .
geology
Melchsee-Frutt is located in a 15 km² karst area . There are numerous caves, the largest of which are the Bettenhöhle with a length of 28,534 meters, the Schrattenhöhle with a length of 19,645 meters and the Stäubiloch.
Tourism and sightseeing
Melchsee-Frutt is also used as a general term for the entire tourist region, including not only the village of Frutt and Tannalp, but also Stöckalp, Bonistock, Erzegg, Balmeregghorn and the three lakes Melchsee, Tannensee and Blausee . Hiking , fishing , biking , paragliding and climbing are popular in summer .
Melchsee-Frutt has 142 inhabitants during the season, mainly staff from tourism companies (as of the end of 2019). Several hotels , mountain inns and holiday apartments offer overnight accommodation. Most of the visitors are day tourists. The Melchsee Chapel , built in 1900, stands on the northeastern bank of the Melchsee .
Ski Area
The Melchsee-Frutt ski area is at an altitude of 1080 to 2255 m above sea level. M. and consists of a total of 32 km of slopes in the difficulty blue, red and black. A total of eleven cable cars and one elevator are in operation in winter. During the winter season, in addition to the gondola lift, a 2-seater chairlift leads from the Stöckalp valley station to Cheselen, and another 2-seater chairlift leads from there to Bettenalp. From there to the Bonistock there is a 4-seater chair lift. From the Frutt village, a rope lift leads over the frozen lake to the other bank. There is a chair lift to Erzegg and a drag lift to Balmeregg. A fun park has been set up near the Erzegg and the Fruttli-Land Vogelbüel for children near the village . There are also two cross-country trails two and thirteen kilometers in length, winter hiking trails and snowshoe trails. An eight-kilometer toboggan run leads over an altitude difference of 800 meters from Frutt to the Stöckalp valley station. This makes it one of the longest toboggan runs in Central Switzerland. You can also choose only the lower, four-kilometer section from Cheselen.
Ice fishing is offered on the frozen Melchsee .
history
Access by cable car
In 1935 the tourist potential of the landscape on the high plateau near the hamlet of Frutt and around the Melchsee was recognized. Otto Reinhard, owner of the Reinhard Hotel, had the first cable car built from Stöckalp to Frutt with two four-seater cabins. In addition to agriculture and alpine farming, the spa houses and restaurants also benefited from this . Tourism increased so that as early as 1945 the two 4-person cabins were replaced by two 8-person cabins. This increase in capacity lasted just ten years. The Kerns corporation, as the owner of the cable car, commissioned Habegger AG in 1956/1957 to build a new cable car with two cabins that could each hold 33 people and transport 156 people per hour.
The better development attracted more circles and the cable car reached its capacity limit. As a result, it had to be replaced again in 1976. A four- seater gondola lift could carry 750 people per hour. This corresponded to a capacity increase of around 380 percent and made day tourism possible on a large scale, especially in winter. In 2011, a 32 meter high vertical lift was built that leads from the lake to the top of the mountain station. The 4-seater gondola lift was replaced in 2012 by a cable car with 30 round 15-seater cabins (nine seats and six standing places) and a capacity of 1325 people per hour. The travel time has been reduced from approx. 20 minutes to 10.14 minutes. Construction began in August 2011, and the lift opened on December 15, 2012. At the same time, a parking system was introduced with which the previously free parking spaces and the spaces in the new parking garage are managed.
Hotel industry
The number of beds offered by the Kurhaus and hotels reached a peak of around 550 beds around 1990. After the closure of the Hotel Reinhard in 1986 and the fire at the Kurhaus Frutt in January 2004, the number of hotel beds fell to 278.
The Kurhaus Reinhard was built in 1888 . In the years that followed, the hotel was supplemented with a viewing terrace and a bowling alley. The hotelier Albert Reinhard-Bucher installed in 1904, in the resort next to the hotel Stäubiloch the turbine plant Stäubiloch to exploit the hydropower. The dust hole was the natural flow of the Melchsee. The turbine was a 200 V - DC generator coupled who provided the hotel Reinhard to 1954 with electrical energy. The hotel was rebuilt in 1947 and an ice rink was added in the 1960s, and curling was offered there from 1967. The first-class hotel with 130 beds closed in 1986, the building has been unused since then. Construction was canceled in July 2012. The family hotel Frutt Family Lodge with 42 condominiums and 47 hotel rooms was built on the site in 2015 .
In January 2004 a fire completely destroyed the Sporthotel Kurhaus Frutt . Since the fire alarm system was not working properly, the fire was noticed late. Two hotel employees were killed and four others were injured. The cause of the fire is considered to be arson. A suspected Portuguese kitchen assistant was fully acquitted in 2007 for lack of evidence. However, the former hotel director and the former manager were convicted of negligent simple bodily harm as they were responsible for the malfunctioning of the fire alarm system. The four-star hotel Frutt Lodge & Spa with spa area, two restaurants and a total of 120 beds in 58 rooms and 3 suites was built on the site from 2008 to 2011 and opened in December 2011. There are also 15 condominiums in the building.
literature
- Kurt Zumbrunn: Melchsee-Frutt over the years. Grischa Verlag, Thusis 2015, ISBN 978-3-906120-21-8 .
Web links
- Website of the Sportbahnen Melchsee-Frutt (melchsee-frutt.ch)
- private website for Melchsee-Frutt (melchsee-frutt.com)
- Pictures from the Melchsee-Frutt ski area on seilbahnbilder.ch
Individual evidence
- ↑ The village of Melchsee-Frutt on melchsee-frutt.com, accessed on February 9, 2020
- ↑ Skiing and snowboarding on Melchsee-Frutt. In: melchsee-frutt.ch. Retrieved August 4, 2019 .
- ↑ Toboggan runs in Switzerland. In: www.shima.ch. Archived from the original on January 10, 2014 ; accessed on August 4, 2019 .
- ↑ The pioneering era continues! (PDF; 1.69 MB) , brochure on the replacement of the Stöckalp – Melchsee-Frutt gondola lift, Kerns cooperation, 2010, accessed on December 16, 2012.
- ↑ Information board at the Stäubiloch, by Volker Lohmann and Martin Trüssel, see photo «Information board at the Stäubiloch»
- ↑ The flagship hotel ends badly , article and picture series in the Neue Obwaldner Zeitung from June 30, 2012
- ↑ Robert Hess: MELCHSEE-FRUTT: No conviction for arson. In: luzernerzeitung.ch. February 26, 2008, accessed August 4, 2019 .
- ↑ Federal Court confirms the "Kurhaus" judgment. In: luzernerzeitung.ch. October 6, 2011, accessed August 4, 2019 .
- ↑ Matthias Piazza: MELCHSEE-FRUTT: Dependent on the weather blessing from Peter. In: luzernerzeitung.ch. July 29, 2008. Retrieved August 4, 2019 .
Coordinates: 46 ° 47 ' N , 8 ° 16' E ; CH1903: six hundred and sixty-three thousand four hundred and fifty-two / 180822