Stories
Are you looking for exciting personalities who will give your planned articles that certain something and represent Engelberg perfectly? Then you've come to the right place!
We have the right personalities for you here in various categories. All these people have shaped Engelberg in very different ways. Here we give you a little insight into the respective sportsmen and women, movers and shakers or tradition bearers. If you would like to find out more about a person during your visit to Engelberg, please do not hesitate to contact our marketing team. We will be happy to tell you more in a personal conversation.
Tradition & Culture
Here you will find a selection of people who have shaped Engelberg over the years with their passion and love of tradition.
Sälmi Töngi - Älpler
Sälmi Töngi is something of a star among the Engelberg alpine cheesemakers. There is hardly a Swiss magazine or television station that has not reported on the "gmögigen" cheese maker. There is a good reason for this: Sälmi's Alp Sbrinz AOP, which is more enjoyable than the one from the valley thanks to the variety of herbs in the alpine milk, keeps winning awards and is therefore even more famous than he is. For more than 40 years, Sälmi has been processing 300,000 kilos of cow's milk and 30,000 kilos of goat's milk from farmers in the surrounding alps into alpine cheese summer after summer on the Gerschnialp. The alp, idyllically situated below the Titlis at 1300 metres above sea level, can be easily reached on foot along a beautiful forest path or by taking the nostalgic funicular railway from Engelberg.
Abt Christian - Engelberg Monastery
Abbot Chrstian Meyer was elected as the new abbot of Engelberg Monastery in 2010 by the then parish priest Christan.
Since its foundation in 1120, the Benedictine monastery of Engelberg has shaped the history of the high valley. The monks' current activities largely grew out of the needs of the village. Pastoral care in the parish, educational work at the monastery school, handicraft and service businesses as well as the "Kloster Schreinerei" (monastery carpentry), which mainly works externally, and cultural and landscape conservation are areas in which the monks as well as the increasing number of secular employees of the monastery are involved. Since the beginnings of the monastery, the monks have been teaching young people. Today, the monastery school consists of a grammar school (bilingual Matura D/E) with International Baccalaureate (IB) and a boarding school for boys and girls. The boarding school also accepts pupils who attend the secondary school (IOS) run by the Engelberg local authority and housed on the monastery premises. The Benedictines of Engelberg founded two monasteries in North America: "Conception" in Missouri in 1873 and "Mount Angel" in Oregon in 1882. In 1932, the monastery took on missionary tasks in Cameroon and founded the monastery "Mont Febe" in the capital Yaoundé there in 1964. The monastic community of 21 monks in Engelberg has been led by Abbot Christian Meyer since 2010. The Benedictine Monastery of Engelberg is the second largest employer in Engelberg after Bergbahnen EngelbergTrübsee-Titlis AG. In 2020, the Benedictine Monastery of Engelberg will be able to look back on 900 years of beneficial activity.
Florentin Spichtig - Älpler
Florentin Spichtig produces alp cheese, mutschli, alp butter, yoghurt and cream from the approximately 180,000 litres of milk in the Surener alp cheese dairy, which will be rebuilt in 2019. The Surenen alpine cheese dairy at the foot of the pass of the same name is located at the very back of the Engelberg valley - but it belongs to the canton of Uri. However, being at the back of the valley does not mean that the alp is only accessible via a single path.
Commitment
The following personalities achieve incredible things in their everyday lives and have already carried out various projects and deeds to advance Engelberg-Titlis.
Bini Amstutz - Mountain guide
Albin Amstutz completed an apprenticeship as a truck mechanic in 1986-90. Later he worked for the company Menia AG (today Bürgi AG). When the company had no more work for him as an operational mechanic in winter, he saw this as an opportunity. He reoriented himself and became a qualified ski instructor. It was the beginning of his new professional career. He trained further to become a bungee master, a telemark instructor and also passed the canyoning guide training in 1998. From 1997 to 1999, he completed the training to become a certified mountain guide.
The via ferratas were built under his direction; he received the order from the mountain railways, the municipality of Engelberg and Engelberg-Titlis Tourism. Of course, he did it together with his fellow mountaineers. They welded most of the material, such as the steel stirrups, themselves.
Daniel Perret - Mountain guide
Dani Perret is co-editor of the three inspiring Outdoor Guides and recently also of the Hike and Fly Guide Central Switzerland. Whether mountaineering, sport climbing, freeriding or a combination of all of these combined with a flight: Dani knows where to find the best conditions. Not only has he brought the legendary pre-season camps to life. When it's lockdown again, he cleans a big rock together with the fire brigade and friends and sets up a family-friendly climbing garden on it.
Christoph Bissig - former head of piste and rescue
Christoph Bissig is a luminary on the mountain and has been able to acquire a lot of knowledge about the snow and its dangers, the geographical conditions as well as the local peculiarities in his 30 years of service. He knows the mountain TITLIS like no other and he lives for the mountain.
Here you can learn more about Christoph Bissig and his mountain >>
