Marveling at records

The construction of the Gotthard Pass Road between 1827 and 1830 inaugurated the golden age of the stagecoach. Coaches drawn by 4 or 6 horses negotiated the hairpin curves of the Tremola from the Gotthard Pass down to Airolo.

Two golfing records for people who love this nobel sport as well as the breathtaking mountain world. The highest 18-hole course (Par 65) in Europe is located at 1850 meters a.s.l. Positive side effect: The balls continue flying in the rarified air.

The highest constantly inhabited village in Europe is Juf. It has a population of 30 and is situated at an altitude of 2126 m.a.s.l. in the Averser Valley, at the foot of the Septimer Pass and Mt. Staller.

Just above Brusio in the Poschiavo Valley the Bernina Express corkscrews upwards to a different altitude in a double-switchback viaduct with a diameter of 100 meters.

It created an absolute sensation when the hotel and railroad pioneer Franz-Josef Bucher-Durrer built the Hammetschwand lift at the Bürgenberg in 1905.

Twice a year, the sun offers in Elm an even better spectacle than usual.

The Ranft Gorge, created by the River Melchaa on its way from Melchsee-Frutt to Lake Alpnach, is quite deep and unpassable. For centuries, people needed to climb down one treacherous side to climb up the other. In 1893, a wooden bridge was built over this gorge. it is 48 meters long and 100 meters high.

The two locomotives could be contemporaries of our grandparents or even great-grandparents. They were constructed in 1903, respectively in 1913, and still get steamed up on a daily basis. The locomotives, christened "Weisshorn" and "Furkahorn" ride along the tracks connecting Gletsch to Furka by a 1874-meter-long tunnel.

The national St.Gotthard-Museum on the summit of the Gotthard Pass is worth a visit. After all, it is Europe's highest museum.

Lake Sils is located at an altitude of 1800 m.a.s.l., flanked by mountains, larch tree forests and the vacation resorts of the Upper Engadine.