For one day, Eliane Droemer accompanied the two Swiss, who offer safety as a service in an area where there is no such thing as 100% safety - even though angels, who gave the place its name, are said to have led to the founding of Engelberg Abbey over 900 years ago with their voices from the mountains. In any case, the range of off-piste runs around the mighty Titlis mountain, which attracts freeride fans from all over the world, is heavenly.
Big 5 and High 5
Why Engelberg is known for its off-piste qualities becomes clear as soon as you take the first gondola from the valley towards Trübsee. Accompanied by Christoph Bissig, we have the privilege of being able to use the service ride at 7 o'clock in the morning. A late start to work for the piste and rescue manager, who is on his feet from 4 a.m. when there is fresh snow in the night to carry out blowing up operations with his team. The avalanches, which are triggered in a controlled manner before operations open, can then no longer endanger the ski slopes.
I look out of the gondola to my left with shining eyes at a particularly wide and long slope with a fantastically even gradient of up to 40 degrees. "This is the foliage, one of the Big 5," explains Bissig. Big 5 are five freeride gems in Engelberg, all of which can be reached directly from the lift without an ascent and offer exceptionally long descents of up to 2,000 vertical meters. Incidentally, "Laub" means "avalanche", as we learn from Christian a day later. Using designated freeride routes does not mean relinquishing responsibility. Here, alpine dangers must be respected just as much as the wildlife rest zones.
High 5, on the other hand, are the delicacies for tourers from the Engelberg ski resort, such as the alpine classic "Titlis Rundtour", which is a highlight with climbing passages, abseils and long descents during the seven-hour tour, for which you are well advised to hire a mountain guide.
Despite the special challenges that a ski resort faces when it welcomes freeriders and ski tourers, Engelberg holds on to its clientele - which is particularly delicate with the Titlis glacier area. There is no shortage of alpine dangers. In addition to avalanches, crevasses and very rocky, steep terrain also call for caution.
People, the group
Despite all the alpine dangers - the human component is an extremely important factor for both - for the piste manager as well as the mountain guide. Christoph Bissig goes so far as to say: "If you do the job, you have to like people". What he means by this becomes clear when he talks about accidents or when you leave the Klein Titlis mountain station at an altitude of 3028 meters, where there is a lot of hype shortly before the corona lockdown in March 2020. With a glance over his shoulder, he grins: "Imagine that in June with around 4000 Indians." Indians? Marketing Manager Katrin Benz confirms that Engelberg is very international. In addition to freeride fans from Europe, Scandinavia and the USA, group tours from India and other Asian countries come in early summer, for whom the mountains are an experience in themselves as a photo opportunity. We didn't know at the time that everything would be different this year.
