Why Laax could be the greenest ski resort in Switzerland
There is a healing feeling among the pines and tangled roots. Somewhere in the snowy forests lurks an Alpine ibex, a distinctly Viking horned goat once hunted to extinction in Switzerland before being reintroduced a century ago. Hidden in the forest, an endangered black grouse hisses while searching for dwarf shrub needles. Cool fox-tracked trails meander through umbrella pines and spruce, though the gray wolf and bat-eared lynx that have begun to return to these mountains are more elusive.
I'm in Laax in Graubünden (70 miles southeast of Zurich), the traditional home of winter sports in the Swiss Alps, but this is a ski holiday that most people don't wouldn't recognize. The down-to-earth resort bills itself as Switzerland's most sustainable playground, and I explore the new Senda dil Dragun (Path of the Dragon) treetop walkway from above. The mile-long elevated trail rises 28 meters above the fluffy snowdrifts and I keep my eyes peeled for ghostly predators and their prey. Although there may be no dragons, the woods are home to an arch of alpine species, from chamois and mountain hares to marmots and ptarmigan. In the silence, I see a red deer through a knot of snow-laden pines. The silent drama is just as edgy as any dark lead.
Regardless of what you see, the purpose of the gateway is to help educate and connect visitors with the Valley's larger history and evergreen forests away from the scribbles of the piste map. Formerly the prerogative of lumberjacks and hunters, a dozen evergre...
There is a healing feeling among the pines and tangled roots. Somewhere in the snowy forests lurks an Alpine ibex, a distinctly Viking horned goat once hunted to extinction in Switzerland before being reintroduced a century ago. Hidden in the forest, an endangered black grouse hisses while searching for dwarf shrub needles. Cool fox-tracked trails meander through umbrella pines and spruce, though the gray wolf and bat-eared lynx that have begun to return to these mountains are more elusive.
I'm in Laax in Graubünden (70 miles southeast of Zurich), the traditional home of winter sports in the Swiss Alps, but this is a ski holiday that most people don't wouldn't recognize. The down-to-earth resort bills itself as Switzerland's most sustainable playground, and I explore the new Senda dil Dragun (Path of the Dragon) treetop walkway from above. The mile-long elevated trail rises 28 meters above the fluffy snowdrifts and I keep my eyes peeled for ghostly predators and their prey. Although there may be no dragons, the woods are home to an arch of alpine species, from chamois and mountain hares to marmots and ptarmigan. In the silence, I see a red deer through a knot of snow-laden pines. The silent drama is just as edgy as any dark lead.
Regardless of what you see, the purpose of the gateway is to help educate and connect visitors with the Valley's larger history and evergreen forests away from the scribbles of the piste map. Formerly the prerogative of lumberjacks and hunters, a dozen evergre...
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