82
theChediisthere,”saysMariRussi,co-ownerofArt 87
Andermatt,a contemporarygallerylocatedjustoffthecob-
blestonesofGotthardstrasse.Thehotel’sentrance“isvery
discreet.There’snobigsign—youreallyhavetolookforit.”
RussihailsfromSweden,butit washerSwisshusband,
BernhardRussi—AndermattSwissAlpsboardmemberand
winnerofthe 1972 Olympicdownhill—whointroducedher
tohishometownmorethan 30 yearsago.A lothaschanged
sincethen,butlikemostlocalsshetakesanall-ships-riseatti-
tudetowardSawiris’sdevelopment.Now
herclientsarethetypeofpeoplewho
won’tbataneyeatthe$50,000pricetags
ofhergallery’smostexpensivepieces.
“Everyone is happy the Chediis
here,” says Louie Gougouth, assis-
tantmanager attheHotelSonne,a
150-year-oldfamily-ownedinstitution
thatremainsperhapsthe mostpic-
turesquebuildingintown.Originally
from Morocco, Gougouth came to
Switzerlandtostudyata hotelschool,
thenwoundupinAndermattbecause
ofa jobofferata now-defuncthotel.
Hestayedbecauseofthecleanair,the
unspoiledmountains,andthepeople
whosay“Uela!”toyou—the
localgreeting—onthestreet
everymorning.
InApriltheatmospheric
wood-paneleddiningroom
atthe 20-roomSonnewas
still busy, as it had been
all season, with a mix of
GermanandBritishfamilies
huddledaroundpipinghot
potsoffondue.“Inthebegin-
ning itwas just military,”
Gougouthsays,reflectingon
hisfirstyearsinAndermatt.
“Wewerejustseeinggreen,
green, green, because of
theuniforms. Butnowwe
seepeoplefromaroundthe
world.Evencelebrities.SingersfromtheUSA,golfplayers.
Thisyearwesaw50%growthoverlastyear,”hesays.
Makinggoodonhisplantoexpandtheskiarea,Sawiris
pumped$140millionintoon-mountain infrastructure in
only three years. Last season a gleaming eight-person gon-
dola replaced a couple of old chairs; it now whisks ski-
ers to the top of the Gütsch peak, from which they can
ski a network of gentle and intermediate slopes before
taking another new 10-person gondola into the neigh-
boring resort of Sedrun, in the canton of Graubünden.
The most seasoned of skiers still lap off-piste runs from
the Gemsstock’s cable car, but the multigenerational clanswho now come to Andermatt make their migration east each
morning toward Sedrun, skiing far above the tree line in the
high alpine, partaking in that grand, stress-free European
skiexperienceoflazilyschussingfromvillagetovillage.
All told, the interconnected ski area will boast
112 milesofslopesand 33 lifts. That’s two lifts more than
Vail, Colo. A further lift connection will open during
the 2019-20 winter season, allowing guests to ski all the
way to the rolling, family-friendly slopes of Disentis.
Sawiris’s “if you build it, they will
come”attitudeappearstobeworking.
Lastseason,Andermattalmostdou-
bleditssingle-day skier record, attract-
ing 12,000 guests. (Given the size of the
expanded resort, that means the slopes
werestillrelativelyuncrowded.)But
thisgrowthisn’tnecessarilywhatall
localswant.
“The core atmosphere of the town
is gone, it’s dead, it doesn’t exist any-
more,” saysKevin Obschlager, who
along with his wife owns the River
House,a red-shingled boutique hotel
and whiskey bar that opened more
than a decade ago and catered to the
hardcore skiers who flocked
to Andermatt for its soulful
atmosphere. Obschlager lik-
ens Andermatt’s genesis—or
perhaps downfall—to that of
Telluride, which went from
funky hippie hideaway to
posh enclave, attracting
Tom Cruise, Ralph Lauren,
Oprah Winfrey, and other
celebrities: “Now it’s luxury,
luxury, luxury. Before, this
place would be packed with
smiling faces after powder
days. People would come
every weekend.” He shrugs.
“Now people come once,
and then they’re gone—they
gototheCaribbeanthe next weekend.”
During the visit in April at least, Andermatt still felt undis-
covered and refreshingly unpretentious. Snow fell at night,
a ghostly mist hung among the narrow cobbled lanes cut-
ting through town, and the few remaining military cadets
filed into bars or shared cigarettes under the milky glow of
streetlights.Theslopeswereequallyuncrowded,andfrom
thesummitoftheGemsstock,with3 feetoffreshsnowblan-
ketingthe5,000feet of vertical leading to the valley, and the
rugged mountains of Uri standing like sentinels keeping the
rest of the world at bay, one thing was certain: The time to
book your trip is most certainly now. <BW>TRAVEL Bloomberg Pursuits October 14, 2019Outside one of thetown’scozy,half-timbereddining
spots (top);thePfarrKirche St. Peter und Paul