12 – 13 July 2024 – Pontresina
This July, the Cornell Club of Switzerland celebrated its 10th Mountain Weekend at the Grand Hotel Kronenhof in Pontresina with 22 adults and 6 children participating.
Hiking through the Val Roseg
For those of us arriving early for the weekend activities, there was time for a leisurely hike along the “Ova da Roseg” river through the Val Roseg via the Route Pontresina-Val Roseg and ending at the Hotel Restaurant “Roseg Gletscher” which was on our “bucket list”. This hike offered panoramic views of snow-covered mountain ranges and the Roseg Glacier.
From there, we could choose to return to Pontresina by foot, or enjoy a horse-drawn carriage ride back.
Enjoying the Spa and Location
Both options left us with enough time to enjoy the magnificent Grand Hotel Kronenhof Spa and rest before the evening event started.
Champagne Aperitive
Claudio Laager, the General Manager of the Grand Hotel Kronenhof since last Christmas hosted the weekend. The formal festivities started with a champagne aperitif in the Hotel’s gardens. We were blessed with magnificent weather and blue skies known to the locals as “Engadin Blue”.
Gourmet Cuisine & Beautiful Table Settings
Afterward, we enjoyed a sumptuous dinner in the historic “Salon Bleu”, which was adorned with a few special accents for the Cornell Club.
The 5-star cuisine impressed us all from the amuse-bouche to dessert!
For many, the evening ended in the hotel bar with an “after-dinner drink” and another opportunity to catch up with our friends.
Hiking on Sunday – including refreshments
Despite the late evening (or early morning hours), we met the next morning and enjoyed a luxurious breakfast in the magnificent Grand Restaurant.
A small group followed the breakfast with a hike from Pontresina to the Morteratsch station of the Bernina Railway, which is a section of the Via Valtellina hiking route from Pontresina to Morteratsch.
The group then opted to take the “Bernina Express” back to Pontresina and finished the walk by enjoying a well-deserved piece of the famous “Engadiner Torte” at a local bakery before saying goodbye to our friends of Cornell.
Goodby Engadin
The Bernina Express crossing the Landwasser Viaduct between Tiefencastel and Filisur in the canton of Graubünden.
