Mediendossier Sommer und Herbst 2023 EN

Culture and heritage
CUISINE
Here, you’ll find everything from traditional Valais specialities
to international gourmet cuisine. The culinary
offerings of the more than 100 restaurants in the Saas-
Fee/Saastal holiday region are vast and diverse. And
countless cafés, bars and pizzerias provide additional
options. You can learn more from our ‘Cuisine in the
Saas Valley’ brochure:
Cuisine
ART GALLERY
WERNER ZURBRIGGEN
The Saas Valley artist Werner Zurbriggen has perceived
the people in this valley like no other and has reduced
them to the essential in his own way. He combined clear
forms of geometry with expressive ones and woven
a fabric of beauty from them. This is also the origin of
the long, miserable silhouette of the traditional Valaisan
woman, which he painted again and again until the
end of his life. Gifted with an extraordinary sense for
decorative values and a master of composition, the artist
created a figurative constructivism of unmistakable
originality.
SAAS MUSEUM
When you visit the four-storey Saas Museum, you’ll
go on a journey back in time in the Saas-Fee/Saastal
holiday region. Some exhibits of the museum include a
Saas flat from the turn of the century, folkloric objects,
beautiful and traditional historic costumes, sacred art
and – a special highlight – the study of the famous
writer Carl Zuckmayer, who lived in Saas-Fee for twenty
years. The building housing today’s Saas Museum is the
former parsonage of Saas-Fee, which was built in 1732.
Another storey was added in 1855. In 1983, this old traditional
Saas-style house was reimagined as a museum
thanks to the initiative of local historian Werner Imseng.
Werner Zurbriggen
EXHIBITION
FATHER JOHANN JOSEF IMSENG
To this day, the work of the pastor and tourism pioneer
Johann Josef Imseng (1806–1869) is of great importance
in this region. He also went down in history as the
first person to ski in the Alps, on 20 December 1849.
On that day, the Saas Valley lay under a thick blanket
of snow. A distress call reached the ears of the valley’s
Father Johann Josef Imseng, who was staying in Saas-
Fee. He had been called to the bedside of a dying man
in Saas-Grund. In an act that marked a pivotal moment
in history, he tied homemade wooden boards to his hiking
boots and set off, completing the first-ever downhill
ski run in Switzerland. Johann Josef Imseng was not
just an excellent pastor. He also actively promoted tourism
in the Saas Valley with the aim of fighting poverty.
He opened his doors to guests, worked as a mountain
guide, and told his guests all about the history and customs
of the Saas Valley. The visionary pastor even arranged
for hotels to be built. It was thanks to his intervention
that people felt comfortable visiting this place.
He was himself a man of the mountains and took part in
many of the early mountain climbs. The memorial exhibition
in honour of this pioneer of Saas tourism can be
visited in the old parsonage of Saas-Grund during the
summer months.
Culture & Customs
Winter sports in the
summer
Starting in mid-July, 20 kilometres of slopes will be
available on the Fee Glacier. During the high season,
our summer ski area has around 1,200 visitors every
day (mainly professional training teams). Over 330
teams train on our glacier every year, about a quarter of
which are national teams. Around 20 countries in Europe,
as well as North America and Japan, send their
professionals to us to prepare for the season. Three
ski lifts have been in operation so far, the fourth was
completed at the end of 2018 and has since expanded
the capacity of the ski area on the glacier. The Swiss
Ski Team is particularly pleased about this – elite Swiss
skiers have always trained in the glacier village, so they
feel at home here. Our Freestyle Park on the Fee Glacier
is another magnet for athletes in summer. The park
is a state-of-the-art training space for freestylers. The
Stomping Grounds, a high-intensity training boot camp,
also takes place here every autumn. The park set-up
consists of a rail and kicker line as well as a halfpipe
and attracts top pros from all over the world to prepare
for the new season in private training sessions.
Summer ski
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