The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-04-18
CURIOUS WINTER RESORT
Invalids in Alpine Shows Six Thousand Feet
Above the Sea.

Invalids in Alpine Shows Six Thousand Feet
Above the Sea.
Every winter increases the number of
visitors who flock to this Alpine eyrie
for health and enjoyment. Here, at
5000 feet above the sea, surrounded by
wilderness of snow and ice, sufferers
from nerve exhaustion unite with con.
sumptive patients in skating, dancing,
flirting, acting and shooting headfore-
most down the famous toboggan runs.
Any thing more unlike a Mediterranean
health resort it would be difficult to
imagine. The sun may be, and probably
will be, shining at midday through the
thin atmosphere with a power so genial
that one can sit and bask in it, grateful
for the shade afforded by straw hat,
while the breath freezes on ones mus
tache into Jumps of ice.
No one should attempt visit to st,
Moritz in the winter months without
some knowledge of the conditions of
existence in so anomalous a climate.
The mere journey thither, after the
snow has fallen, requires consideration
and precaution. The twenty-six hours
of rail from London to Coire can be &C.
complished with ease, changing at Bale.
AtCoire, where two good hotels are open
in winter, sleighs await the train, and
the difficulties of the journey then be-
gin. 1t is possible to drive on to Thusis
or Tiefenkasten for the night; in which
case the diligence need not be Joined till
7:30 or ten o'clock respectively, the next
morning. If, however, the night be
spent at Coire, start must be effected
in the diligence at $50 o'clock a. m.
With all it's discomforts, the early start
has its picturesque aspect; the brilliant
moonlight on the snow, and the faint
chorus of sleigh-bells in the distance.
electric lights at the Kuhn Hotel.
toward which it totters as if startled out
of equilibrium by all these modern in
trusions. Accommodating some three
hundred guests the Kuhn maintains, I'M
der unique difficulties, it's reputation as
one of the finest hotels in Europe.
Some idea of the difficulties of it's
cOmmissariat may be formed from the
fact that it is separated by long days
Journey over snow-clad pass from it's
base of supplies. What with two con-
certs day by chamber orchestra from
Milan, and continual dances and enter
tainments, the winter days pass swiftly
enough, though the outdoors" hours
ten to three-are short, the sun being
hidden morning and evening by the
combine to give strange, theatrical
look to the old cathedral town. It would
be difficult to exaggerate the precautions
needed for the thirteen hours that are
occupied in passing the Juller Pass from
Coire to ST. Moritz. To find oneself at
height of some 5000 feet in a small,
open sleigh, laboriously drawn by toll
ing steed at a foot pace is an experience,
If the wind be blowing or the snow fall
ing, that no one is likely to forget. But,
forewarned of the exposure, the invalid
can and does escape harm in almost
every case. One is thankful, however,
when the lights of St. Moritz proclaim
that an oasis of civilization is at hand.
The old church tower, built in 1878,
stands ghostlike in the full glare of the
mountains.
For patients not too far advanced in
disease to enter into ST. Moritz life the
enjoyment it affords should be infinitely
superior to existence in the enervating
climate of Mediterranean resorts, while
the grand beauty of the snowy peaks seen
against the blue of cloudless sky, and
the vistas of pines feathery with snow,
invests an Engadine landscape with a
strange and exquisite charm.-St. James
Gazette.