Balderschwang Vacation Destination

For a long time now, there has been intense talk, writing, and debate in our valley and the neighboring valley about a planned ski lift connection between the Balderschwanger Valley and Grasgehren. Several high-profile events have been held, most recently on Bavarian Television in a segment titled“Bürgerforum live – Summit Dispute in the Allgäu – Ski Circus vs. Natural Idyll.” It was noteworthy how well the perspectives of the various interest groups were presented and communicated in an understandable way.

In various personal conversations and also publicly, I have expressed my opposition to this project. But not everyone was happy about this—especially when a village or region seemed to be fully behind such a development. The usual greetings dwindled to a slight nod or were ignored entirely. Well, I thought to myself, I can live with that.

But getting back to the original topic, I’ve been thinking about this question: “Do we really need this connection?” In countless conversations with our guests, not a single one mentioned that if this connection doesn’t happen, they won’t come back. Rather, the comments were or are: “We’d find it a shame if there were even more going on in this valley,” or “If we want to go to a great alpine ski resort, we don’t go to Balderschwang.” “It’s precisely because of the peace and quiet that we go to Balderschwang...” Isn’t that indicative of a place’s potential for tourism development? How many top-tier ski resorts are there in the Alpine arc? Hundreds? I don’t know! But how deeply do we long for places of peace, retreat, and simplicity? They still exist here—a place where the internet connection is slow, where the church is still at the heart of the village, and where the fox and the hare say “Good night” to each other!

MY REASONS FOR WHY I LIKE THIS VALLEY SO MUCH, AND WHAT MAKES IT UNIQUE TO ME:

I love our valley,
, with all its imperfections—a place where there are no shopping malls, just a sports store, a village grocery store
, and, in the summer, six alpine pastures where they make that tangy mountain cheese.

I love our valley,
because there I can still hike and run for hours
without seeing a soul.

I love our valley,
because that’s where the Wild West begins.
There, beyond the Riedberg Pass at the entrance to the Bregenzer Forest,
where the Allgäu dialect blends with the Wäldar dialect.

I love our valley,
, because the church is still at the heart of the village here; with our 300 residents, we’re self-governing; we’re the smallest and highest-altitude municipality in the Federal Republic of Germany; and we still have a mayor and an eight-member municipal council.

What I like about our valley,
, is that we’re a snow haven and are among the towns in the Alps with the highest precipitation,
the most snow, AND the most sunshine.

What I like about our valley is
that we still have a pastor
who is also the program director of Radio Horeb.

I love our valley,
, because this is the only place where the unique Apollo butterfly can still be found.

What I like about our valley,
, is that it’s home to the oldest tree in Germany,
—the ancient 2,000-year-old yew, a place of power.

What I like about our valley,
, is that I can live, work, and make a difference here.

There's so much more I love about our valley—
.

Karl Traubel

Thanks to my colleague and friend Georg (Schorsch) Kleber, who gave me a book containing his words of wisdom today.

A saying:
If you want to experience the highs of life,
you must first endure the lows.