Lake Silvaplana (; ) is a

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

in the Upper- Engadine valley of

Grisons The Grisons (; ) or Graubünden (),Names include: * ; *Romansh language, Romansh: ** ** ** ** ** **; * ; * ; * . See also list of European regions with alternative names#G, other names. more formally the Canton of the Grisons or the Canton ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. It takes its name from the village of

Silvaplana Silvaplana (Romansh language, Romansh: ) is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Maloja Region in the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Graubünden and the name of a lake in the municipality. History The first ...

. The lake is also connected to the nearby

Lej da Champfèr Lake Silvaplana (; ) is a lake in the Upper-Engadine valley of Grisons, Switzerland. It takes its name from the village of Silvaplana. The lake is also connected to the nearby Lej da Champfèr. Together with its larger neighbour, Lake Sils, it is ...

. Together with its larger neighbour,

Lake Sils Lake Sils (German ''Silsersee'', Romansh: ''Lej da Segl'') is a lake in the Upper Engadine valley, Grisons, Switzerland. It takes its name from the village of Sils im Engadin. Geography The lake lies at an altitude of 1,797 metres above sea ...

, it is among the largest lakes of the Grisons. Lake Silvaplana is overlooked by several mountains over 3,000 metres, notably

Piz Corvatsch Piz Corvatsch () is a mountain in the Bernina Range of the Alps, overlooking Lake Sils and Lake Silvaplana in the Engadin region of the canton of Grisons. With an elevation of , it is the highest point on the range separating the main Inn val ...

, Piz Julier and

Piz Surlej Piz Surlej is a mountain in the Bernina Range of the Alps, overlooking Lake Silvaplana in the canton of Graubünden. It lies between the main Engadin valley and the Val Roseg, north of Piz Corvatsch Piz Corvatsch () is a mountain in the Ber ...

. The lake's drainage basin culminates at

(3,451 m) and comprises several glaciers, the largest being the Vadret dal Tremoggia. A campsite is located on the Northern end of the lake. The lake is also used heavily for sports, such as

kitesurfing Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, snow, sand, or other surface. It combines the aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snow ...

and

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind-propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the Californian aerospace and surf culture. Windsurfing gain ...

in the summertime. In the winter, once the lake freezes, it is used for cross country skiing, walking trails, and kitesurfing on snow, with the famous

Engadin Skimarathon The Engadin Skimarathon is an annual cross-country skiing race (ski marathon) held on the second Sunday of March in the upper Engadine valley (Switzerland), between Maloja and S-chanf. It debuted in 1969 and has been a part of Worldloppet as l ...

crossing the lake annually. The rare occasion of black ice also brings ice skaters to the lake. In ''

Ecce Homo ''Ecce homo'' (, , ; "behold the man") are the Latin words used by Pontius Pilate in the Vulgate translation of the Gospel of John, when he presents a scourged Jesus, bound and crowned with thorns, to a hostile crowd shortly before his crucif ...

'',

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philology, classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche bec ...

recounts the moment he first conceived his idea of the

Eternal Recurrence Eternal return (or eternal recurrence) is a philosophical concept which states that time repeats itself in an infinite loop, and that exactly the same events will continue to occur in exactly the same way, over and over again, for eternity. I ...

while walking through the woods beside Lake Silvaplana in August 1881. 2011-08-01 13-19-19 Switzerland Silvaplana 3hl

External links

* *
Waterlevels of Lake Silvaplana
at

Engadin Silvaplana

{{graubünden-lake-stub