Nätschen is a mountain location and

ski area A ski area is the terrain and supporting infrastructure where skiing and other snow sports take place. Such sports include alpine and cross-country skiing, snow boarding, tubing, sledding, etc. Ski areas may stand alone or be part of a ski resort. ...

above

Andermatt Andermatt ( rm, ) is a mountain village and municipality in the canton of Uri in Switzerland. At an elevation of above sea level, Andermatt is located at the center of the Saint-Gotthard Massif and the historical center cross of north-south and ...

, in the

Canton of Uri The canton of Uri (german: Kanton Uri rm, Chantun Uri; french: Canton d'Uri; it, Canton Uri) is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and a founding member of the Swiss Confederation. It is located in Central Switzerland. The canton's terr ...

, Switzerland. Higher up on Nätschen the mountain is known as Gütsch. Its highest point is . It is one of the mountains in the

Gotthard Oberalp Arena The SkiArena Andermatt-Sedrun (previously the Gotthard Oberalp Arena and the Gotthard Oberalp Skiarena (until 2013)) is a ski area located in Andermatt, Sedrun, and Oberalp in Switzerland. It has 16 ski lifts and approximately 30 runs, and just ...

, as is

Gemsstock Gemsstock is a mountain of the Swiss Lepontine Alps, overlooking Andermatt in the canton of Uri. A glacier named ''Gurschenfirn'' lies over its northern flanks. The Gemsstock is a subpeak of the higher Chastelhorn, lying approximately one kilo ...

, which is on the other side of Andermatt. It has 11 ski runs, totaling approximately 21 km of ski pistes, and 4 ski lifts, including a Detachable 4-man Chairlift. Nätschen's lifts are powered by 3 wind turbines, two of which were installed in late 2010 (E-44), the other in 2004 (E-40). These turbines are all made by

Enercon Enercon GmbH is a wind turbine manufacturer based in Aurich, Lower Saxony, Germany. It has been the market leader in Germany since the mid-1990s. Enercon has production facilities in Germany (Aurich, Emden and Magdeburg), Brazil, India, Canada ...

. Nätschen has a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

, run by the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn, which is between

and

Disentis/Mustér Disentis (German) or Mustér (, Romansh), with its official name Disentis/Mustér is a village and a municipality in the Surselva Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. The skiing and summer tourism resort high up in the Rhine valley is the ...

Skiing

Ski Runs

Nätschen has a 2-man

chairlift An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs. Th ...

which takes you up to the middle. Here you can choose to * Go down an easy run (that is actually running down a road, so it is not very steep. This is used as the sledging route as well) * Go down an intermediate run * Go down an off-piste run * Go up a detachable 4-man chairlift If you choose to go up more, there is * An easy run * 2 off-piste runs * 3 expert runs * 2 intermediate runs

Ski Lifts

Nätschen has 4

ski lift A ski lift is a mechanism for transporting skiers up a hill. Ski lifts are typically a paid service at ski resorts. The first ski lift was built in 1908 by German Robert Winterhalder in Schollach/ Eisenbach, Hochschwarzwald. Types * Aeria ...

s, all made by

Garaventa Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group is an international manufacturer of ropeways and people movers for ski areas, urban transport, amusement parks, and material handling systems. As of 2019, the group have produced over 15,000 installations in 96 countri ...

Ski Season

Because Nätschen is fairly low down, and south-west facing, all of its lifts and runs all close relatively early for the summer season, sometimes even as early as the start of March. None of its lifts are open in the summer.

Future

In 2009 plans to overhaul, replace, update, and insert new ski lifts and runs on Naetschen were announced. This will be part of Orascom Hotels and Development's

project to make Andermatt a large holiday resort. These plans include * Several new ski lifts ** A new 8-man

gondola The gondola (, ; vec, góndoła ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull ...

from the village up to the middle of Nätschen ** A new combined installation (8-man gondolas and 6-man

s) from the middle of Nätschen to the top * A connection with the Oberalp/ Sedrun ski area with a three lifts; an 8-man gondola and two detachable 4-man chairlifts passing ''Schneehühnerstock'', which is currently possible by getting the train from Nätschen or walking over the Oberalpsee * Over twice the amount of ski slopes, with most of these new runs being intermediate and expert runs In 2010 there were two new wind turbines installed on Nätschen, to power the new lifts. These were both

E-44 models. The new lifts will be made by Swedish company SkiStar.

Connection with Oberalp

In 2009 plans to connect Nätschen's ski area with the Oberalp/Sedrun ski area were announced. This will be done by having 3 ski lifts, two detachable 4-man chairlifts and an 8-man gondola (with a middle station), and approximately 20 km of ski pistes. Most of these pistes will be intermediate/red runs, but with a few easy/blue runs and expert/black runs. The runs will go from the top of Nätschen (Gütsch), to the Oberalppass station. The

T-bar A surface lift is a type of cable transport for snow sports in which skiers and snowboarders remain on the ground as they are pulled uphill. While they were once prevalent, they have been overtaken in popularity by higher-capacity and higher-co ...

at Oberalppass station will be replaced by a detachable 6-man chairlift.

Lift from Göschenen

There are plans to construct a

running from

Göschenen Göschenen (German, it, Casinotta, rm, Caschanuttais) a village and municipality in the canton of Uri in Switzerland. It sits at the northern end of the Gotthard tunnel. The Göschenen riots (1875) saw Urner troops opening fire on Italian miner ...

to the top of Naetschen. This will allow for quicker, easier access from other areas, and it will mean

will not have as much traffic as previously. If arriving from Göschenen, it would save approximately half an hour of time than having to go up to Andermatt, and it will be easier to get onto the slopes.

Railway station

Nätschen's railway station is owned, run, and served by the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn. It has one

platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system ...

, and a passing track for trains which need to pass each other — a common occurrence given that the line is almost all single track, and the trains are running at a tight schedule. Public trains are operated every hour each direction. The station also sees Glacier Express trains and

car shuttle train A car shuttle train, or (sometimes) car-carrying train, is a shuttle train used to transport accompanied cars (automobiles), and usually also other types of road vehicles, for a relatively short distance. Car shuttle trains usually operate on ...

s (in the winter only) passing through it. The station has a waiting room.

Climate

Media

In November 2012

and Nätschen appeared on the British

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

series ''

The Gadget Show ''The Gadget Show'' (currently known as ''The Gadget Show: Better Tech, Better Life'') is a British television series which focuses on consumer technology. The show, which is broadcast on Channel 5, is currently presented by Ortis Deley, Geo ...

''. Presenters

Jason Bradbury Jason Alan Bradbury (born 10 April 1969) is a British television presenter and children's author, best known for presenting shows such as the Channel 5 technology programme ''The Gadget Show'' and the BBC One game show ''Don't Scare the Hare' ...

and

Pollyanna Woodward Pollyanna Woodward (born 11 June 1982) is a British television presenter, best known for being a co-presenter on Channel 5's ''The Gadget Show''. Career The youngest of six children, aged 16 she was offered a place at the Carlton Television Jun ...

were testing

electric bicycles An electric bicycle (e-bike, eBike, etc.) is a motorized bicycle with an integrated electric motor used to assist propulsion. Many kinds of e-bikes are available worldwide, but they generally fall into two broad categories: bikes that assist ...

, scooters, and several

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive telephone call, calls over a radio freq ...

photo editing

applications Application may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks ** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a c ...

, on the hills of Nätschen. 29 March 2013

Gallery

File:Naetschen_2.jpg File:Naetschen_3.jpg File:Naetschen_4.jpg File:Naetschen_5.jpg File:Naetschen_7.jpg File:Naetschen_8.jpg

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Natschen Ski areas and resorts in Switzerland Andermatt Tourist attractions in the canton of Uri