Schruns is a municipality in the
Montafon valley (altitude 690 meters), in the
Bludenz district of the westernmost Austrian state of
Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg ( ; ; , , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the second-highest popu ...
.
To the west is the famous
Zimba mountain, often called the "Vorarlberger
Matterhorn
The , ; ; ; or ; ; . is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the Main chain of the Alps, main watershed and border between Italy and Switzerland. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps, ...
," which is very popular among climbers and hikers.
Geography
The
Litz river, a tributary of the
Ill river, flows through the town. A side valley, the
Silbertal, stretches to the east of Schruns. The area has a high mountain massif accessible by train and ski-lifts.
To the north is the
Bartholomäberg, to the south
St. Gallenkirch, and to the west Tschagguns. The nearest larger municipality is Bludenz.
About 45.2 percent of the area is forested, with 18.1 percent mountainous.
Transport
Schruns railway station is the southern terminus of the
Bludenz–Schruns railway line (''
Montafonerbahn''). Two other stations, and , are also located within the municipality of Schruns. All stations are served by the S4 regional train service of the
Vorarlberg S-Bahn.
Sports
Since 2012/13, Schruns has been part of the
FIS Snowboard World Cup, which takes place annually in December. During the daytime, visitors can watch
snowboard cross
Snowboard cross, also known as boardercross, is a snowboard competition in which four to six competitors race down a course. Snowboard cross courses are typically quite narrow and include cambered turns, various types of jumps, berms, rollers, ...
races up on the
Hochjoch of the
Silvretta Montafon ski area. In the evening, concerts are held in Schruns.
Schruns is a hotspot for mountain biking and trail running. For more than ten years, Schruns has hosted the M3 Montafon Bike Marathon with over 500 bikers.
Notable people
In the early 1920s Schruns was the favorite ski resort of
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...
. He wintered there with his first wife,
Hadley, and oldest son, who was then just an infant; a chapter in his book
A Moveable Feast includes several pages describing lodging and skiing there in the 1920s. It was there that he revised the manuscript of ''
The Sun Also Rises
''The Sun Also Rises'' is the first novel by the American writer Ernest Hemingway, following his experimental novel-in-fragments '' In Our Time (short story collection)'' (1925). It portrays American and British expatriates who travel from Par ...
''.
[(Ernest Hemingway. A Moveable Feast, Touchstone Books: New York. pp 197–202)] In Hemingway's classic story "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" the third scene in the first flashback sequence recounts memories of Schruns. These images of snow and glacier skiing stand in stark contrast to the description of the Serengeti Plain in the main story and anticipate the coming journey to the snows of Kilimanjaro.
*
Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg died here in 1956
*
Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi died here in 1972
*
Georg Margreitter, footballer for
Grasshopper Club Zürich
Grasshopper Club Zurich (GCZ), commonly referred to as Grasshopper Club or simply just GC, is a professional sports club, multisports club based in Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland. They are nicknamed the ''Grasshoppers'' or sometimes just ''Hopper ...
, born in 1988
*
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf lived in the village in her last years and died there in 2006
*
Eleonore Schönborn, Gräfin von Schönborn died here in 2022
References
External links
topskiresort.com- Schruns ski resort guide, ratings, webcams, news...
Cities and towns in Bludenz District
{{Vorarlberg-geo-stub