| Adelboden | ||||||||||
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| Population | 3,563 (Dec 2010)[1] | |||||||||
| - Density | 40 /km2 (105 /sq mi) | |||||||||
| Area | 88.19 km2 (34.05 sq mi)[2] | |||||||||
| Elevation | 1,350 m (4,429 ft) | |||||||||
| - Highest | 3242 m - Grossstrubel | |||||||||
| - Lowest | 1045 m - Engstligen valley | |||||||||
| Postal code | 3715 | |||||||||
| SFOS number | 0561 | |||||||||
| Surrounded by | Diemtigen, Frutigen, Kandersteg, Lenk im Simmental, Leukerbad (VS), Sankt Stephan | |||||||||
| Website | www.3715.ch SFSO statistics |
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Adelboden
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Map of Adelboden
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Adelboden is a municipality in the Frutigen-Niedersimmental administrative district in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland.
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Adelboden lies in the west of the Berner Oberland, at the end of the valley of the Engstlige river, which flows in Frutigen into the Kander river.
Adelboden is a traditional Swiss mountain village on a terrace looking south to the Engstligen waterfalls. Also part of the village are the inhabited valleys of Gilbach, Stigelschwand, Boden, Hirzboden, and Ausserschwand. Church and main street are at 1,350 m (4,430 ft), the highest point of the area is the Grossstrubel with 3,242 m (10,636 ft), the lowest point is at 1,045 m (3,428 ft) in the Engstligen valley.
The vegetation is alpine and sub-alpine, partially wooded, the slopes, the plateaus, and terraces usually alp meadows.
The most salient mountains are Lohner (3,049 m (10,003 ft)), Steghorn (3,146 m (10,322 ft)), Wildstrubel (3,243 m (10,640 ft)), Fitzer (2,458 m (8,064 ft)), Tschenten (2,025 m (6,644 ft)) (mountain railway) and Gsür (2,708 m (8,885 ft)).
Adelboden has an area, as of 2009[update], of 88.19 km2 (34.05 sq mi). Of this area, 36.52 km2 (14.10 sq mi) or 41.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while16.07 km2 (6.20 sq mi) or 18.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.18 km2 (0.84 sq mi) or 2.5% is settled (buildings or roads), 1.53 km2 (0.59 sq mi) or 1.7% is either rivers or lakes and 31.93 km2 (12.33 sq mi) or 36.2% is unproductive land.[3]
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 0.1% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 1.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.8%.. 14.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.0% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.0% is used for growing crops and 8.5% is pastures and 32.9% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 9.6% is unproductive vegatation, 25.6% is too rocky for vegatation, and 1.1% of the land is covered by glaciers.[3]
Adelboden is first mentioned in 1409 as in valle Adelboden. In 1453 it was mentioned as Adelboden alias silva.[4]
The alps Engstligenalp and Silleren belonging to Adelboden are mentioned for the first time in the 13th century. The inhabitants of Engstligental are called forest people. In the 15th century Adelboden got its own church and there were over 50 house fathers vouching for the salary of the minister.
In the 16th century Adelboden joined the Reformation, the Catholic minister fled over the Hahnenmoospass to the Catholic Canton of Fribourg.
Up to the 19th century, the only way to Frutigen was high on the south slope of the Engstligen valley and often impassable in winter. In the late 19th century a road along the Engstligen river was built joining Adelboden to the rest of the world.
In the 1870s the first boarding house was opened by one of the local teachers. It developed into a hotel, which is still in the possession of the same family (hotel Hari im Schlegeli). Around the turn of the century tourism led to a big increase in the population.
Adelboden was the destination of the first packaged winter sports holidays (vacations), organised by Sir Henry Lunn in 1903.
Into the 1930s the aerial ropeway to the Engstligenalp was built with further ropeways following. The Silleren area was up into the 1980s accessible by buses.
Cultural events include:
Adelboden has a population (as of 31 December 2010) of 3,563.[1] As of 2007[update], the population included 5.5% which were foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -1.2%.
In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 38.3% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the local small left-wing parties (28.8%), the CSP (13.4%) and the FDP (7.3%).
The age distribution of the population (as of 2000[update]) is: children and teenagers (0–19 years old) 26.4% of the population; adults (20–64 years old) 57.2%; and seniors (over 64 years old) 16.4%. In Adelboden about 69.4% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either University or a Fachhochschule).[5]
Historically the population was:[4]
| year | population |
|---|---|
| 1764 | 1,051 |
| 1850 | 1,513 |
| 1900 | 1,564 |
| 1910 | 2,163 |
| 1990 | 3,347 |
The language is Adelbodnertütsch, which belongs to the Bernese Oberland dialects with some loans from Valais dialects and belongs to the Highest Alemannic language group.
Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (95.0%), with Serbo-Croat the second most common ( 1.0%),
and Portuguese third ( 0.9%).[4]
Legislation is adopted by the biannual general assembly. Executive is the local council with nine members, all of whom are honorary.
Adelboden has a mixture of agriculture, local industry (wood building companies, mineral water source) and tourism. People work in tourism, (approx. 490 persons), other services (approx. 500 persons), construction industry (approx. 310 persons), automobile industry (approx. 30 persons), mineral water source (approx. 45 persons) and agriculture (fulltime approx. 45 persons), taxidermy (fulltime approx. 16 persons)
Adelboden has an unemployment rate of 1.8%. As of 2005[update], there were 366 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 143 businesses involved in this sector. 601 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 57 businesses in this sector. 1098 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 153 businesses in this sector.[5]
Tourism in Adelboden is especially suitable for families. Adelboden has 24 hotels with 1291 beds, 3800 vacation homes with 15,200 beds, 28 group accommodations with 1830 beds, 3 camp sites and 40 restaurants.
In the summer there are 200 km (124 mi) of hiking trails, from sedate walks to alpine climbing-routes. Numerous mountain railways lead up to the mountains. Additional activities are: numerous mountain bike routes; and model aircraft construction on Hahnenmoospass with a workshop, and wind and landing opportunities.
In the winter there are ski runs of all degrees of difficulty, including the world-cup giant slalom run on the Kuonisbärgli, and cross-country ski trails. There are 40 km (25 mi) of winter hiking trails. For snowboarders there are freeride and freestyle runs.
The Adelboden slalom and giant slalom are considered classic events of the FIS Alpine World Cup.
| Climate data for Adelboden | |||||||||||||
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 1.9 (35.4) |
2.6 (36.7) |
4.6 (40.3) |
8.1 (46.6) |
12.8 (55.0) |
16.1 (61.0) |
18.6 (65.5) |
17.9 (64.2) |
15.8 (60.4) |
12.1 (53.8) |
5.9 (42.6) |
2.8 (37.0) |
9.9 (49.8) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −2.5 (27.5) |
−2.1 (28.2) |
−0.1 (31.8) |
3.3 (37.9) |
7.7 (45.9) |
10.9 (51.6) |
13.3 (55.9) |
12.7 (54.9) |
10.4 (50.7) |
6.9 (44.4) |
1.6 (34.9) |
−1.3 (29.7) |
5.1 (41.2) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −5.5 (22.1) |
−5.2 (22.6) |
−3.5 (25.7) |
−0.4 (31.3) |
3.6 (38.5) |
6.4 (43.5) |
8.6 (47.5) |
8.5 (47.3) |
6.5 (43.7) |
3.5 (38.3) |
−1.6 (29.1) |
−4.3 (24.3) |
1.4 (34.5) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 93 (3.66) |
95 (3.74) |
103 (4.06) |
102 (4.02) |
115 (4.53) |
147 (5.79) |
150 (5.91) |
155 (6.1) |
90 (3.54) |
84 (3.31) |
107 (4.21) |
105 (4.13) |
1,346 (52.99) |
| Avg. precipitation days | 11.6 | 10.7 | 13 | 13.2 | 15.1 | 15.5 | 14.4 | 14 | 9.9 | 8.8 | 10.9 | 11.2 | 148.3 |
| Source: MeteoSchweiz [6] | |||||||||||||
Adelboden has only one incoming road connecting from Frutigen which connects via Spiez to the N6 and Bern. There is no transit traffic.
Frutigen is a train station of the Lötschberg line, connecting to Bern and Brig; it is connected to Adelboden by regular post bus services.
There is an old mountain pass route via Engstligenalp and Chindbettipass to the Gemmi Pass and into the Valais which is still used by hikers, and another connection via Hahnenmoospass into the valley of Lenk which was formerly used as a trade route to the lake of Geneva.
In Adelboden there is a primary school, middle-school and a secondary school; the nearest special secondary school is in Frutigen.
Schools in Adelboden: There are four primary schools officially in the Adelboden school district, three middle schools (Realschule), and a secondary school (Sekundarschule). The nearest special secondary school is 20 minutes down the mountain in Frutigen and the nearest high schools (Gymnasiums) are in Thun and Interlaken.
A number of notable persons in cross country skiing, mountaineering and alpine skiing were born in Adelboden:
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