When Americans think of Swiss ski villages, they conjure up glamorous portraits of St. Moritz, Zermatt, Verbier, and perhaps Crans- Mountana and Saas-Fee. But there is another world of Swiss tourist villages catering to hikers in the summer and skiers in the winter, one very different from those glamorous international ski areas. In fact, the greater number of Swiss mountain ski areas are small, unassuming villages that have only recently made the transition from agrarian life to one dependent on tourism. Saas-Almagell, the most remote of the villages of the Saastal, 26 kilometers south of the Rhone Valley town of Visp, is one of these. It is German - speaking, Catholic, formerly agrarian, and has a traditional aura.
Although Almagell has long been exposed to outside cultural influences from the Swiss metropolitan areas and other European countries, only within the last thirty years has it become a modernized village. The patterns of Almagell life, especially its change from an agrarian base while remaining its tradition and continuity, show fundamental continuity juxtaposed against major economic change.
Saas - Almagell: Environment And Seasonality
Saas - Almagell is situated at 1,679 meters' elevation, with slopes rising directly to 3,300 meters to the east and west. The floor of the valley broadens out at the village to as much as 350 meters, and artificial terraces carry small meadows and gardens up the slopes a short way on either side. Larch forests extend up to timberline at 2,200 meters.
To the northeast, the rocky slopes rise to the Almagelleralp, location of the community-owned hotel (2,200 meters) and on the way to the mountain hut (3,000 meters) recently built by the Swiss Alpine Club. To the southeast, reached by a short trail or by the village chair lift, is Furggstalden, formerly a hamlet of Almagell, now the ski center of the village with three ski lifts. Going south, the road passes a generating and pumping station owned by the Elctro-Watt Corporation of Zurich and connected to the Mattmark dam, the largest earthen dam in Europe. Farther up, the road passes the Eiu alp, which is shared communally by the four Saastal villages, before reaching the Mattmark dam seven kilometers from the village. At 2,200 meters' elevation, it dams the headwaters of the Saaser Vispa. Trails around the lake lead to the Mattmark and Distel alps, owned communally by the valley villages. Nearby ancient trails lead to Monte Moro Pass and Italy. From the center of the village, a gentle trail crosses the Vispa bridge and turns northwest to reach the major tourist center of Saas-Fee, four kilometers away.
The year-round population of Saas-Almagell was 346 as of 1986. Everyone lives in the village itself; none of the outlying Weiler (hamlets) are occupied any longer. Chalets and hotels are being built along the paved road or along major walks within the village, forming a linear settlement pattern that contrasts with the ancient nucleated form. Four centers of barns and stables still exist in the village, corresponding to the locations of formerly separate Weiler. The church, churchyard, and rectory are in the southeastern part of the village, surrounded by chalets and private fields. Village offices, the tourist bureau, a ski school, the Burgerhaus (community hall), two grocery stores, two hotels, and two chalets surround the central plaza. From the first houses at the lower (northern) end of the
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