Plate I — The house from the south
Four generations have kept Chalet Aletsch on the Riederalp. The pine-panelled parlour, the rye bread from the wood-fired oven and the view that quiets every guest at dawn — none of it has changed much. We rather like it that way.
At 1,925 metres, on the edge of the Aletschwald. The cable car from Mörel arrives thirty steps from the front door. In winter the cross-country trail begins on our doorstep; in summer the high traverse.
— Konkordiaplatz is a single day’s walk.
An old Valaisan parlour panelled in Swiss stone pine, joined by a carpenter from Naters and warmed by a soapstone stove. Rye bread from the village oven, hay-milk cheese, air-dried meat from Mund.
— Tables for non-guests by telephone only.
The house is kept by hand. Bedlinen of Swiss wool, soap from Visp, much of the furniture still carved by the woman who raised the walls. We mend before we replace.
— Patience handles the rest.
In the summer of 1923, Anton Imboden brought his wife Marie and their four children up to the Riederalp to raise a house for travellers on a clearing at the edge of the Aletschwald. He carried the beams up from the valley himself, and roofed it with the heavy schist tiles from the Goms.
Three generations on, the house still stands — a little lower in the soil, a little darker in the timber, with a roof renewed in 1987. It is run today by Annelies Imboden-Truffer, Anton’s great-granddaughter. She still cooks on Sundays.
“We did not build this house to do business. We built it to remain.”
We don’t call them rooms; we call them Stuben — the Valaisan word for parlour. Each carries the name of a nearby peak, hut or lake. No two are alike.
Double · south-facing
The original parlour from the 1923 build. Walls, floor and bed are made of two-hundred-year-old Swiss stone pine. South-facing, with the Bietschhorn in the window.
from
CHF 320
per night
Single · east-facing
Small and quiet, with a narrow oriel window and a writing desk. Named after the small alpine lake above the house — first to catch the morning sun.
from
CHF 280
per night
Family · west-facing
Two rooms — a sitting room with the soapstone stove, and a bedroom with two beds and a child’s berth. For a family, or two travelling couples.
from
CHF 410
per night
Suite · attic floor
The whole top floor. Three bedrooms, a small kitchen, the long timber balcony reaching out across the Aletschwald to the Rhône valley. For families and small parties.
from
CHF 540
per night
“Rarely have we travelled so far to do so little. It was exactly right.”
Excerpt from the guest book of the Konkordia suite. Reproduced with permission.
We answer by hand, usually within a day. Bookings are also accepted by telephone.