Our

Our
favourite way to reach St Moritz? Slipping into some
protective gear, lying head-first on a skeleton toboggan and racing
down the Cresta run, an epic ice track hand-carved into the
mountainside. It’ll carry you 1,200 metres from St Moritz to
Celerina in just over a minute – or less, if you ride well.

Lord Clifton Wrottesley is an expert on riding the Cresta Run.
The former Olympian holds the run record of 49.92 seconds and
counts 57 wins under his belt. In 1990, Wrottesley first visited
the St Moritz Tobogganing Club (SMTC) in what he describes as “a
pilgrimage to find out everything I didn’t know about my Dad”, who
had been a prolific Cresta rider but passed away when Wrottesley
was two. “I remember getting to the bottom of the run and
immediately being overcome with a burning desire to get straight
back up to have another go,” Wrottesley recalls.

The Cresta has had a powerful draw on Wrottesley and his fellow
club compatriots ever since. United by their love of the sport,
their union is strengthened by club rituals, rules and rites of
passage, all wrapped up in the attractive setting of eastern
Switzerland’s Engadine Valley. “It has everything; an incomparable
location, a breath-taking setting, a fascinating history, a sport
that challenges the very bravest of souls, fascinating people that
become lifelong friends and for many of us it is something we
simply wouldn’t be able to live without” reflects Wrottesley.

Riding the Cresta may be a fast way to become acquainted with
the lay of the land, but, as Wrottesley suggests, involvement in
this sporting community will also ensure a thorough introduction to
St Moritz life and its intriguing past. As one of the world’s
oldest winter sports clubs, the SMTC dates back to the 1880s, and
its history is inextricably linked to that of St Moritz. One of the
Cresta founders helped first ignite winter tourism in the region by
convincing sceptical Englishmen to spend their first snow season
there.

One of today’s members, Alexandra Bott, can trace her Cresta
connection to pre-war times. She now follows in the footsteps of
her great-great-grandmother and grandaunt, who she describes as
“formidable characters” and who both clinched a number of prizes on
the Run in the early 1900s. Bott’s training began young: “It was
sort of like an unwritten rule that we were going to do it,” she
describes, explaining that riding with her parents and siblings
feels “like you’re continuing the family tradition.” And one of the
best parts of a race day? “The celebratory lunch afterwards at the
Kulm,” says Bott.

The Kulm is something of a second home for Cresta riders. Move
through the ostentatious foyer, and you’ll find them gathered on
any given day in the Sunny Bar. Adorned with tobogganing
paraphernalia and pictures of members past and present, riders
flock to the sun-kissed terrace for leisurely lunches finished off
with potent Irish coffees.

Outside of the Kulm, the strength of the relationship between
the club and the village it calls home is as palpable in the 21st
century as ever. Far from being an exclusive enclave, a number of
the club’s members embody this partnership as both riders and local
business owners. Fashions sported by members may be designed by the
dapper Silvano Vitalini, a local gentleman’s tailor and regular up
at the run.

After working up an appetite on the run, a hearty Italian meal
of fresh homemade pasta, Engadine beef or creamy burrata topped
with sweet caramelised onions, can be had at La Scarpetta. The
Italian restaurant is an example of the marriage between St Moritz
culture and that of the club, run by Cresta rider Luca Höfer. In
2014, the teenaged Höfer became one of the youngest riders ever to
win his “colours”, an award given to members placed in the season’s
biggest races that allows them to proudly sport an item of gold and
scarlet clothing henceforth. Aside from the obvious rush of the
sport, “the conviviality and friendship among the riders” is what
Höfer loves most about the club and why he wanted to become a
member.

Come nightfall, members will recollect inside the town’s
eateries before dancing at the Dracula nightclub. A favoured haunt
of members both young and old, the scene is aptly set by vampiric
props such as a coffin in the foyer and a garlic-shaped disco ball.
The mantle of the imposing stone fireplace can even serve as a
jumping-off point for members to initiate crowd-surfing through the
dance floor. “The best nights usually end in Rolf Sachs’s
mysterious Dracula Club”, confirms Höfer.

Unlike many private clubs that are obfuscated by exclusivity and
stuffiness, the SMTC is keen to introduce newcomers to both the
beauty of the Cresta Run and the splendour of the Engadine
mountains. It is a unique community that represents the
deeply-entrenched connections forged between the people and the
place. As Wrottesley impresses: “the SMTC is a magical club to be
part of, to be embedded within. It and the run have such a strong
sense of identity, camaraderie amongst the riders and members that
for most of us it becomes an integral part of our lives.” Join them
and you will find a place carved out for yourself in this fabled
community nestled between the Alps.