Dhe small gondola, with space for eight people, pulls up along a steep rock face. The valley town of Engelberg is visibly disappearing, the sky is widening, the light is dazzlingly bright. At the mountain station, at an altitude of 1850 meters, the view goes over to the Titlis (3238 meters), the epicenter of tourism in the region, from a glaciated rock next to it the sharp needles shoot out around the peaks of the Großer and Kleiner Spannort, two other three-thousanders . Just above the ridge, the sun fights its way through thick clouds, the first guests on the terrace are bathed in mild winter light. It’s a January morning, it’s still quiet on the Fürenalp, and if you could choose, you’d just sit here, look at the mountains and let the day drag on at a leisurely pace.
Josefa Portmann knows this impulse, many of her guests feel the same way. The Fürenalp above Engelberg in Central Switzerland is a place that quickly touches you. It was no different for her. Josefa Portmann and her husband Urs worked for the mountain railway company on the Titlis for a long time, he as a chef de cuisine, she in the hotel industry, and she also worked for a tour operator.