The first generation of the family business "Gletscherblick".

Today's family business owes its existence to Elise Hirsig. At that time still "single", she came from her parents' farm near Noreaz in the French-speaking part of the canton of Fribourg to the Hasliberg as a domestic servant. Here she gradually learned how to run a guesthouse. Captivated by the scenic beauty of the area, she decided to settle down here and become self-employed: so she took up the challenge of building up a simple, but chamrnate and, above all, her own inn. A more than daring undertaking. Because at that time neither a woman was taken seriously in business, nor was the Hasliberg developed for tourism. But Elise Hirsig did not let herself be deterred: with cow carts she laboriously carted natural stones, sand and cement and so in 1906 the solid foundation walls of the Hotel Gletscherblick were built, which still support our house today.

In 1908, Elise married a namesake and distant relative from Emmental, who also happened to have landed on Hasliberg: Gottlieb Hirsig (1873-1922), who had just returned from Argentina. [The marriage Hirsig & Hirsig produced three splendid children: Marie, Samuel, and Fritz. Business was good, but it also meant hard work: in Meiringen, for example, they had to strap on a large rucksack to carry meat, sausage and grain up to Hasliberg. From Mägisalp, on the other hand, came butter and cheese, which were transported with a "Räf": a weighty wooden carrying frame carried on the back.

In 1916, Elise enlarged the "Gletscherblick" by about a third, cutting the wood needed for the construction from the mountain forest herself. But times were not always kind to the "Gletscherblick" and its people. The First World War, Gottlieb's unexpected death in 1922, the crisis period of the 1930s as well as the Second World War demanded steely courage and perseverance.

It was also a risk that Elise changed the restaurant business to "alcohol-free" in 1924. For the locals, this was revolutionary, and even worse: a true heresy, which did not exactly help the income... Nevertheless, the strong will of the unwavering Elise brought the Gletscherblick through every crisis.

In 1926 she built a barn for the small "farm" attached to the hotel. This farm was taken over by Elise's son Samuel, who married in 1939, on his own. In 1945, on the other hand, the daughter Marie let herself be "kidnapped" by Alfred Daetwyler: together, the two built up a company in Brienz for the production of wooden goods. Since even Elise, who had always been a sturdy woman, was nearing 70 years of age, her strength was gradually failing and she was no longer able to cope with some of the demands, there was only one person left to succeed her and take over the Hotel "Gletscherblick": the youngest offspring Fritz!