1ST GENERATION

The first generation of the "Gletscherblick" family business

Today's family business owes its existence to Elise Hirsig. Still "single" at the time, she moved 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 set up her own business: she took up the challenge of building a simple but charming inn of her own. A more than daring undertaking. Because at that time, neither was a woman taken seriously in business, nor was the Hasliberg developed for tourism. But Elise Hirsig was not to be deterred: she painstakingly carted natural stone, sand and cement here with cow teams and in 1906 the solid foundation walls of the Hotel Gletscherblick were built, which still support our hotel today.

In 1908, Elise married a namesake and distant relative from the Emmental, who had coincidentally also landed on the Hasliberg: Gottlieb Hirsig (1873-1922), who had just returned from Argentina. [The Hirsig & Hirsig marriage produced three splendid children: Marie, Samuel and Fritz. Business was good, but it also meant hard work: they had to strap on a big rucksack in Meiringen to carry meat, sausages and grain up to Hasliberg. Butter and cheese, on the other hand, came from Mägisalp and were transported on a "Räf": a heavy wooden carrier carried on the back.

In 1916, Elise enlarged the "Gletscherblick" by around a third, cutting the wood needed for the construction from the mountain forest herself. However, times were not always kind to the "Gletscherblick" and its people. The First World War, Gottlieb's unexpected death in 1922, the crisis of the 1930s and the Second World War demanded courage of steel and the will to persevere.

It was also a risk for Elise to switch the restaurant to "alcohol-free" in 1924. For the locals, this was revolutionary, worse still: a real heresy, which didn't exactly do the income any good either... Nevertheless, the strong will of the unwavering Elise got the Gletscherblick through every crisis.

In 1926, she built a barn for the small "farm" that was attached to the hotel. This farm was taken over by Elise's son Samuel, who married in 1939. In 1945, however, Alfred Daetwyler's daughter Marie allowed herself to be "kidnapped": together they set up a company in Brienz to manufacture wooden goods. As even Elise, who had always been a stalwart, gradually lost her strength at the age of 70 and was no longer able to cope with some of the demands, there was only one person left to succeed her and take over the "Gletscherblick" hotel: the youngest offspring Fritz!