2ND GENERATION

The second generation of the "Gletscherblick" family business

In the mid-1940s, the world was ravaged by war, hardship and misery, and the future was uncertain. Many hoteliers from Hasliberg gave up their businesses, discouraged or out of sheer necessity. Not so Fritz Hirsig, who married his lifelong companion Friedy in 1944, who came from the family of "the beautiful boatwoman from Brienz" Elisabetha Grossmann. Together they took the risk of continuing the life's work of Fritz's mother Elise Hirsig, who had founded the Hotel Gletscherblick in 1906. Giving up has never been the Hirsigs' motto.

The young couple were aware that they would have to adapt to the requirements of modern times in order to keep the hotel running successfully. So they introduced the winter season - a real gamble at the time! - the winter season. In 1952, the hotel's open arbor was transformed into a tea room, central heating was installed in 1954 and every room was given "running water". In the following years, the old building was generally overhauled and thoroughly renovated and in 1964 the "Gletscherblick" was considerably extended with an annex. Rooms with their own bathroom and toilet, a larger, modern kitchen, the spacious, bright dining room, the elevator and the sauna were added. But the crowning glory of the extension was a roof terrace with a magnificent view of the mountains of the Bernese Oberland, which was and still is very popular. In short: the enterprising Fritz spent a quarter of a century awarding smaller and larger contracts to architects and tradesmen and practising the Bernese motto "nume nit gschprängt, aber gäng hü!" - Written German: "Slow but steady" or "Make haste while you wait".