Caspar Badrutt | |
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![]() Caspar Badrutt around 1900 | |
Born | Caspar Badrutt July 21, 1848 |
Died | June 28, 1904 55) | (aged
Nationality | Swiss |
Occupations |
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Known for | Founding and leading Badrutt's Palace Hotel |
Spouse | Ursulina Cadisch (m. 1873;died 1905) |
Children | 4 |
Caspar Badrutt (July 21, 1848 - June 28, 1904) was a Swiss businessman, hotelier and restaurateur. He was the founder and proprietor of the famous Badrutt's Palace in St. Moritz. Badrutt was almost solely responsible in creating the development of the village in an international skiing destination. [1]
Badrutt was born July 21, 1848, in Samedan to Johannes and Maria (née Berry) Badrutt. His younger brother, Peter Robert Badrutt (1850-1907), was a serial businessman and Grand Councilor of Grisons from 1897 to 1898 (Liberals). [2]
He initially worked for his fathers hotel, Hotel Engadiner Kulm, before founding Badrutt's Palace in 1896.
St. Moritz in the 19th century was known as a summer mineral spa town where the rich and royal took mineral cures during the months of May through September. However, Johannes Badrutt Jr., Caspar's father and the founder of the Kulm Hotel, was discontent with having two thirds of the year without guests.
So, at the end of one season, Johannes Badrutt challenged some of his well-to-do English regulars to a bet: he would give them lodging for free if they found the locale inhospitable and uninteresting during a lengthy winter stay. Otherwise, if he won their satisfaction, the guests would have to talk up the experience amongst their acquaintances for all of the following year. The men were well connected among the aristocracy of the day, including many scions of royal lines and other European nobles.
Almost overnight, wintering in St Moritz at Badrutt's Kulm hotel became the rage, and increased crowding led to a search for diversions. Beginning in the 1870s, some Englishmen adapted a type of delivery sled for daring dashes down twisting narrow streets of St. Moritz. Subsequently, other tourists wanted a Victorian ride, and larger steerable devices were contrived: the early luge/skeleton individual sleds, and the bobsleigh (or bobsled).
Careening around the town's streets became increasingly popular, but the incidence and frequency of pedestrian collisions and risk to life grew proportionately. Therefore, Caspar Badrutt stepped in and created the first purpose-built half-pipe track, now familiar from the Winter Olympic Games. This track later became the model for the Cresta Run skeleton racing track, built in 1884. [3]
In 1873, Badrutt married Ursulina Cadisch (1850-1905), originally from Celerina/Schlarigna. They had four children;
He died June 28, 1904, in St. Moritz, Switzerland after suffering a stroke. [4]
A luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine (face-up) and feet-first. A luger begins seated, propelling themselves initially from handles on either side of the start ramp, then steers by using the calf muscles to flex the sled's runners or by exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the pod. Racing sleds weigh 21–25 kg (46–55 lb) for singles and 25–30 kg (55–66 lb) for doubles. Luge is also the name of an Olympic sport that employs that sled and technique.
Winter sports or winter activities are competitive sports or non-competitive recreational activities which are played on snow or ice. Most are variations of skiing, ice skating and sledding. Traditionally, such games were only played in cold areas during winter, but artificial snow and artificial ice allow more flexibility. Playing areas and fields consist of either snow or ice.
Bobsleigh or Bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, also known as FIBT from the French Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing. National competitions are often governed by bodies such as the United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton, and the German Bobsleigh, Luge, and Skeleton Federation.
Arnold Koller is a Swiss professor and politician. He served as a member of the Federal Council (Switzerland) from 1987 to 1999 for the Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP). Koller previously served as a member of the National Council (Switzerland) from 1971 to 1986. He did also serve two terms of the as President of the Swiss Confederation in 1990 and 1997. He is primarily known for Lex Koller, a Swiss Federal Act on Acquisitions of Real Estate by Persons Abroad, which he initiated.
Skeleton is a winter sliding sport in which a person rides a small sled, known as a skeleton bobsled, down a frozen track while lying face down and head-first. The sport and the sled may have been named from the bony appearance of the sled.
St. Moritz is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about 1,800 metres (5,910 ft) above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in the district of Maloja in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.
Sledding, sledging or sleighing is a winter sport typically carried out in a prone or seated position on a vehicle generically known as a sled, a sledge (British), or a sleigh. It is the basis of three Olympic sports: luge, skeleton and bobsledding. When practised on sand, it is known as a form of sandboarding. In Russia sledges are used for maritime activities including fishing and commuting from island to island on ice.
The Federal Diet of Switzerland was the legislative and executive council of the Old Swiss Confederacy and existed in various forms from the beginnings of Swiss independence until the formation of the Swiss federal state in 1848.
The Badrutt's Palace Hotel is a historic luxury hotel in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The hotel opened in 1896 and has 155 rooms, of which 43 are suites. The majority shareholder is Anikó Badrutt.
The Olympia Bob Run St. Moritz-Celerina is a bobsleigh track located in the Engadin Valley, Switzerland. It officially opened on New Year's Day 1904 and is the oldest bobsleigh track in the world. It is also the only one that is naturally refrigerated. It is used for other sliding sports, including skeleton and luge.
Events from 1848 in Switzerland.
Rageth Abys (1790–1861) was a Swiss politician, merchant, and soldier.
The Kulm Hotel St. Moritz is a large historic hotel in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
Johannes Baur was an Austrian businessman who opened the first hotel in Zürich, Switzerland, in 1838. Baur en Ville still operates in Zürich's Paradeplatz today.
Johannes Badrutt was a Swiss businessman, hotelier and restaurateur. He was primarily known for bringing the first English tourists to St. Moritz during the 19th century. He was the founder of Kulm Hotel St. Moritz in 1855. Badrutt's second eldest son was Caspar Badrutt. He is the patriarch of the Badrutt family.
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