Whitewater gorge construction phases

The adventure trail around the whitewater gorge Ova da Bernina continues to take shape. Construction work on the point of interest «Telescop», the erratic boulder «Crap grand», the «Panopticum» and the Pontresina swing with its enchanting «Vista istorica» began in early June and was completed in time for the 2024 autumn holidays. In addition to surface and landscaping work, the signage and information at the various points of interest is also being refined. In the busy Taiswald forest, the walking path and bike trail have now been separated. The new parallel bike trail between Surovas, with a junction at Rusellas, relieves the pressure on the newly restricted forest section of the Ova da Bernina whitewater gorge adventure trail.

The third and, for the time being, final stage will follow in 2025 with the construction of the point of interest in the viaduct below the Bernina bridge (new Punt ota). At the same time, the lower section of the Via da Mulin will be renovated, the pedestrian area upgraded and access to the points of interest improved.

On 24/25 October 2023, the spectacular balance beam was installed above the Ova da Bernina White Water Gorge. The first locations on the Adventure Trail have now been open to the public since 22 December 2023.
The Gorge perimeter at the foot of the town centre will be upgraded with further measures to create a year-round, decelerated local recreation area by 2025. The circular adventure trail will deliberately follow the existing footpaths around the White Water Gorge and open up attractive new locations for visitors. At the same time, the municipality of Pontresina is also completing road traffic upgrading measures in favour of an additional coordinated development to improve the quality of over-nighting or staying in Pontresina, by taking consideration of mobility developments and as part of the overall road traffic concept 2024.

At the same time as the construction work on the Ova da Bernina White Water Gorge, a sinkhole, which opened up at the lower end of the Via da Mulin in 2022 was also repaired. Further information on this construction work on the road viaduct, which had become necessary and is to be continued by the Municipal Works Agency in 2023, is available for viewing on the Pontresina Municipal Website.

The Ova da Bernina White Water Gorge, including its flora and fauna, can be visited from different aspects and experienced in all seasons of the year. The venues and locations along the Adventure Trail can be understood as places where, on the one hand, purely picturesque places to view have been created. On the other hand, the man-made structural interventions are intended to complement the topographical and local natural conditions. They are planned to be reversible and reduced only to the structurally requisite elements so as to reduce the external impact on the conserved countryside.

The geometrically reduced forms of the individual elements complement the roughness of the archaic gorge. The focus is thus concentrated on the beauty and uniqueness of the various venues and locations. Analogous to the type of countryside, the various elements are carefully inserted into the wild landscape of the White Water Gorge as contrived or artistic elements, which set up a contrast, so that the natural forms and characteristics of the Gorge are more or less emphasised.