Glace Boot Klöntalersee

Probably the only ice cream in Switzerland that sells ice cream directly from the boat.

There are two icy stories in the Klöntal - one is the past, the other sweet present. The first begins in the winter of 1862, when Gabriel Leuziger uses a saw to cut blocks of ice out of the frozen lake. He brings them to Netstal and keeps them well insulated there. He is laughed at. But only until people realize what a huge business is opening up. Ten years later, several hundred workers stand on the frozen lake with picks, saws, ropes and hooks and load vast quantities of ice onto horse-drawn carts. Breweries, hotels, hospitals, even ocean liners all over the world are creating demand. In spring, when the water level of Lake Klöntal is low, walls of former houses can still be seen at Unter Herberig: The ice that was not delivered until summer was stored in these glacier huts. The business flourished until the refrigerator was invented in the 1950s.
The idea with the ice cream was taken up by André van Sprundel. For over 25 years, the resourceful hotelier of the Rhodannenberg has been driving his "Ice Dream Express" across the lake in summer, providing hikers and bathers with sweet ice cream. The colourful boat can be seen from afar, and many are already waiting for the sweet call of the "Glacemaa".
Text excerpt: Rémy Kappeler, 2015