Claudia Alini

Claudia is a nature lover and soon discovered her love of photography. Following the motto: Cun ögls averts - with open eyes, she is passionate about photographing nature and is particularly enthusiastic about detailed shots. Her creative streak also led her to set up her own business and open the shop ‘ideas CA’. Her shop allows her to realise her dreams, as she is bursting with creative ideas for the home and garden. Sustainability is very important to her and so she works a lot with natural materials and recycles old advertising sheets into shopping bags or wooden pallets for her projects. Claudia cultivates the Romansh language culture in her shop; she wants to make her mother tongue more accessible to locals and visitors alike and use her Romansh products to promote our language to the world. These two aspects are very close to her heart.

Since 2018, Claudia has been working part-time alongside her shop as a hiking trail commissioner for the canton of Graubünden for the Val Müstair, Lower Engadine and Samnaun regions. In addition to all the administrative work, this job also allows her to spend a lot of time outdoors and sometimes combine her hobbies with it. She is usually accompanied by her dog, Àisa, when she walks the hiking trails. Checking the hiking trail signposting, assessing sections of the trail and coordinating between various institutions are among her main tasks. She liaises closely with various bodies, such as the canton, municipalities, inspectors, alpine farms, bike and hiking guides, etc. The job is varied and Claudia enjoys travelling in all three regions.  

As coordinator of Wanderwege Graubünden, Claudia also spends a lot of time in the office, as there is also administrative work to be done. For example, she deals with complaints management regarding hiking trail signalling, checks TESSVM print products, in particular the summer and winter maps, and maintains ongoing correspondence with various authorities. In addition to the work in the office, the work on site is very important, especially in the assessment of new or existing hiking and biking trails, conflict resolution of all kinds and, of course, environmental damage. As guests and locals are mainly out and about on our trails in summer, Claudia spends a little more time on her work in the warmer months. In winter, there is less to do and she has more time to pursue her creativity. 

As hiking trail manager, Claudia looks after 1,227 kilometres of hiking and biking trails in our holiday region. This does not include the Swiss National Park. Of this impressive number, Claudia has walked an estimated 827 kilometres herself. Her goal is to know every single kilometre and the path to achieving this goal no longer seems too far away. With all the kilometres she has already covered, does she have a favourite place or a favourite hike? For Claudia, the Lai da Chazforà is clearly at the top of the list here in Val Müstair, closely followed by the Alp Sielva and the Alp Tabladatsch up to the Piz Terza. Claudia recommends that hikers always allow enough time for the planned route. This is because the times given on the signposts are regulated throughout Switzerland and are calculated without taking time to savour the breathtaking moments, enjoy the silence and the ‘marenda’.

Claudia is also often out and about in nature in her private life, preferably with her husband Gian-Reto and their hunting dog Àisa. A special highlight awaits the trio in October, when they go hunting. Claudia really enjoys this time out, not necessarily because of the hunting, but rather because of the stress-free time away from everyday life. For Claudia, it is pure relaxation; the peace, the quiet, the special sunshine in autumn and the simple life in the hut.