Glacisse

For 20 years Paul Grüner has been the innkeeper at the mountain retreat Schöne Aussicht deep in the Schnals Valley in South Tyrol – thus in the heart of the Ötz Valley Alps. The main Alpine ridge forms the border between Austria and South Tyrol, Italy. The Hochjochferner glacier is situated directly behind the mountain retreat. Since his childhood, the visionary innkeeper has been fascinated by this.

Every year he has watched as the snow and ice retreat in the warm seasons and the glacier ice glistens in the sun. Left behind are small gray mounds of a fine-grained sand. Additionally, the few plants at the edge of the glacier bloomed particularly vibrantly.

Paul Grüner recognized this gift of nature and could imagine the complete power and history: stories, written accounts and reports of earlier health treatments on the Hochjochferner confirmed this. In 1837, the Knight Freiherr von Alpenburgobserved above all “a lightening of the soul among curmudgeonly individuals” and he also described diseases being cured.

The Meran doctor and glacier researcher Georg Götsch wrote about his experiences and the “healing effects” within and on the glacier for skin conditions, among others. It is this secret of the healing and invigorating power of the glacier — which he himself experienced for many years – that Paul Grüner wanted to investigate further and thus set about his work, collecting fine glacial sand and stones. After several years of intensive research in cooperation with reputable universities and research institutes he succeeded in developing a unique cosmetic skincare range with extraordinary moisturizing capabilities and skin tightening effects. The purest water which comes from a spring situated 2,845 meters above sea level is the basis for these cosmetics from South Tyrol.