Gsteig bei Gstaad is a municipality in the Obersimmental-Saanen administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. Gsteig was formerly known by the French name of Châtelet.
History
Gsteig is first mentioned in 1312 as Chastelet. In 1453, it was mentioned as Steig.
The villages of Gsteig and Feutersoey grew up along the roads over the Col du Pillon and the Sanetsch Pass. During the Middle Ages, a castle was built in the valley to protect and control the passes. The castle is first mentioned in 1458 and today is in ruins. At one time there was a settlement at Ussers Gründ which was destroyed by a landslide. Originally Gsteig was part of the district and parish of Saanen. The village church of St. Theodul was consecrated in 1453. It became a filial church of Saanen in 1500. In the early 16th century, Bern adopted the new faith of the Protestant Reformation, however Gsteig did not convert until 1556.
Traditionally the villagers practiced seasonal alpine herding and farming and made a little money off trade over the passes. Beginning around 1900, tourism became a major part of the local economy. Today there are several hotels and a number of vacation homes in the municipality. Tourist sites include the Diablerets Glacier, the castle ruins, the Arnensee and the nature preserve at Oldenhorn.
Geography
Gsteig bei Gstaad has an area of . As of 2012, a total of or 37.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 36.2% is forested. The rest of the municipality is or 1.4% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.2% is either rivers or lakes and or 24.0% is unproductive land.
During the same year, housing and buildings made up 0.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.6%. A total of 28.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 5.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 8.7% is pasturage and 28.4% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 0.8% is in lakes and 0.5% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 9.2% is unproductive vegetation and 14.6% is too rocky for vegetation.
The municipality lies in an upper valley of the river Saane in the Bernese Oberland and consists of the villages of Gsteig and Feutersoey, plus a number of outlying farms. The route to the Col du Pillon, an alpine pass, runs through both villages. Near the pass is the locality of Reusch, where an aerial tramway to the Scex Rouge is operated.
The reservoir Arnensee is located in the municipality.
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Saanen, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Obersimmental-Saanen.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules a Crane rising Argent beaked and membered Or on a Mount of 3 Coupeaux of the second all dimidiated impaled with Azure a Tower embatteled Or.
Demographics
Gsteig bei Gstaad has a population () of . , 13.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last year (2010-2011) the population has changed at a rate of -1.3%. Migration accounted for -1.7%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.3%.
Most of the population () speaks German (849 or 93.2%) as their first language, French is the second most common (20 or 2.2%) and English is the third (10 or 1.1%). There are 2 people who speak Italian and 4 people who speak Romansh.
Of the population in the municipality, 457 or about 50.2% were born in Gsteig bei Gstaad and lived there in 2000. There were 275 or 30.2% who were born in the same canton, while 85 or 9.3% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 74 or 8.1% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 19.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 63.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 17%.
, there were 381 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 440 married individuals, 64 widows or widowers and 26 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 171 households that consist of only one person and 23 households with five or more people. , a total of 382 apartments (67.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 155 apartments (27.3%) were seasonally occupied and 31 apartments (5.5%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 4.1 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.28%. In 2011, single family homes made up 33.4% of the total housing in the municipality.
The historical population is given in the following chart: