Arosa

Arosa: Obersee lake

Arosa, Alpine village, health resort, and winter sports centre, Graubünden canton, eastern Switzerland, on the Plessur River. The village, at an elevation of 5,689 feet (1,734 m), stretches along a wooded valley holding two small lakes, the Untersee and the Obersee, that are used for fishing, swimming, and boating in the summer. Arosa is noted as a fashionable winter-sports centre, particularly for horse racing on ice and snow. The ski slopes above the tree line are accessible by a network of ski lifts and linking ski runs. A cable car runs up the nearby Weisshorn (8,704 feet), and gondola cars reach up the Hörnli (8,200 feet). Curling, ice skating, and ice hockey are also popular. Arosa lies at the end of a road and rail spur from Chur. Pop. (2005 est.) 2,272.