So, that was the holiday that was: a third June in three to the mighty Kitzbuehel, the kingdom of Croesus, where only the reassuringly monied are given a fair hearing. A harsh description, perhaps, and whilst ‘Kitz’ has for a long time exuded a rarefied air of separation from normal life, there is a now a distinct change afoot. More about that later.
Nevertheless, I like Kitzbuehel. For many years, my mountain holidays used to be taken in remote villages that afforded tremendous walking, but as a single traveller, offered little to nothing once returning from a day on the tops. For all its front and an attitude of by your jewellery and loafers be judged, Kitzbuehel has life and vibrancy which is nice to encounter once one’s day of hiking has drawn to a close.
Despite boasting the most hiking paths in terms of kilometres within the Tirol, the walking is good but not tremendous, although you could in theory visit twenty times and not do the same raft of routes twice. Whilst there are ‘old favourite’ treks such as to the Pengelstein, that variety of choice, if not the overall degree of difficulty, can only be a good thing.
There are though dark clouds on the horizon, albeit if viewed subjectively. The corresponding fortnight last year was starkly different to this time around, with fewer guests around the town and in the hotel, and less cableways in operation. Also, when now visiting the official Kitzbuehel website, one is confronted with a shortcut to a video outlining the town’s rebranding vision. To me at least, the content represents a retrograde step that in a nutshell shouts greed, superficially, and all style but little substance, with only a cursory nod to tradition in almost a mocking way. The distinct impression I got, much in the same way that it isn’t recommended that you get old and ill in the modern day UK, is that the older you are, the less welcome you will be to tomorrow’s Kitzbuehel, with the not insignificant caveat that the city gates will still offer a welcoming embrace to those, anyone, with serious money, or those who like to think they have money (paying for your end-of-holiday-bar-bill on three credit cards, anyone?)
Take note of the mention of ‘the target market’: https://www.leadersnet.de/news/80354,aufwendiges-rebranding-kitzbuehel-erfindet-sich-neu.html
Despite my misgivings, many of which have taken root since returning, I had a very successful holiday. One conspicuous aspect of my visit was though the now lack of ‘ordinary’ cafes where to simply have a coffee. The loss of the legendary Praxmair café in its prominent central position has been keenly felt by those who seek/yearn for a more traditional experience, much in the same vein as St. Johann’s Café Rainer, than being snootily received and looked down upon elsewhere because one happens to be modelling hiking attire, and not the latest fashions from the Sportalm or Peter Hahn. There are still other grounded café and Konditorei experiences to be found, with the only slightly off-centre Kisini being a fine example, but there is a change blowing in the wind that suggests that summertime day trippers gawking at the pastel coloured buildings are no longer a staple for the local tourist economy, not through being conspicuous by their absence as such, but simple due to their ‘type’ not being those who rattle the tills. By the way, the railway station café serves the best coffee.
For all Kitzbuehel’s incredible real estate prices and immaculately kept infrastructure, it does come as a surprise to see empty buildings, especially hotels, some of which are visibly withering on the vine. One size does not though fit all as to explain why places are shut, or empty, with for example the Praxmair, a large building in a prominent position, now being closed due to retirement. Maybe, just maybe, the owners could evince the direction of travel the town is hell bent on going, but accusations of failing to invest in a property and business until it became untenable to keep operating have also been aimed at the Praxmair. Nevertheless, it is difficult to imagine that such an expensively positioned property will be occupied any time soon.
My walking did meet with disappointing closures. The mountain huts Melk and Hagstein? Geschlossen. The Fleckalmbahn, Bichlalm, and Panoramabahn mountain cableways? Gesperrt. I was though pleased to use, amongst others, the Adler Hut, adjacent to the Kitzbueheler Horn mid-station:
Furthermore, the hotels Kaiser and Jaegerwirt remain unbesetzt, although the latter now seems to have been repurposed into an arbeiterhaus for Harisch Hotel employers, the operating company of so many Kitzbuehel overnight accommodation providers, if the amount of Hungarian and Bulgarian numberplates in its rear parking lot are anything to go by. Tirolean tourism is now heavily dependent on foreign workers, predominantly those from Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, and especially Hungary.
On my walk back from the Vogelsberger Weiher lake I was surprised to chance upon an abandoned farmhouse of quite some size. Whilst everything changes or at least struggles to stand still, farming has remained an emblematic part of Austrian life, something which should be applauded and encouraged. It is therefore an oddity to see a farm in decay; in fact, more so than an abandoned hotel, even in Kitzbuehel:
Another geschlossen disappointment, although after so many visits I should by now have come to terms with it, is the always closed (in summer) Steinbergkogel hut. The views from this branched off diversion on the way to the Pengelstein are some of the finest in the area, if albeit giving a bird’s eye view of a new and entirely egregious mountain/BMX bike track:
Then, and finally, we have the curious case of the Hotel Zur Tenne. For many years the place to go and be seen in, including Robert Redford and Arnold Schwarzenegger amongst its former patrons, has for the last few winters remained empty, with a change of ownership and ripping out of its interior failing to get the hotel back on stream before a target date of the winter of 2025. Construction, if indeed any did take place, has ground to a halt to a point where twelve months on, nothing outwardly has changed. Furthermore, it has emerged that the fabric of the building, no doubt after two winters of not being attended to, is now in such a condition where demolition is the only viable option. This, it should be noted, is in effect an old terraced property bookended by identical buildings, the owners of which who will no doubt be highly concerned by the potentially damaging and definitely disruptive nature of bringing down an edifice amongst some very tight, narrow thoroughfares. The Hotel Tiefenbrunner, diagonally opposite, will no doubt share those anxieties.
Incidentally, I did find it odd that a hotel, the Zur Tenne, one in such dire need of being swept away, was able to only very recently safely receive 400 invited guests regaled with details of Kitzbuehel’s rebranding…
Did my trip to Kitzbuehel turn into something of a farewell tour? It didn’t feel like it at the time, but on reflection when back in the pavilion I am now not so sure. It’s not so much a changing of the guard moment, but as someone who’s not impressed by emporia retailing Rolex, Superdry, Lacoste, and Helmut Eder, brands aimed at the ‘target market’, I do wonder what a new reality in Kitzbuehel will mean for those of us who don’t like to wear our net worth as a conspicuous badge of (dis)honour?
I am sure I will one day return to the Gamsstadt, a most unique town, but for now at least, it is time to seek pastures new.
Alpine Adventures, Soccer, Central Asian Autocracies & Secessionist Politics 