Further pictorial musings from Kitzbuehel

This is a rather attractive although some might say cliched Tirolean property. Whilst most things in life are subjective and beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I just say kudos to the owner who has created a floral balcony for their own pleasure as much as for anyone else's: On the outskirts of…

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Kitzbuehel: A little piece of everything that makes Austria special, all under one roof

My previous visit to Kitzbuehel could hardly be regarded as an unqualified success. Opting to stay on the edge of town albeit in an elevated position on the edge of forest sounded to be an idyllic setting, and whilst the aspect from my 'forest view' room afforded some pleasing glimpses of local wildlife, the terrace…

Kitzbuehel: The Legend Lives On

A balmy evening on the Vorderstadt, with the yellow and salmon-pink fronted Hotel Tiefenbrunner dominating the background. A boiling hot Sunday, where only escape to the Schwarzsee or the highest reaches of the Kitzbueheler Horn afforded welcome respite. The aforementioned Schwarzsee. A view from the Kitzbueheler Horn towards the settlement of St. Johann, and its…

Wildschoenau development precedents threaten its wild and beautiful reputation

When I returned to the Wildschoenau three years ago after an absence of over a decade, I was quickly reminded why my 2007 vacation in Niederau was perhaps up there with the best I have ever had. In the twenty years I have been travelling to the Austrian Alps throughout Salzburgerland, Carinthia, and Tirol a…

The Tirol’s Oetztal – where social distancing is an established bonus

For those accustomed to overseas travel the last twelve months has been a time of great frustration, but also represented an opportunity to reflect on the places we have missed so much, and what makes them special to us. It is now twenty years since my first visit to the Oetztal, which served as a…

Climate Change demands diversification away from winter sports, but viable alternatives are far from obvious – nor straightforward

With 40 fewer days of snow cover than 60 years ago, the alpine regions of Austria are not only losing the very element on which its leviathan winter sports sector relies upon, but also the use of melted snow that impacts river flow, hydroelectric capabilities, and the ability of farmers to harvest precipitation to water…

Kitzbuehel retrospective

In my penultimate alpine retrospective I focus on Kitzbuehel, the chic Tirolean resort situated within its eponymously named alps. Having travelled for over 20 years to Austria's mountainous regions, predominantly throughout the Tirol but also within Salzburgerland and Carinthia, the two resorts seemingly visited by nearly everyone who insist they have stayed in the country…

Zell am See retrospective

It is now several years since I last stayed in Zell am See, one of Austria's most famous lake resorts. Its proximity to Saalbach Hinterglemm and Kitzbuehel coupled with excellent public transport links have though enabled me to visit it on several occasions since. Framed by majestic peaks and on the cusp of the Tirol,…

Neustift im Stubaital retrospective

It has been several years since I last ventured over the Europa Bridge towards the Stubai valley/Stubaital in the high Austrian Tirol. Initially alarmed by the amount of traffic which this in effect 'one way in, one way out' valley receives, particularly heading towards Neustift, its all year round epicentre and the Stubai Gletscher(glacier), it…

New lift projects seek to keep the Stubaital competitive, but do they represent tired, out of date thinking?

The new General Secretary of the Austrian Alpine Club, Clemens Matt, recently made a bold statement which will resonate with those seeking to install more and further infrastructure in the mountains of Carinthia, Salzburgerland, and the Tirol, suggesting that every mountain does't need a cableway, nor a connection between neighbouring valleys. As winters shorten and…

Big money threatens to homogenize distinct alpine regions

Undeveloped land within the Austrian Tirol, in particular along the Inn Valley and where it is more tableland than vertiginous peaks, is in great demand and under growing pressure - in equal measure. There is little doubt that the region's popularity as a tourism destination and the location of second homes for wealthy Austrians, and…

Will the intervention of Covid-19 inadvertently prevent environmental encroachment, or merely represent a stay of execution?

In the immediate term Austria's delayed ski season is due to begin on Christmas Eve or January 7th, depending on the resort. Where the Soelden ski area in the Oetztal aims to reopen for business in 12 days' time, further up the valley in Obergurgl and Vent, the slopes expect to receive guests after many…

Wildschoenau ‘attraction’ disrespects the valley’s wild and beautiful remit

It what I regard as an appalling visual assault and that upon nature the Tirolean Wildschoenau valley has unveiled the first feature of its Drachental Freizeitpark, an alpine coaster. In what is a grim irony a valley whose name otherwise correctly translates as 'wild and beautiful' has had such a scheme thrust upon it by…

Will Covid-19 provide the perfect smokescreen for further incursions into Alpine Europe?

As the dust settles cautiously on the beginning of the end of novel coronavirus' first wave, I ponder if what the world has learned during the last six months will be long forgotten once the need for rampant materialism once more kicks in, first during the egregious Halloween/Bonfire Night season before the vulgarity wrapped within…

Obergurgl: Landslide and Covid-19 heavily curtails summer season, bringing in to question its ‘off season’ future

It was once suggested to me by a hotelier in the Austrian lakeside resort of St. Wolfgang im Salzkammergut that his Obergurgl counterparts did not need to be friendly as they were all already millionaires. Whether each were indeed already men and women of significant means, as was almost twenty years, remains in little doubt…

Pitztal-Oetztal link: Will Covid-19 consign the scheme to history or give it renewed oxygen?

Novel coronavirus necessitated us all to pause and take in what was around us in plain sight all along. Many won't have liked what they saw as the 'look at' me generation co-opted Covid-19 for their Narcissistic ends; others will have been astounded by nature in their gardens and neighbourhoods, while some set off for…

Wildschoenau: New tourist attraction is not my idea of a good time

It was early July in 2007. Funds were low but my by now deeply rooted desire to head to the Alps as often as possible was firmly established. Where though could I go on a budget that would barely get me three nights bed and breakfast in London, for a genre of holiday and in…

Oetztal: How much did Auguste Piccard and Otzi shape the valley’s destiny?

A backward glance to 2014 and my time in the Oetztal region of the Austrian Tirol. Predominantly based in Obergurgl, I also journeyed to Soelden, Vent, Umhausen, and Oetz. Despite the at times indifferent weather but perpetually spectacular landscape and man's attempt to tame it for his own ends, this is an area of the…

Tirol: Will the onset of Climate Change make sustainable development in the Alps unrealistic?

Architecture, similar to many areas of modern life, has become highly subjective as tradition gives way to the Avant Garde, the controversial, and a general feeling that 'anything goes' in an era of declining standards, moral ambiguity, and disrespect. Even in the Alps there is no longer a uniform design template to which architects must…

For how long will the Winter Sports industry continue to justify the damage it does to the Alps?

Those who seek to debunk Climate Change and Global Warming will point to the ski season beginning earlier each year as justification for their controversial standpoint. What though is little known outside of the resorts open for business at this unseemly early stage in what is still, after all, the middle of autumn, and to…