Timber shutters thrown open onto snow-covered peaks catching the first orange light
Nine rooms.
No two alike.
Four wings, nine beds, and one of them has no roof over it. Every rate includes breakfast; half board adds €95 per person per night.
- 9
- rooms, never more
- 4
- wings, four different ideas
- from €295
- per night, breakfast in
- 2 nights
- minimum · three over New Year
Fictional concept · 46.49° N — 11.33° E · 1,847 m
Summit side
East casements over the drop, and the Zirmspitze in both of them. These are the rooms the desk will wake you for at 06:20, if you ask — and about a third of guests do.
Summit side · second floor
North Face Suite
Sleeps 3 · 41 m²
Two casements on their old iron hooks, and the Zirmspitze fills both of them. In February the summit turns orange a quarter of an hour before the valley works out the sun is up.
- Two east casements, open wide
- Third bed made up on request
- Kettle, no minibar
Summit side · end of the corridor
First Light
Sleeps 2 · 34 m²
The suite's smaller neighbour: one casement instead of two, and the same eleven minutes of advantage over the terrace. It is the room we give people who said they did not care about the view and then asked to move.
- One east casement, deep sill to sit in
- Bath, no shower — the original tub
- Woken for first light if you ask
The old wing
Thirty-four stairs, pine boards floor to ceiling, one landing bathroom shared between the four. The cheapest beds in the house, and the ones guests write to us about.
Old wing · top of the stairs
The Snowshoe
Sleeps 2 · 18 m²
The 1954 wing, kept as it was: pine boards floor to ceiling, a sash window you lean at to see out of, the original snowshoes still on the wall. Cheapest room in the house, and the one people write to us about.
- 34 stairs, no lift
- Shared landing bathroom
- No desk, no television
Old wing · north end
The Larch
Sleeps 2 · 19 m²
One window, and a larch close enough to hear. Gold for three weeks in October, bare and creaking by December, and the reason this room is booked a year out by the same four people.
- 34 stairs, no lift
- Shared landing bathroom
- Writing shelf under the window
Old wing · over the road
Eleven Bends
Sleeps 2 · 20 m²
Named for what you see out of it: the gravel switchbacks stacked up the flank, and headlights climbing them at seven in the evening. In winter, when the road closes, it is the quietest room we have.
- 34 stairs, no lift
- Shared landing bathroom
- Second glazing added in 2019
Old wing · beside the stairs
The Landing
Sleeps 2 · 17 m²
The smallest door in the building, and the last room we let — honestly, you hear the stairs. What you also get is the dormer, which is the best window in the house for watching a storm come up the valley.
- Smallest room in the house
- Shared landing bathroom, two steps away
- Dormer window, west over the valley
The south terrace
South-facing, over the meadow, off the terrace with the 40 cm rail and no glass. One of the two is a bed on a timber platform under open sky, which is either the best idea this house ever had or a rescue waiting to happen.
South terrace · June–September
The Open Deck
Sleeps 2 · Open sky
A bed on a timber platform off the south terrace. No roof, one timber windbreak at the head, a heated duvet rated to −5 °C and a bell you can ring at 3 a.m. if you change your mind.
- Heated duvet, 14 kg
- Bathroom is indoors, 40 m
- Cancels free if it rains
South terrace · first floor
The Meadow
Sleeps 3 · 26 m²
The room the Open Deck retreats into when the desk makes the 17:00 call. Doors straight onto the terrace, the meadow underneath it, and eleven days in May when that meadow goes from grey to loud.
- Terrace doors, facing south
- Third bed made up on request
- Own bathroom, walk-in shower
The annexe
The old dairy hut, on its own in the pines. No path lights, no neighbours, and a stove you have to learn to light.
Four minutes below the house
The Annexe
Sleeps 2 · Two rooms
The old dairy hut, rebuilt in 2019: a sitting room with the stove and a kitchen corner, a bedroom behind it, beech at one window and pines at the other. The stove is the only heating, and we lay it at 17:00.
- Wood stove, laid at 17:00
- Two gas rings and a kettle
- Torch by the door — no path lights
What comes
with the key
The same in all nine, whether you paid €295 or €640. The difference between the rooms is the window, the stairs and the bathroom — not the welcome.
Included
Breakfast
07:30 to 10:00, included in every rate
Linen & towels
Changed on the fourth day, or ask
Kettle and the tin
Tea, and the dry biscuits from the dairy
Drying room
Boots, skins, gloves — downstairs, always on
Cedar sauna
06:30 to 22:00, ten people, no booking
The library
142 books, one chess set, nobody is quiet
Deliberately absent
Wi-Fi
Library and office only. Deliberate, not technical
Television
One screen in the building. It is the office PC
Minibar
The bar is downstairs and it works on trust
Air conditioning
It is 1,847 m. Open the window
None of the four is a technical limitation, and we will not pretend otherwise.
Three rooms, three people
Invented guests, invented stays — this lodge is a concept build, and so is everyone in it.
I booked the cheapest room fully expecting to regret it. Thirty-four stairs, a window the size of a paperback, and the best sleep I have had in nine years. A card on the desk said the light hits the Zirmspitze at 06:20, so I set an alarm on my holiday, like a lunatic. Worth it.
Marguerite Aubry
Lyon, France
Three nights in The Snowshoe · February
Slept outside on the Open Deck in August. Around 2 a.m. it dropped to 4 °C and I seriously considered ringing the bell. The duvet won. Then a satellite crossed the whole sky and I stopped caring. Two notes: bring socks, and don't book it if you snore — that valley echoes.
Tom Reddick
Denver, Colorado
Two nights on The Open Deck · August
Booked the annexe as a burnout thing, braced for spa music and someone explaining mindfulness at me. Got neither. Got a stove I had to learn to light, no signal past the third switchback, and a four-minute walk up to dinner in the dark that I came to look forward to.
Danielle Okafor
Manchester, United Kingdom
Four nights in The Annexe · April
Nine doors. One yours.
Tell us the dates and we will tell you honestly which of the nine is right for them — including when the answer is none of the nine.