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Is love a choice you make, or something that chooses you? It’s both—that’s the magic. Aspen fell for Gay Ski Week in the 1970s. THE ASPEN WAY Our only regret is not finding each other sooner. The question now is how we open our hearts even more. aspensnowmass.com/theaspenway LOVE— IT’S #THEASPENWAY

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64 THE FAST AND THE FABULOUS Race tracks, racing stripes, and red corvettes. From a speedway in snow country, our fashion team rolls out this season’s fastest looks. 76 MAGICAL MIKAELA World Champion skier Mikaela Shiffrin enchants us on and off the course with her candor, capability, and incomparable focus on technical proficiency. Is it magic or simply hard, hard work? 84 KLAUS EVERLASTING Aikido. The Powder Rule. Laps on Tiehack. From fleeing the Nazis to sleeping in Warren Miller’s car to his top- of-the-line ski wear designs, Klaus Obermeyer’s story amazes. Who doesn’t want to Be Like Klaus? 90 INSTA-GLAM See it. Share it. Like it. LOVE IT. Winter’s INSTA-GLAM- worthy ski fashion is as hot as social networking. 102 SHADOWLAND Hidden in the shadow of the Canadian Rockies is Kicking Horse Resort, a skier’s paradise with big mountain terrain, crowdless lifts, extraordinary locals, and ready access to heli-skiing. Wait, where is it? 110 LES ÉTOILES DE COURCHEVEL With 20 five-star hotels, a penchant for private chalets, and Europe’s highest tarmacked runway, France’s Courchevel offers la belle vie on skis to high fliers and hedge fund honchos. on the cover Jacket Sportalm Pants Sportalm Baselayer Sportalm Bracelet Lulu Fiedler this page Fur Dennis Basso

Gown Pamella Roland ALEXANDER CHRISTIAN PHOTO: 18 AZTECHMOUNTAIN.COM AND FINE RETAILERS WORLDWIDE WINTER 17/18 SNOW FLURRIES 29 Art in Austria. Design your own skis. B.C.’s year-round ski resort. 50 SNOW STYLE 36 Uphill ski gear and gadgets. Warm and wild winter wear. Getting red-e for winter. APRÈS 42 A hip Hokkaido hangout behind a refrigerator door. SNOW GEAR 44 Searching for your perfect ski match. SKI TO LUNCH 48 Crisp rösti, Valais vino, and Verbier’s best fondue at Cabane Mont-Fort. SNOW SUITES 50 The stars come out at Austria’s Chalet Astberg. PERFECT PLACE 56 Vorarlberg: Land of schnapps and steeples. LAST RUN 128 The stylized ski art of Charlie Adam.

76 84 102 44

20 PUBLISHER Barbara Sanders

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Lori Knowles [email protected]

CHIEF EDITORIAL AND CREATIVE OFFICER Barbara Sanders [email protected]

A R T D IR E C T O R Julius M. Yoder III [email protected]

EUROPEAN EDITOR ASSOCIATE FASHION EDITOR PRINT AND DIGITAL CONTRIBUTORS Leslie Woit Michael Mastarciyan ORIGINAL TYROL SKI POSTER BY MARIA REHM Christian Alexander, Lesley Anthony, HALL FROM ORIGINALSKIPOSTERS.COM. COPY EDITOR FASHION EDITORIAL TEAM Daniela Federici, Andrew Findlay, Melissa Long Carol Breen, Lulu Fiedler, Kimberly Mattias Fredriksson, Shinan Govani, PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THE Mann, John Martinez, Joan Valentine Claire Herrington, Lori Knowles, CREATIVE DIRECTOR PENTHOUSE AT CHALET SKYFALL, AUSTRIA, Jen Laskey, Audrey Mead, Kari Medig, Julius M. Yoder III DIGITAL DIRECTOR AVAILABLE FOR RENT EXCLUSIVELY THROUGH Hilary Nangle, Jules Older, BRAMBLESKI.COM Julius M. Yoder III FASHION EDITOR Peter ‘Poby’ Pobyjpicz, Everett Potter, John Martinez DIGITAL CONTENT CREATOR Gerald Sanders, David Shribman, Carol Breen EUROPEAN ADVISOR Rob Story, Leslie Woit Claudia Deneriaz-Riegler

ADVERTISING SALES EUROPEAN ADVERTISING SALES

Sales Director CESANA MEDIA Barbara Sanders Sales Manager (970) 948-1840 Paolo Mongeri [email protected] [email protected] Sales Manager The very finest Debbie Topp (905) 770-5959 original ski posters [email protected] Special thanks to Anne-Marie Boissonnault, Laura Doherty, and Sales Associate the Maison 1608 team for their creativity and passion for SNOW. for your Lodge or Taylor Barry (405) 808-5231 Collection [email protected]

Original Ski Posters.com PUBLISHER’S LETTER HELLO EUROPE! My ski dreams and fantasies have always The Alps are timeless, but France’s stylist John Martinez were able to reveal had a European accent and I’m thrilled to Courchevel now puts uber luxury on her as the bewitching snow queen she is; debut SNOW – The Alps this winter in the the map. In Courchevel, nothing is the world’s finest clothing and jewelry, old birthplace of the sport. As a passionate unobtainable, everything is possible. In barns, snow-laden aspen trees, and a horse skier, I love exploring ski resorts around this edition, Leslie Woit’s tell-all (see Les named Dreamer all combined to help bring the world: Though snow conditions and Étoiles de Courchevel, page 110) gives a peek Shiffrin’s spellbinding story to life. trails can be similar, the experience of through the keyhole at the fabulousness of Shadowland by Leslie Anthony, with skiing in Europe is beyond compare. this tiny town in the French Alps. With photographs by Mattias Fredriksson, Alpine culture beckons — from on- more five-star hotels than almost any city is your passport to powder (see page 102). mountain dining to fabulous hotels, in the world (except perhaps Dubai), Canada’s Kicking Horse in British chalets, and over-the-top spas — leaving Courchevel is the place oligarchs, royals, Columbia is a skier’s paradise, and the little doubt that Europe offers the and celebrities make their winter dreams nearby town of Golden is as authentic and quintessential skiing experience. come true. Vive la France! as charming as the people who call it home. Like skiing, SNOW originated in the This year we shot our fashion editorial Big mountain skiing, resort skiing, Alps. While visiting Lech, Austria more at a $22 million home slopeside at Aspen heli-skiing, and a burgeoning foodie scene than a decade ago, I wandered into the Highlands. It was the perfect setting for make Kicking Horse a must ski destination Strolz boutique. I left hours later carrying 2018’s ski and après-ski fashion, as well this year. several shopping bags as well as a Strolz as stunning jewels and accessories Here’s to a great ski season! Catalogue. Later, while flipping through its (see Insta-GLAM, page 90). Photographer gorgeous pages, I realized it was so much Christian Alexander and stylist Let it SNOW ! more than a catalogue — it was the Alps John Martinez gathered a group of top experience and it inspired me to found models to showcase the latest looks. Wear SNOW. Eleven years later I am finally ‘em on the slopes or on Rodeo Drive and launching SNOW’s inaugural European you’ll look mahvelous. edition. I treasure this opportunity to place While attending this season’s round of Barbara Sanders, Publisher SNOW – The Alps in Strolz boutiques snow trade shows, I realized racing stripes [email protected] alongside its inspiration. are a real “thing” this season, with a For decades, skiing was the perfect number of top brands focused on auto medium for film, advertising, and fashion. racing-inspired styles. Our second fashion It was sexy and bold and its athletes could story was inspired by spotting Bogner’s double as film stars. I miss the days we Fire and Ice One Piece Ski Suit in their could have some fun and didn’t take latest collection. The suit simply screamed everything so seriously. for an auto racing backdrop. Our fashion Klaus Obermeyer attempted to escape editors rounded up some vintage cars — the Nazis on skis and was shot and including a “little red Corvette”— and took left to die. Fifty years later, his skiing over a Colorado race track to showcase this days are far from over. He literally season’s fastest ski looks. sparkles as he talks about how great Also in this edition, Lori Knowles’ profile the snow is on Aspen Mountain. of U.S. ski racer Mikaela Shiffrin shines Everett Potter’s story on Obermeyer (see a light on one of the most technically Klaus Everlasting, page 84) captures the proficient skiers the world has ever very essence of Klaus, from the young boy witnessed (see Magical Mikaela, page 76). growing up in post-World War I Germany, We’ve all seen Shiffrin on the podium, to the ski wear magnate focused on the but a late-season blizzard in a Colorado future of his company and its impact on forest last April provided another fitting rossignol.com the environment. Obermeyer ski wear only way to portray Shiffrin in her element. gets better with age. Photographer Christian Alexander and 24

ROSSIGNOL APPAREL_SNOW_2017.indd 1 9/7/17 8:50 AM 26 CONTRIBUTORS SNOW TALENT SNOW Everlasting Klaus (See Obermeyer icon Klaus fashion ski interviewing while season last Colorado in day perfect such one New York — spent Pelham, in daughter and wife his with lives —who Potter Highlands. of Aspen slopes stylish on powder the skimming spent is vacation ski the ideal Potter, Everett writer travel sophisticated and For savvy and every single moment.” single every and day, every about he’s exuberant more, What’s skis. up our hang of us many where point the past decades active physically is “Klaus says. Potter life,” ski perfect the “He’s devised aging. intelligent in course crash 97, a received Klaus, Potter EVERETT EVERETT POTTER , page 84)., page From Writer the massage settings.” the massage adjust and seats of the heated increase the temperature over to pulled “he says, she way,” the Audi. “On bulletproof a in bodyguard/chauffeur aBulgarian with the lifts to a ride Ms. Woit hitched Courchevel de Étoiles Les (See Courchevel as places such starry researching winter last Alps the in While restaurants. Michelin-starred at ski-in, and noshing off-piste guides with skiing beyond, Italy, and France, Austria, of Alps snowy the through ( days Her winter Europe. things of all in command editors, contributing of our Woit now Leslie one is Lucky ho-hum ) are spent meandering meandering spent ) are LESLIE LESLIE WOIT WRITER , page 110), 110), page , snowflake. snowflake. for the perfect searches and of powder fistfuls He gathers taxing: less slightly only for aSNOW location on while distraction favorite The photographer’s movie. 007 next the side, in at Bond his James mountain, a down blast to ambition asecret snow, he harbors over surf prefers While he fire. by awarm hot cocoa sipping to it leads if weather cold in photographs snapping he’s yet for game creature”, “tropical a self-proclaimed is boy, Alexander aMiami As and 64, page Fabulous Fast the and The (See features fashion and cover SNOW shoot to Colorado in up camp he when set April last atrooper was Alexander Photographer Christian Magical Mikaela ALEXANDER ALEXANDER CHRISTIAN CHRISTIAN Insta-GLAM PHOTOGRAPHER fashion shoot is is shoot fashion , page 76)., page , page 90, 90, , page ’s ’s , the woman.” out of course race the take you can’t “but Knowles, says course,” race out of the woman the take “You can pistes. world’s on the toughest faster on ski how to focused sharply remained attention Shiffrin’s gowns, in designer figure her lithe draped and nails, her painted her hair, teased inspired an beauty As team (see footwear and fabulous jewels precious in radiant queen, snow sparkling to champion Worldformidable overall Cup from morphed Shiffrin Mikaela racer ski U.S. quick Lightning transformation. amagical to witness spring last day on a wintry forest Colorado into the deep crew fashion intrepid SNOW followed Lori Knowles editor-in-chief and Writer Magical Mikaela KNOWLES LORI LORI WRITER , page 76)., page

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American photographer Annie Leibovitz paired with Chinese artist/performer Liu Bolin to produce Moncler’s latest campaign. In a series of fantastical Leibovitz photographs for the European apparel company, a nearly transparent Bolin blends mystically into the jagged glaciers and frigid, metallic waters of Iceland. — Lori Knowles WWW.MONCLER.COM Snow Ghost Snow

It’s all the mode. Art appreciation, practically Sweet while you sleep. Lech’s stunningly sumptuous Severin*s – The Alpine Dreams, Retreat — nine excusive suites with all the five-star hotel amenities to match — is part of the trend that Baby sees world-class art adorning hotel walls and made available for purchase. In partnership with Vienna-based Contemporary Art Advisors, a curated collection of 80 pictures by internationally acclaimed artists — including Julian Opie and Jim Dine — complements emerging artists from Austria, Germany, and Italy. Prices range from $3,000 to $175,000. The latter buys one of the collection’s highlights: Roy Lichtenstein’s Sweet Dreams, Baby!, a limited edition signed print Ski Pass from 1965. — Leslie Woit Domination WWW.SEVERINS-LECH.AT In a whirl as dizzying as a carnival ride, several major North American ski resorts were swept up last summer and consolidated into a single collection. California’s Mammoth Mountain and Squaw Valley, Colorado’s Steamboat and Winter Park, Quebec’s Tremblant, and Utah’s Deer Valley are among the kingpins comprising a new, as-yet-unnamed ski brand. They’re controlled by affiliates of KSL Capital Partners, LLC (KSL) and Henry Crown and Company (HCC) — the latter an affiliate of Aspen Skiing Company (ASC). David Perry, former ASC head, is directing the new venture. In winter seasons to come, expect skiing’s latest heavyweight to go several rounds with Vail Resorts, owner of a knockout collection of contenders that include Vail and Whistler Blackcomb, plus the wildly popular and heavily discounted Epic Pass. At the core of this impending prize fight: multi-resort ski pass domination. — LK 30 FLURRIES Pod Perfect Planned for Spring 2018: Whistler’s new Pangea Pod Hotel, a cross between a hostel and a chic ski hotel. Situated steps from Whistler’s gondolas, the Pangea features 88 sleeping pods lined in blond wood and kitted with tech-friendly, high- end features such as multiple USB ports and fine linens. Taking cues from Tokyo’s trendsetting capsule hotels, Pangea’s pods have room to sit and sleep but no space to stand. The hotel’s more spacious social areas include a gear room, a rooftop bar, and The Living Room with fast wifi and moveable glass panels that morph the space into an outdoor patio. The view? Whistler’s lively village. — LK WWW.PANGEAPOD.COM Designer DIY Custom skis, handmade by you. With Build 2 Ride, anyone can design and construct custom skis in just one and a half days. Founded in 2012 by Axel Forelle, Build 2 Ride workshops take place each winter in the historic ski town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, on the German-Austrian border. Pros will guide you through the process — no special technical skills required. First, your preferred type of ski, materials, and design are discussed. Next, layers are glued and edges are attached. Finally your custom skis are set in a kiln. Then comes the fun part: designing your own graphics. A swirl here, a flourish there…finally , your very own skis are ready for a test ride in the Alps. — LW WWW.BUILD2RIDE.COM PHOTOS: PANGEA POD HOTEL, MARK GILSDORF BUILD TO RIDE Ring for the Outdoor Butler New in St. Moritz: a button on your suite’s telephone at ice hidden high atop the Bernina massif. the sumptuous Carlton Hotel connecting you to your Wiederkehr will suggest, arrange, and execute very own outdoor butler — the charming Urs Wiederkehr, almost anything out-of-doors. a fully certified mountain guide and Engadine expert. “I do everything from guided Urs is at the ready to suggest, shape, and guide your cultural tours,” the butler says, customized outing into the glittering St. Moritz “to discovering a fondue lunch at a rustic surroundings. Perhaps a winter walk retracing the hut.” And because this is St. Moritz, a little sport footsteps of great authors on the scenic Philosophers’ shopping is also easily arranged. Should your pack Trail? Cross-country skiing to a whiskey tasting by grow too heavy, the Carlton’s shiny Bentley is only a moonlight? Or, if conditions are correct, a magical ice phone call away. — LW skating adventure across Lago Bianco, its frozen black WWW.CARLTON-STMORITZ.CH 32 FLURRIES Skiing 365 A new ski resort with year-round skiing, heli-ski terrain, stunning views, and North America’s largest vertical drop (6,857 feet) could open as early as Winter 2019. After five years of consultation, Valemount Glacier in British Columbia’s Premier Range received Canadian government and First Nations approval to launch as North America’s first completely new and sustainable ski area since the 1960s. As North America’s first fully lift-accessed glacier ski resort, Valemount can offer both public skiing and training for ski teams 12 months of the year. Says developer Tommaso Oberti: “This location opens lift access to one of the best snow zones and reliable climates for snow sports on the continent.” — Jules Older PHOTO COURTESY OF VALEMOUNT GLACIERS WWW.VALEMOUNTGLACIERS.COM Heli-Yeah! Le Grand Spa As one of the oldest palace hotels in Gstaad, Le Grand Bellevue has revamped its spa this season with an alpine design. A Thermal Oasis heat treatment complex includes 17 wellness experiences, including a hay sauna, an infrared sauna, an ice fountain, and a Himalayan salt inhalation grotto. Pine-clad treatment rooms offer goat milk foot baths. The spa’s relaxation area overlooks the local Swiss landscape. There’s a fully equipped gym, a yoga and Pilates studio, a swimming pool, and a sushi bar with a Japanese sushi master serving fresh and healthy nibbles should you work up an appetite while spa-ing. — Carol Breen WWW.BELLEVUE-GSTAAD.CH

Tordrillo Mountain Lodge and Winterlake Lodge have teamed up to offer some of the most expansive heli-skiing terrain in Alaska. Guests staying at the foodie-focused Winterlake Lodge are treated to gourmet delights from the kitchen of award-winning Chef Kirsten Dixon. This intimate experience is limited to eight guests per week with an A-Star helicopter and two guides at the ready. Beyond amazing powder skiing, epic scenery, and fine dining, guests can also spend time cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling. Situated along the historic Iditarod trail, dog mushing is also an option. — Julius Yoder WWW.TORDRILLOMOUNTAINLODGE.COM

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40 Available at the best ski retailers all across the US S APR È THE BEHIND encouraged to talk about their ski day, chat with the staff, or just sit and enjoy the view,” says Morelli. Watanabe’s most popular tipples FRIDGE DOOR include the Hot Apple Pie (vanilla-infused vodka, warmed Yoichi apple juice, cinnamon syrup, and baked apple and orange bitters), a hot buttered rum with homemade Hokkaido butter, yuzu mojitos, and classic whiskey cocktails made with Japanese whiskey. Morelli oversees the spirits program and selects all of the bar’s sakes and whiskies. “Years ago it was hard to interest people in drinking a Japanese whiskey,” she says. “But now it’s hard to get them to drink anything else!” Of Watanabe’s Japanese Whiskey Sour, the bartender explains that when people come off the ski hill and step inside Bar Gyu+, they’re usually looking for something refreshing and not too strong. “In this drink we use Japanese honey,” he says. “But it’s not too sweet — more sour.” He also recommends using large ice cubes to keep the drink really cold right to the last sip.

WWW.GYUBAR.COM PHOTOS: COURTESY OF BAR GYU+ A hip Hokkaido hangout hides behind a in his living room nearly 20 years ago. EXPERIENCE THE He is the head bartender, running the refrigerator door. business with his wife, Ioanna Morelli, by JEN LASKEY who came to the area in 2005 to WORLD’S FINEST POWDER snowboard, met Watanabe, and stayed. estled into a Niseko snowbank, Fast track to 2017: Bar Gyu+ is now a Luxury Resort • Private Packages • 1.2 Million Acres there is a small red refrigerator quirky, wood-paneled hideaway and one door. Duck your head to enter, of the hottest spots on Hokkaido. you’ll find a candlelit cocktail “We try to make the atmosphere as Nlair where lo-fi jazz is wafting through the analog as possible so people are speakers. Bartenders are serving belly- warming craft cocktails to Tokyo’s coolest — those who’ve come to find their post-ski zen after a day riding JAPANESE WHISKEY SOUR Japan’s Niseko Annupuri. The vintage Coca-Cola vending 2 ounces Suntory machine door has become one of the most White Blended Whiskey iconic symbols in Niseko — and the reason 1 ounce fresh lemon juice Bar Gyu+ is also known as the `Fridge Door 1 Bar. ⁄2 ounce honey syrup (1:1 honey/water ratio) Hisashi Watanabe, a former ski instructor and patroller, started the bar Large ice cube Blue River, British Columbia, Canada | 1.800.661.9170 | [email protected] 42 www.wiegele.com GEAR skiHarmony Finding your perfect ski match. by BARBARA SANDERS

Ski testing is a bit like speed dating. You development officer for the Aspen Valley don’t want to waste your time when Ski Club, acted as test director. Völkl Kendo there isn’t any chemistry. First This year’s group of testers included LENGTH 170 127 x 90 x 110 impressions matter. top ski pros Joan Valentine, Georgie During SNOW’s annual Ski Test last Bremner, Nick Hill, Trent Jones, Megan “I’m looking for someone unafraid to March, testers were tasked with finding Harvey Bourke, and Jill Dorken. Ex-ski push limits. I’m ready to take things to the perfect match for a variety of skiers. racers and pros also joined the speed the next level.” The team began with first impressions, dating fun, including Dairinn Bowers, This ski is not lacking in spirit! The asking the age-old question: Do you Lindsi Bradbury, Susan Kinstler, and Kendo is beefy underfoot, yet its want a second date? Next, they explored P.J. McGovern. Mike Shea from Aztech versatility makes it ideal as a one- each ski’s personality, searching for Mountain ski wear came along to check ski quiver. Trent Jones liked how he traits such as strength, confidence, out the new rides. Gorsuch manager could push his limits on this Völkl steadiness, energy, aggressivity, and Jared Ettlinger — who along with David and it wouldn’t let him down. Jill effortlessness. Finally, they got to the Stapleton tests hundreds of skis each Dorken says, “This ski is like a full- good stuff asking questions such as:Is season — rounded out the group. suspension mountain bike. It’s fun and this ski fun to ride? Is it responsive? and Here’s what SNOW’s testers easy, just as a first date should be!” Does it give back? After several speed discovered on the speed dating front: PERFECT MATCH: Ideal for spirited dates our testers admitted that when it and aggressive skiers who can comes to ski harmony, size, shape, and handle the Kendo’s quick wit and looks really do matter. responsiveness. SNOW’s Ski Test took place on Aspen Mountain in packed-powder LOOKS: Art lovers will give this conditions. Testers skied pristine ski’s graphics high marks. corduroy in the morning and choppy powder/crud bumps in the afternoon. David Stapleton, past U.S. Ski Team member, shop owner, and current

Stöckli Laser AX LENGTH 175 123 x 78 x 110

“I’m looking for that sensitive someone who Kästle LX 85 | LENGTH 160 126 x 85 x 109 will appreciate my finer features.” “I just want to find a skier who appreciates that I can bash the Susan Kinstler liked that this Stöckli is bumps and transition quickly from edge to edge. I’ll never get narrow underfoot — she could tip it up on stuck in a rut.” edge with ease. “It’s a fun cruising ski,” she “A sure crowd pleaser,” says tester Joan Valentine. “This says. “It’s easy to initiate a turn at slower Kästle may be the yellow Labrador of skis!” Speed daters loved speeds.” As for ex-ski pro P.J. McGovern, he the LX 85’s edge hold at top speeds, and they really dug its was happy the AX felt damp and solid but didn’t versatility. This ski is wide enough to ride in a variety of terrain leave him in the dust! and snow conditions, but it’s versatile enough to perform well on the groomers. “Holy cow, what a fun ski!” says tester Megan Harvey Bourke. “I want to bless its maker!” PERFECT MATCH: Perfect for a male or female skier who wants to cruise on the groomers and PERFECT MATCH: The Kästle LX 85 is a perfect match for a NOBIS.COM venture occasionally off-piste and into the bumps. practical man or woman looking for a lightweight ski that’s adept at exploring the entire mountain. LOOKS: Sassy and bright. It’s a lean and mean ripping machine! LOOKS: It has the kind of look you know and love — it’s not 44 just about personality!. winter adv.pdf 1 17/11/17 11:52 GEAR

Wagner 97 (Custom) | LENGTH 177 135 x 99 x 21 “I’m looking for a fearless risk taker.”

“I would take this Wagner home with me,” tester David Stapleton says. PERFECT MATCH: A Type A male — one who’s “She’s skilled edge to edge and moves from 0 to 50 miles per hour confident and keen to have his own way on the hill. incredibly fast.” Georgie Bremner was full of metaphors: “This ski is a LOOKS: Create a masterpiece with Wagner’s high-stepping colt, you need to be ready for it. It carves as if it’s on rails, custom graphics. and it exits each turn like a Japanese bullet train!”

Head Monster 88 LENGTH 177 133 x 88 x 114 C “I’m looking for intimacy but I also want to DPS Alchemist Wailer 99 |LENGTH 176 125 x 99 x 111 M have fun and travel.” “I’m playful and looking for someone who can keep up, but I’m open to Y

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SKI TO LUNCH SKI TO ELEVATED LUNCH EN HAUTE MONTAGNE AT VERBIER’S CABANE MONT-FORT. STATE by LESlIE WOIT

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ometimes cheese is No VIP queues here, CMY not enough. Perched mon ami. If the weather is fine K on a privileged peak you’ll have to arrive early to among Switzerland’s bag a bench table in the sun. most magnificent Service on the terrace is Smountains, this remote through an egalitarian serving high-alpine refuge offers both hatch. Order, pay, take a cozy alpine atmosphere and number, find a seat, and soak an embarrassment of cheesy up a dazzling display of pretty diversions. Fondue forks en peaks, from the mighty Grand SONDEREGGER CHRISTOF BY PHOTOS garde! Cabane Mont-Fort is a Combin to Mont Blanc itself. In lunch stop worth dueling for. case of weather, prepare to cozy Verbier attracts a sportif up and meet your neighbors crowd, from Richard Branson in the wood-paneled, lactose- and Jude Law to the young scented interior. Menu London royal set, so avi packs favorites include macaronis If the weather is fine arrive early and fat skis rub alongside the à la montagnarde with apple occasional Brit in a collared compote, crisp rösti, and the to bag a bench table in the sun. shirt at this classic pit stop. best fondue in Verbier, all After a morning skiing the washed down with top-drawer Mont-Fort’s 58 dorm beds evolved souls escaping powder of Vallon d’Arbi or the Valais wines. Sizing is strictly constitute a classic overnight Verbier’s swank hotels for a bumps of Tortin, the hungry “skier’s portion”, but the stay on the fabled Chamonix- night en haute montagne under and helmeted schuss straight 100 lifts that knit the Four Zermatt Haute Route ski tour. the stars. Lunch at Cabane to this stone aerie for hearty Valleys terrain will take It’s common to find late lunchers Mont-Fort can bring you to Valaisanne dishes… plus, care of any calorie overload. settling in with a deck of cards a truly elevated state. perhaps, a hair-of-the-dog after Operated by the Swiss and another round. Often these WWW.CABANEMONTFORT.CH a night of Verbier clubbing. Alpine Club, upstairs the Haute Routers are joined by AMUNDSENSPORTS.COM 48 // Amundsen Sports available in key shops throughout the Alps // SUITES GAME ON Star tracks and lavish stays at Kitzbühel’s new Chalet Astberg.

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How many lavish ski trips come fully loaded with their own ski celebs? Available by special arrangement, guests of Kitzbühel’s chic new Chalet Astberg can “rent” ski superstars. 2017 FIS World Champion Erik Guay of Canada and U.S. Olympic golden boy Bode Miller are among ambassadors at the ready to sip, ski, and tell a story or three of their daredevil days on the world’s fastest steeps. PHOTOS: ANDREAS WIMMER ANDREAS PHOTOS: 50

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Perched on a private knoll 15 minutes outside the walled village of Kitzbühel, Chalet Astberg and its roster of celebrities comprise Austria’s latest addition to slopeside luxury. Chalet Astberg is part of an exclusive collection of private European ski homes offered by Worlds’ Finest, a vacation company pairing sumptuous chalet living with superstar company. Crafted in time for this ski season, Chalet Astberg’s exterior has been hand-hewn from matured timber salvaged from Austrian farm houses. Inside there are nine opulent bedrooms draped in luxurious linens. Accents of soft deerskin, handwoven Indian rugs, and cowhide carpets abound. Cathedral-height living and dining areas house a wood-burning fireplace, plush Italian sofas, and floor-to-ceiling windows that lead to a massive outdoor terrace. Bestrewn with sheepskin throws and plush deck furniture, the expansive indoor-outdoor space begs for après-ski merriment and Aperol spritz sundowners.

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Of course, a full range of Bode Miller’s bespoke Bomber skis nestle beer at Kitzbühel’s classic Londoner pub with Streif survivors in like fine jewels in the padded closets of Chalet Astberg’s luxe ski your midst. The Worlds’ Finest roster of superstar athletes-for- room. The indoor-outdoor pool opens regally onto Tirol’s peaky hire also includes PGA golfer José María Olazába, footballer Mario panorama. Wine tastings take place in the wine room, or wherever Gomez, extreme kiteboarder Youri Zoon, and culinary you fancy. There’s a concierge on hand to call the chauffeured ambassador Roland Trettl — celebs who can swing, kick, fly, and Bentley into action. And a recreation room triples as a cinema, fry alongside Astberg guests. In such incomparable, rarified, and games room, and library. downright qualified company as this, topping a stay at Kitzbühel’s You may just need the solace and luxuriant comfort such a Chalet Astberg will be its own life challenge. Game on. space can offer following a day skiing Kitzbühel with a world WWW.WFI.AG champion. Imagine the crazy fun of tucking the horrifically fast Hahnenkamm with Bode Miller or Erik Guay, followed by a frothy

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A powder-rich adventure through Austria’s idyllic Vorarlberg region. by ANDREW FINDLAY

wake groggy from jet lag and peer out a window of size of Rhode Island, Vorarlberg contains a world of skiing my suite in Mittelberg, an idyllic mountain village in adventures and a winter sports history as rich as a bowlful of Austria’s Kleinwalsertal region, snugged up against Kaiserschmarrn, that favorite Austrian dessert of the late emperor the German border. Fat snowflakes drift lazily and Franz Josef I. the industrious Austrians are already busy blowing “You’re timing izz perfect,” says Elmar Mueller, a snow and plowing streets blanketed with what Kleinwalsertal ski bum to the core whom I meet for breakfast appears deliciously to be a foot and a half of powder. along with mountain guide Lukas Kühlechner, who hails from Being Sunday morning, the bells of the Catholic Church are tolling the Montafon, a region I’ll explore on this trip. toI summon the faithful. But for me, it’s like the sound of a one-in- A morning feast of muesli, charcuterie, cheeses so sharp they a-thousand strike at a Las Vegas slot machine — in skiing terms, challenge my ski boot liners for pungency, eggs, fresh fruit, and I have stumbled upon a jackpot. espresso snaps me out of jet lag. Over breakfast I’m told the Austria is synonymous with skiing and I came to explore avalanche hazard is high, so plans are to stay inbounds after riding Vorarlberg, the country’s westernmost state that’s home to the gondola to the top of Kanzelwand. Thigh-deep feathery powder renowned resorts like Lech Zürs am Arlberg, and obscure gems sits atop a thin base. Low clouds clear to reveal breathtaking views like Sonnenkopf and Gargellan. Although it’s just two-thirds the of the jagged Bregenzerwald Mountains. After a few low-angled 56 What do

PERFECT PLACE The key to Austria’s global skiing dominance may lie in its hearty SKI BOOTS mountain cuisine — and its schnapps. & SUPER TUSCAN WINES have in common? When handcrafted by ski boot maker-turned-wine maker, Roberto Cristoforetti, they are medal worthy. PHOTO: ADOLF BEREUTER. BREGENZERWALD TOURISM BREGENZERWALD BEREUTER. ADOLF PHOTO: PHOTO: MICHAEL GUNZ - VORARLBERG TOURISMUS Seventy-nine Olympic medals have been won in ski racing boots made by Cristoforetti and now Pervale, his SuperTuscan

powder runs, we get busy in untracked forest glades, and use the stone blend has won “Double Gold”. walls of subalpine pastures for pillow drops. On the day’s final run we thread the avalanche fences to the valley bottom where our shuttle awaits to spirit us back to the steam rooms and saunas of the Haller’s Genuss & Spa Hotel. That night we’re spoiled by the hotel’s award-winning chef de cuisine, Gerd Hammerer, with a menu of delicious tea-smoked duck breast with artichoke and fig, sweet potato soup, venison ragout, and vanilla- raspberry sorbet. Later, we migrate to the lounge for a digestif of local pear schnapps. Already I was beginning to wonder if the key to Austria’s global skiing dominance may lie in its hearty mountain cuisine — and its schnapps.

It’s more of the same the next day at the adjacent resort of Höfen; a feast of powder worthy of last night’s extravagant repast. The karst geology of Kleinwalsertal features depressions, caverns, and skier-swallowing sinkholes. Therefore we ski with care while following Mueller — his beard perpetually powdered from the still falling snow — around one of his home mountains. Plans to ski tour to the tabletop massif known as Ifen Roberto Cristoforetti are thwarted by ping-pong ball visibility. So at day’s end we pile into the with prototype of gold medalist van and shuttle to a fairytale mountain valley and our home for the night, Alberto Tomba's boots the family-run Jagdgasthaus Egender. The clouds have cleared and the steeple of a lonely country chapel pierces the steely blue evening sky. Austrians are avid hunters, and many guesthouses, like this one, double as hunting lodges where the unabashedly dominant decorative theme is often taxidermy. I cozy up beneath a deer rack and next to the kachelöfen, one of those beautiful Austrian woodstoves adorned with fine tile work. Our host, Hubert Egender, tells me that four years ago they rebuilt the URLARI.COM 58 2017 TUSCAN WINERY OF THE YEAR www.Aspen-Luxury-Rentals.com

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original lodge, which had been in the are vastly busier than Kleinwalsertal, finishing woodwork and detailing that is family for three generations, into this and the area wears its fashion-conscious the hallmark of Austrian craftsmanship. three-story guesthouse. Nothing in Austria cosmopolitan flare like a fur collar on a one Pfefferkorn grew up ski racing in Lech and is done without careful consideration of piece ski suit. After spending the morning has vacationed around the world with her function and form. Salvaged wood was playing in chopped up, sun-warmed, skis, but her heart lies in Arlberg. repurposed for wall paneling and custom two-day-old storm snow, we slide to a lunch “I ski every day. It’s who we are,” furnishings, while heated concrete floors stop at Der Wolf, a rectangular postmodern she tells as me as I dip another strip of beef in the bathrooms give the lodge a modern, style restaurant that stands in sharp tenderloin into the fondue pot. warm touch. Stars blaze in the cold night contrast to the ubiquitous peak-roofed sky as we linger over a tumbler of schnapps, Tirolean chalets. People watchers are The following morning is once again frigid home distilled from gentian root. assembled on deck chairs, sipping radlers and clear. We schuss through Oberlech Recently remodeled 4 bedroom, 4.5 bath Gorgeous 4 bedroom mountain-style home with Newly remodeled contemporary and spacious “Medicine,” Egender says with a wink. and sunning themselves. However, in the down to Lech, stomp across the village’s townhome walking distance to downtown Aspen. stunning views of Aspen Mountain and Roaring 4 bedroom Red Mountain home. Panoramic valley below, afternoon shade creeps across busy thoroughfare, then load into the Impeccable amenities: private patio with hot tub, Fork River from living room and expansive mtn. views from living areas, expansive decks & decks. Hot tub, media room & 2 car garage. patio. Hot tub, 2 car garage & heated driveway. The following day we head to Warth, the rooftops of Lech. Despite its reputation Rüfikopf cable car. An hour of skiing easy fire pit and views of Aspen Mtn. 2 car garage. one of more than a half dozen resorts for fashion and affluence, Lech Zürs is groomers and riding multiple lifts delivers PrivateSki-In/Ski-Out RLN House that comprise the vast ski area of Arlberg, renowned for steep and off-piste skiing. It’s us to Zürs, consisting of a cluster of hotels where a guide is almost essential for the kind of terrain that produces strong in a barren mountain valley. We’re soon navigating the 87 ski lifts and 314 miles skiers and has helped the Ski Club Arlberg riding a modern wonder, the of on- and off-piste terrain accessible with claim bragging rights as having produced Trittkopfbahn I cable car, which with its a single ticket. Arlberg is to skiing what more Olympians than any other ski club in sister cable cars Trittkopfbahn II and the Vatican City is to Catholics. Not far from the world, among them Patrick Ortlieb and Flexenbahn, was completed in time for the here in Stuben, the legendary Hannes Hubert Strolz. 2016/2017 season. Schneider developed the Arlberg technique That night we join Daniela Pfefferkorn, “It cost around €45 million, but the in the early 1900s, a learning progression an elegant hotelier and member of one of circle is now closed,” Kühlechner tells me, that laid the foundation of modern skiing the better-known skiing and hospitality explaining how this ultra-modern lift and instruction. Arlberg is also home to the families in Lech, for a fondue feast at the system now fully integrates the Arlberg ski world’s first ski school in the region and to Alter Goldener Berg. The Pfefferkorns area, making it Austria’s largest, and the the Ski Club Arlberg, inaugurated in 1901. incorporated this 500-year-old farmhouse world’s fifth largest, ski area. From Warth we travel by skis across the into their hotel, transforming it into a The Flexenbahn cablecar is soon Remodeled 2 bed condo enjoys one Luxurious 4 bed, 4.5 bath residence with 5th sleeping den, gourmet kitchen mountains toward Oberlech. The slopes dining room that showcases the fine whisking us down a steep mountain face. of the best locations in Aspen is just and stunning mountain views. Access to RLN rooftop pool and hot tubs 1 block to the gondola! Open living and ski-in/ski-out to the base of Aspen Mountain. World-class amenities. 60 areas and a wood burning fireplace. Whitman Fine Properties www.WhitmanFineProperties.com | 970-544-3771 | 1-888-7WFPINC PHOTO: CHRISTOPH SCHÖCH. LECH ZÜRS TOURISM PERFECT PLACE

PHOTO: HANS WIESENHOFER. KLEINWALSERTAL TOURISM I spot a group of four Alpine ibex, wild goats endemic to the Alps, gracefully scaling a knife edge ridge below us. After offloading, we rip GS turns down a narrow piste in a shady, angular valley to the tranquil village of Stuben, clustered at the head of a box canyon. There we pay homage to Hannes Schneider, cast suavely in bronze next to the church, with cigarette dangling from mouth, skis on shoulder, and eyes gazing at the peaks. That afternoon we use climbing skins to tour from Sonnenkopf to the metal cross tottering atop 6000-foot Muttjöchle, where we stamp our notebooks for posterity. From there we gaze down toward tiny Silverthal, huddled in shadow beneath peaks glowing pink orange in the alpenglow of another spectacular sunset. “That’s my home valley,” Kühlechner says, wistfully pointing toward the Montafon. A pair of fighter jets suddenly cuts across the cobalt sky — security detail for the World Economic Forum underway in Davos. But it’s all peaceful here in Vorarlberg, and at this moment the serious global matters being discussed by the suits and ties just over the Arlberg is to skiing Swiss border take a sorry second place to what Vatican City is the simplicity and beauty of skiing. to Catholics. WWW.AUSTRIA.INFO

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Dress Silvia Tcherassi Necklace Buccellati Bracelet Buccellati Ring (index finger) Buccellati Ring Lulu Fiedler 76 “Smart, articulate, The ski racer is as curious as candid, and the rest of us as to what analytical, the ski racer is as curious makes a champion. as the rest of us as to what makes a ikaela Shiffrin has blown in off the street. It’s her trainer. Endless hours viewing and analyzing video footage champion.” mid-April in the mining town of Minturn, of every conceivable portion of her ski turn. She is obsessed Colorado. Flakes from a freak snowstorm are with where to apply edge. When to release pressure. How to ride floating from the sky like feathers from a goose a turn with more flow and less stiffness. As she says: “I’ve always and theM wind is spiraling mini-twisters along Main Street, past liked training.” the saloon and the Sticky Fingers Cafe and the still-frozen banks of the Eagle River. Gusts of wind catch the World Cup champion This has been her routine since at least age 11. While enrolled and carry her through the door of The Minturn Inn, a rustically at Vermont’s Burke Mountain Academy, the preteen became a chic bed and breakfast owned by ex-World Cup skier Marco student of the sport. “Like another student would study for a math Tonazzi and his wife Amy. Shiffrin, on a four-day break from test,” she says, “I would study skiing. I studied my competitors. spring ski training, is here for a cover shoot and fashion spread for I studied World Cup racers. Even though they were light-years SNOW. Soon she’ll be transformed by an inventive beauty team ahead of me, I watched them as if I was going to compete against into a glam queen with banana curls, glittering gowns, and them tomorrow.” handmade Fendi boots. But for now her long blonde mane is Anja Pärson. Janica Kostelić. Lindsey Vonn. Manuela Mölgg. blowing every which way, her cheeks are pink from the chill, Heroes all. Shiffrin cultivated the fine art of breaking down their and she looks more the part of a young ski racer intent on skiing and analyzing footage of their arcs in minute detail in slow maintaining a streak so fast she’s just been titled 2017’s World motion. She scrutinized the tops of their turns, the bottoms of Cup overall champion. their turns, their transitions, and determined which muscles were employed to make it all happen. Mikaela Shiffrin first flashed across our screens at the 2011 U.S. It’s a methodology Shiffrin credits to Burke coach Kirk Dwyer. National Championships where, at sweet 16, instead of studying “He taught me how to look at video methodically and analytically,” for science tests and buying Cover Girl makeup, she became the she says. “My mom also learned that from him, and since then youngest American ski racer to claim a national alpine crown. we’ve taken it to new extremes.” At age 17 she was crowned slalom’s World Cup winner. And at age 18 in Sochi, Russia, as most eyes were on Lindsey Vonn and the On this day in snowy Colorado as Shiffrin is shuttled deep into bodaciousness of Bode Miller, Shiffrin stole the show as the a forest for the first photo of the day, her mom rides in a car ahead. youngest ever Olympic slalom gold medalist. Thirty-one With bobbed hair and the body of an athlete, Eileen Shiffrin, breathtaking World Cup wins later, the now 22-year-old Shiffrin a former masters ski racer, is always somewhere in her daughter’s is approaching the peak of her game. In February she became the daily routine — handing her a towel, shooting a video, timing first woman to match Christl Cranz’s 1939 success by winning a training run. The older Shiffrin tours the World Cup circuit three slalom World Championship golds. And in March, Shiffrin at her daughter’s side throughout each season. Mikaela calls won her first Crystal Globe – World Cup skiing’s overall title. Eileen a coach. But, she insists, her mother is so much more. How does she do it? As she’s readied for the shoot on this snowy “She does a lot. She’s my mom. She’s a ski coach. In some ways she’s day in Minturn, calmly withstanding mascara wands, curling my mental coach. She’s my manager and my handler. She makes irons, and the primping and prodding of stylists, Shiffrin asks sure I stay on track with my skiing. ” herself the same question. Smart, articulate, candid, and It’s a relationship that’s scrutinized by the ski racing world and analytical, the ski racer is as curious as the rest of us as to what one with which not everyone is comfortable. While fathers have makes a champion. She bristles at being called a phenom. Instead, followed their sons in ski racing before – most notoriously Helmut she’s convinced hard work, perseverance, and dogged focus and Marc Girardelli — somehow moms on the slopes have a supersede staggering talent. not-so-stellar reputation. “It’s not natural,” Shiffrin insists. “It’s been a lot of work. “It has made people uncomfortable,” Mikaela says. “When they It comes naturally only as far as I’ve probably watched more video see a mom around they’re like, ‘Omigosh! What are you doing here. than anyone else, and I’ve probably skied and practiced more. You’re in our space.’” Mikaela frowns. “Maybe they feel as though Dress Dennis Basso That’s why it looks like it comes naturally, because it is a lot they’re under a microscope — as if she’s judging.” Necklace Robert Procop — Betteridge of repetition.” And while the younger Shiffrin bristles again, this time having Earrings Buccellati Shiffrin admits she’s fascinated by the process of being a ski to defend her mother, she has no plans to fix what isn’t broken. racer: Rising early to train gates. Afternoons in the gym with “People ask what my secret is, why I’ve had success. I ask them, 78 “I want [my young fans] to know that this level of skiing is not some crazy dream.” — Mikaela Shiffrin

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81 ‘What do you see that’s absolutely different about my team?’” Most often, Shiffrin says, if she’s done well, that frozen And then I explain, “it’s my mom… Having her around has given expression captured by the cameras is Mikaela astounded by her me a huge advantage.” own speed, baffled by how she pulled it off. “A lot of what you see is It’s true, Eileen Shiffrin is her daughter’s keeper. During the disbelief – that I could win a race, sometimes by up to two seconds. photo shoot in this tumbling, wooded terrain — not far from the That has happened several times and I was thinking “Wow… I don’t Shiffrin family home in Vail, Colorado — Eileen is the first to sling even know what to think right now.” a blanket around Mikaela’s shivering, Silvia Tcherassi-clad Mikaela’s eyes gleam as it occurs to her some winning athletes shoulders. She frets about Shiffrin catching cold, worries about plan their reactions to gratify crowds and cameras. Stephen her tripping on a four-inch Fendi heel, and most of all, as the shoot Curry’s shimmy. Tiger Woods’ fist pump. José Bautista’s bat flip. drags on and the light grows darker, is concerned about Mikaela Shiffrin leans in as if she’s telling a secret. “I want to ask them, missing her daily dryland training. “It may not seem much to miss What were you thinking?” She wrinkles her nose. “How did you a single day,” Eileen whispers as Mikaela poses serenely for know to do that?” another shot, thistle-down flakes falling softly on her curls. “But it’s a set of blocks that need to be built on; each one is as The day is dying and so is Mikaela’s energy. As the last vestiges of important as the other.” daylight disappear behind surrounding peaks, the ski racer rests Who’s to argue? It’s a formula that has worked, particularly against a ragged barn and stares beyond the camera for her final in early 2017 as Mikaela was faced with the first real stress of her shot, her feet tucked into gold lamé boots, her body sheathed in a career. Hard to believe that this dynamo was nearing 31 World Cup mini dress from Manrico Cashmere. wins when she first encountered gut-twisting fear, but she did, With the whir of the camera finally silent, she graciously and it was Shiffrin’s mother who snapped her out of it. accepts thanks for a job superbly done, then picks her way through “This year there was so much hype about my results, what I the snow to a waiting SUV. There, as any 22 year old would, could accomplish, if I could accomplish winning the overall globe,” Shiffrin digs for her phone, brings its screen to life, and loses Mikaela explains. “I never really let that get to me before. This herself into the world of social media. year it did and it stressed me out in ways I’d never felt. I’d get these Tucked into the SUV’s rear seat beside the ski racer is Isabella, terrible stomach aches and show up to race and just be frozen. My Marco Tonazzi’s teenage daughter, who has lent her horse for the mom would see me and ask ‘Why are you nervous? You’re skiing shoot, and who’s been watching Mikaela’s moves with eyes as wide great. Just do what you always do.’ She’s always two steps ahead and as wondrous as snowflakes. Mikaela glances sideways at her of me.” Later Shiffrin adds: “She has the best eye for my skiing.” The ski racer also attributes breakthroughs to primary coach Mike Day – Ted Ligety’s former ringmaster — and strength and conditioning guru Jeff Lackie. Team Shiffrin is in force to ready young Mikaela for the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. All eyes — at least those enamored of ski racing — will be on this graceful, fearsome skier as she strives to break “If someone works more records. harder than you, they’ll The day is advancing swiftly amid the snowy aspens. Dressed in probably beat you.” a beguiling Dennis Basso gown, Mikaela Shiffrin fixes her gaze on Christian Alexander’s lens, a silver sky fading behind the superstar like lights dimming slowly on a Broadway stage. Shiffrin’s — Mikaela Shiffrin expression is difficult to read — it could be intensity, focus, curiosity… hard to say. It’s never easy to read Mikaela Shiffrin. It’s an observation the racer has struggled with since catapulting onto the world stage at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. new friend and the athlete’s exhaustion dissipates instantly. The willing to work, it’s achievable.” Time and again observers have complained young Shiffrin is two pass the long, bumpy drive back to Isabella’s dad’s bed and Achievable? Thirty-one World Cup wins by age 22, an Olympic emotionless at the finish of her races, despite monstrous wins, breakfast immersed in staccato chit-chat. gold, and the most World Championship slalom victories since and even when she’s beaten her competition by huge, unheard-of “I hope they consider me more of a friend,” Shiffrin says of her 1939’s Christl Cranz? “There are moments of triumph when you margins. “It’s true,” she admits, her grin now as giant as a legions of young fans — at last count, 79.4K followers on Twitter. feel on top of the world, I understand that,” she admits. “But a lot Cheshire’s. “I show no emotion at the finish!” “It’s great that they consider me an idol but I want those kids to of athletes portray themselves as ‘I’m the king and you’ll never beat Shiffrin is as baffled by her inability to emote as everyone else. think of me as relatable as well. I’m young. I was in their position me.’ I’m like, get a life! If someone works harder than you, they’ll “I don’t know what to feel,” she says honestly. “I don’t think you not very long ago. I want them to know that this level of skiing is probably beat you.” can understand that feeling [of winning] and express it to the not some crazy dream.” Dress Manrico Cashmere world immediately.” Back inside The Minturn Inn, Mikaela considers her life for a Shiffrin leavesSNOW ’s photo session the same way she entered, Shoes Silvia Tcherassi Sliding through the finish of a World Cup race, with cameras moment. “You have to be willing to work really hard and sacrifice exiting the The Minturn Inn with her mom by her side. They slide Earrings Estate Jewelry — Betteridge crawling toward her and sounds of the crowds thundering Watch Longines a lot,” she adds. “You miss your friends pretty much 99 percent of into a snow-covered car, start it up, and disappear past the saloon through her helmet, she reveals her first instinct is to “go the Ring Robert Procop — Betteridge the time. You can’t party. You can’t have sleepovers. There are a lot and the Sticky Fingers Cafe, now lit in alpenglow. other direction.” of things you have to give up. But if you really want it and you’re Last word, they were headed for dryland training. 82 83 He attempted to ski from Austria into Switzerland to escape the Nazis but “was shot by soldiers, wounded, and left to die…” — Klaus Obermeyer Jr.

laus Obermeyer laughs when he realizes he has a snow-white mustache, the result of simultaneously talking and sipping coffee topped with three inches of thick sweet cream. In the pantheon of potential misbehaviors in a townK like Aspen, drinking kaffee mit schlag as they call it in Obermeyer’s Bavarian hometown of Oberstaufen, is about the unhealthiest thing he does. It’s 1 p.m. on a mid-winter day and Obermeyer has already swum a mile in Aspen Meadows Resort’s outdoor pool… in a snowstorm. He’s done his daily aikido practice, a martial art that has guided him physically and mentally for years. If it hadn’t been snowing so hard, he would have skied his daily high-speed laps of Tiehack on Buttermilk, situated only five minutes from Obermeyer headquarters. Now he is in the midst of his usual five hours of meetings and paperwork, which happen to be focused on Obermeyer’s 2018 collection of ski wear. You might think this is just a normal working day for an comparable, but founder Aspenite – Klaus Obermeyer certainly does – until you realize Yvon Chouinard’s roots are that the staggeringly energetic human being talking, in climbing. Obermeyer is all gesticulating, and laughing at rapid speed is 97 years old. about skiing, pure and simple. Somewhere inside this vigorous, multi-tasking man they call Its history is sourced in Klaus Obermeyer there’s a lively 30 year old. Obermeyer’s own glory years of the sport in the German and Here’s the short version of Klaus Obermeyer’s remarkable life: Austrian Alps of the 1930s, and He is the father of ski wear and ski gear in the United States. He’s in the Aspen of the late 1940s. credited with creating the first down ski parka, high-altitude “He started the company suntan lotion, double-paned goggles, nylon windshirts, ski because people were getting cold on chairlifts,” says Biege Jones, KLAUS turtlenecks, zippered turtlenecks, mirrored sunglasses, dual- Obermeyer’s Director of Advertising, who has been with the layer ski boots, and the first plastic ski boots. On his desk sits company for three decades. “He wanted them to be warm, to get the prototype for the first ski brake, which he also invented. some exercise, and then to get back on the chairlift. He has a Obermeyer, started in Aspen when the ski town was filled history of providing clothing for people to enjoy skiing and his EVERLASTING with stray dogs and abandoned silver mines, is still family-owned passion was born from his love of skiing. It’s really the purest ski and coming off one of the three most profitable years in its wear company in the world.” Keeping up with Obermeyer’s indefatigable 97-year-old founder. 70-year history. At a time when most outerwear businesses The stories that come out of Obermeyer’s mouth are legion, by EVERETT POTTER are owned by corporations solely focused on the bottom line, legendary, and no doubt lightly embellished from repeated telling. Born in rural Bavaria in 1919, into a world shocked by the Great PHOTOS: COURTESY OF OBERMEYER.COM OF COURTESY PHOTOS: Obermeyer occupies an uncrowded niche. Patagonia is 85 Obermeyer’s initial contributions to ski fashion was the Koogie Tie — two small yarn balls held together with a yarn string. It was cornball but he got Gary Cooper to wear one and “we sold a hell of “Your opponent is also your a lot of them at $1.75 each — about 32,000!” These were his ski bum years when he and his friend, filmmaker Warren Miller, would teacher. This is good for business drive to ski shops across the U.S. sleeping in Miller’s car trunk and bribing motel maids 50 cents to let them take showers. because it creates a win-win “I fell in love with the dry snow here in Aspen,” he says, ‘60s gesturing outside at the falling flakes. His mind tends to move situation.” — Klaus Obermeyer faster than his mouth, which is already clocking great speed, and he waves his arms for extra emphasis. Klaus is a teacher at heart and he wants to be sure that you understand what he is telling you. “It is a gift to live here. So many nice people attracted by nature and the fun of skiing.” These may sound like platitudes and indeed, Obermeyer perceives the world with a sunny and relentlessly optimistic view that verges on the extreme. But the sincerity is genuine, near religious, and he manifests a zen-like appreciation of small things and a joy in being alive. The source of that optimism is the dark days of the early 1940s, when he had trained as an aeronautical engineer in Germany and chose to work designing bombers and ‘40s ‘50s Messerschmitt fighter planes rather than kill men on the battlefield. ‘70s “The intensity of the pain and horror of the war and its effect on friends and family is one that is so intense and so atrocious and beyond imagination that it has contributed to his appreciation BE. like. klaus. There’s a reason his staff sports Be Like 2ks Klaus stickers on their ski jackets. ‘80s War and in economic tatters, he remembers a childhood of warmth his bed. Mountain movies of that time starring Leni Riefenstahl and outdoor pursuits. He delights in recalling how he saw his first and Hannes Schneider — including The White Ecstasy (Der Weisse skiers when he was three years old and subsequently fashioned Rausch) — served to fuel his imagination. ‘90s his own skis from a pair of chestnut boards taken from an orange “When you won a race,” he says, “the ski club members came crate, nailing his best shoes to them. to the train station when you came back and carried you on their “I used string to pull the tips up and tied them around my backs to the Wursthaus, where the club met.” knees,” he recalls with the infectious enthusiasm that colors When he left Germany and came to Aspen in 1947, hired as most of his responses. “It was sensational. I could slide down an instructor by Friedl Pfeifer, he witnessed skiers arrive for a on the snow around the house.” vacation and leave after a couple of days because the 15-minute He became a ski racer, a mountaineer, and a rock climber. chair ride up Aspen mountain left them too cold. Clothes designed Walk around the halls of Obermeyer and there are enormous for skiing were unknown. It inspired him to take a pair of scissors black-and-white photos of Klaus and his friends in the Alps — to the down comforter his mother had given him when he left hiking, climbing, and skiing. It’s a veritable museum of pre-war Germany in order to fashion the world’s first down jacket. alpine pursuits. “I did not invent the down parka,” he states, refuting the legend “In August we still had about 3,200 vertical feet of skiing on the that has followed him for years. “The Chinese did, hundreds of years Wildspitz,” he recalls. “So I made the first very short skis for ago. What I did was cut up a down comforter to deal with the cold. glacier skiing so we could put them in the rucksack.” My idea always was that so many things could be better.” While his friends drank beer, smoked, and partied, Obermeyer abstained. Instead, he figured out how to attach steel edges to his Of course, fashion was not always a slave to practicality. Having

skis, modifying them to win races and sleeping with them beside grown up with skiers wearing ties and knickerbockers, one of OBERMEYER.COM OF COURTESY PHOTOS: 86 clockwise from left 1. Obermeyer models pose onslope. 2. Obermeyer’s 1960’s fashion. 3. Young Klaus demonstrating the “Umsprung”. 4. A vintage Obermeyer magazine advertisement. 5. Klaus posing with Obermeyer models in a Bavarian setting. 6. An Obermeyer model circa 1960s. 7. The sunny and optimistic Klaus Obermeyer.

of the simple things in life,” says Klaus Obermeyer Jr., a noted that if six inches of snow or more have fallen, it’s okay to ski filmmaker and the youngest of Obermeyer’s three sons. “His before arriving at work. There’s a reason his staff sportsBe Like brother was a political dissident and placed in a Nazi work camp. Klaus stickers on their ski jackets. My father describes incredible horrors in his own village, like a The historic skiing photos in Obermeyer’s hallways are little girl coming to him with her father’s severed head, asking him paired with posters of Obermeyer ski wear ads from the 1960s, to put her father back together.” some of them featuring Obermeyer‘s wife Nome, who designed Toward the war’s end, Obermeyer attempted to ski from many of the pieces. When she joins us later, her striking Austria into Switzerland to escape the Nazis but “was shot by cheekbones are an instant reminder of her aunt, Katharine soldiers, wounded, and left to die on a mountain,” Klaus Jr. says. Hepburn. “His femur was broken but he managed to lie down on his ski and “I marvel at what has happened to our beloved sport,” says essentially swim down the mountain by kicking his good leg. He Obermeyer, pointing to 50-year-old photos of Nome posing on the brought Obermeyer into the 21st century with an engineer’s which is a paradox in itself. found someone to help him get to a hospital on a sled. The war slopes with Klaus Jr. “It has grown and has made a lot of people cool head. “Aikido teaches you your own strength,” says Obermeyer. ended while he was recuperating.” happy and taught them how beautiful the mountains are.” There are other engineering marvels here as well. The building “It’s a martial art of love. You love your opponent, you do not hate The horrors might have broken a lesser man. For Klaus The company has been in the forefront of the sport, with a treads softly on its site by design and has a solar wall, built back in them. Your opponent is also your teacher. This is good for business Obermeyer, it seemed to propel him headlong in a positive mandate to keep skiers drier, warmer, more comfortable, and 1984, which heats half the building as well as an outdoor saltwater because it creates a win-win situation.” direction. safer on the slopes. Ryan Meyer, the company’s director of pool. Yet the need to be green causes Klaus lingering regret. To demonstrate aikido’s power, Klaus stands across from me, “It’s why my dad appreciates things like hot water coming merchandising, says that “Nome lives so much in the creative “With textiles, it is very hard to be green,” he confesses. “Doing puts his arm on my shoulder, and asks me to grab his arm and pull from a tap or freedom of speech,” explains Klaus Jr. “It translates world, she’s always pushing us to the most design-driven product. things like converting bamboo to textiles is not very friendly to the down on it. It’s strong, but it bends, albeit with resistance. to ‘don’t sweat the small stuff’. He’s a man who refuses to let And then you have Klaus on the flip side, who pushes us to be environment. We need to step on this planet more lightly.” “Okay, I will send energy through it. Do it now,” he says. negativity enter his world.” technically relevant.” I try, and I can’t budge it, even with both my arms pulling down “I’m the technical policeman,” Klaus adds. “They make some Klaus Obermeyer lives on a 100-acre Aspen ranch, where he hard on his forearm. At Obermeyer offices, across the street from the Aspen/Pitkin beautiful things here and I want to be sure that they work right, mountain bikes, walks, and chops firewood. Yet he doesn’t appear “Harder,” he says, with a laugh. His arm won’t bend. It’s an County Airport, negativity is absent. The single-story building has vent well, are lightweight, and have stretch where they need to be preoccupied with material possessions. incredible party trick but the fact is that this man is nearly a enormous windows that provide a view of the freshly fallen snow stretch, so that you want to live in it.” “He is very humble,” says Biege Jones. “The key to his century old and I can’t move his arm... on the mountains. If it seems a tad Bauhaus in look, that’s by Naturally, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. COO Greg underlying wisdom is that he looks long term. He looks out five As I take my leave, a Be Like Klaus sticker in hand, Obermeyer design. Obermeyer’s headquarters is a calm and peaceful space Bannister has no fashion background but, like Klaus, was trained years on a daily basis. You have to have that vision because reminds me of another guiding principle from his aikido training: inhabited by a group of singularly calm and focused creative as an engineer in the aerospace defense industry. He recalls that everything moves too quickly.” “You never have it made, you’re always making it.” people, many of whom count their employment in decades. Some when he joined the company five years ago, “I had to face five The other key, suggests Jones, is Obermeyer’s study of aikido, It’s a great mantra for a 70-year-old company. have taken advantage of the “Powder Rule” that morning, meaning kitchen tables stacked with paper. Those were the files.” He a martial art renowned not just for its moves but for its mindset, And a 97-year-old man. PHOTOS: COURTESY OF OBERMEYER.COM OF COURTESY PHOTOS: 88 89 # Insta-

GLAMphotographs by CHRISTIAN ALEXANDER styled by JOHN MARTINEZ makeup by JUSTIN ST. CLAIR hair by HECTOR POCASANGRE

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Dave Treadway enjoying a cold January day in Super Bowl, Kicking Horse, B.C.

102 Kicking Horse Mountain physics lesson: When walking on snow colder than –10 degrees Celsius, foot pressure won’t Resort opened in 2000, melt the crystals. Instead, they will merely be crushed, resulting in a squeaking noise; the and was immediately colder it is, the louder the sound. This explains the Styrofoam symphony emanating from registered as one of the my footsteps at the base of Kicking Horse Mountain Resort on continent’s big-mountain a –30A degrees Celsius January morning. What can’t be explained is why one would choose to ski in such destinations of note. cold weather. Yet here I am with local Emile Lavoie, touring a mountain known to me only through the hushed tributes of others. Emile is from the Canadian province of Quebec, where such chill is the winter norm; I am from neighboring Ontario, which can claim the occasional same. You have only to imagine the rivalry between Canadian provinces to understand how, having shared these details over coffee in the base’s funky Double Black café, we now engage in a silent, frigid, pas de deux in which neither of us will from top to bottom admit we are too cold to ski. It’s testament to this mountain’s 1. Chad Sayers playing in Terminator 3, Kicking Horse backcountry. riches — and a little help from the sun — that I barely notice my 2. Sayers dropping into Truth, an inbound chute. toes freezing solid. Those “tributes” had delivered significant numerical intrigue: four bowls and four knife-edge ridges, 1,260 meters of vertical, fully two-thirds of 128 numbered trails at the dark end of the wall mural commemorating a century of the Swiss guides, a spectrum, 60 bearing the portentous double black graphic. What Golden sits in B.C.’s Kootenay region, the Columbia Mountains reminder of how these men shaped the area’s mountain culture. mellow terrain exists is found in the bottom of bowls and on the in the west and Rocky Mountains to the east. At the turn of the Edelweiss, where some of their homes still exist, lies a couple of mountain’s lower apron, where two of three chairlifts reside. The 20th century, it became an internationally recognized mountain kilometers west of Golden, and I make the trip one early morning rest of the goods are accessed by a bottom-to-top gondola in which destination, largely because of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, to take in the view that guides and their families had across the Emile and I ride. which established a freight and passenger hub in Golden. valley to what is now Kicking Horse. A serrated skyline glows I’d spent yesterday lapping CPR Ridge’s treed southside and Recognizing that those transiting here might want to explore the amber in the sunrise, but despite Edelweiss being a ghost town, I testing its extensive north facing chutes, so Emile and I head to postcard landscape, the railroad brought Swiss guides to town in know where I can find at least one Swiss guide who is still very real. Redemption Ridge, separating Crystal and Feuz bowls. The chutes 1899, later building them homes on a hillside overlook, a de facto tumbling into the latter are wider and more forgiving than CPR’s Swiss village christened “Edelweiss”. Though Golden’s economy Heli-skiing was born in the Bugaboo Range of the Purcells south of heart-stopping inventory with a few exceptions — Steps Chutes, centered on the railroad and forestry (there was never any gold), Golden, and Rudi Gertsch of Purcell Heli-Skiing is a living pioneer choked with enormous mushroomed rocks, and Dutch Wallet, skiing and mountaineering would continue to draw visitors. who is still at its forefront. After arriving from Switzerland in 1966 requiring that you lower yourself in by a permanently affixed rope. Dutch backers purchased the small Whitetooth Ski Area, and taking up with Hans Gmoser’s original Canadian Mountain This is out-there skiing. Add in North America’s fourth largest developed, and reopened the area under its new name, Kicking Holidays (CMH) crew, Rudi learned the heli-ski ropes, striking out vertical and it more readily channels Jackson Hole than B.C. Horse Mountain Resort, in 2000; it was immediately registered as on his own with a day-skiing operation in 1974 that has become an Interior’s catalogue of powder cruisers. Snow coverage is excellent, one of the continent’s big-mountain destinations of note. Yet iconic family business, with son Jeff as lead guide. quality superb, yet despite the mountain’s full lodges, it feels like despite this watershed, Golden remains humble and genuine — renovated turn-of-the-century house, to true fine dining at Rudi’s half-century of guiding is interesting enough to have no one’s on the mountain. populated by guides, artists, dogsledders, biologists, rail workers, isolated Cedar House Restaurant. Wandering off the town’s inspired a book by the Alpine Club of Canada. No surprise, then, I could get used to this, and I will, directly after lunch in the lumberjacks, and a smattering of skiers escaping the hubris of utilitarian grid and onto a riverside trail one day, I discover both that Rudi’s Purcell Lodge base is a museum filled with his uncle’s Eagle’s Eye, Canada’s highest elevation restaurant. Inside, I’m more populous resorts. Whitetooth Brewing Company and homey Riverhouse Tavern inventions (remember Gertsch plate bindings?): iconic powder immediately consumed by one of the all-time great vistas in This isn’t to say there’s little of interest here: bookstore, (“Where everybody knows your shame”). In only a dozen years, boards, old climbing gear, and mementos like sketches and skiing — a 360-degree view of two mountain ranges, five national museum, wolf sanctuary, and other attractions abound. And a Chris “Soap” Soper has turned this former print shop/dentist woodcuts. A picture painted in Europe that journeyed to the old parks, and the town of Golden. budding gastronomy is anything but provincial, from casual-yet- office/sushi bar/coffee shop into a skate-and-snowboard-themed guides’ house in Lake Louise, and then Edelweiss, before someone It’s also mercifully warm. elegant Whitetooth Mountain Bistro, to Eleven22, occupying a pub that seems it has been there forever. At street’s end I pass a decided Rudi should have it, hangs over a massive fireplace that 104 105 from left to right 1. Golden glows under a full moon. 2. Morning coffee at Double Black Café. 3. The Trans-Canada Highway. 4. Advice from locals. 5. Living legend Rudi Gertsch, owner of Purcell Heli-Skiing.

107 splits floor-to-ceiling windows that invite in the Purcells. We’re not here for nostalgia, urges still-ski-mad Rudi, snapping our reverie and hectoring us to the heli-pad. Accompanied by Jeff, we debark with the energetic 73-year-old atop a stunning run called Top of the World, only to find the alpine wind-hammered. No worries, Rudi has many options in a tenure that spans 1,200 square kilometers. Guiding us farther down the ridge and into the trees, we find a huge pillow Golden remains humble feature that provides for endless lines. The pick-up, where the pilot meets us after each circuit, features a grizzly bear rub — a and genuine — populated tree marked by claws with fur stuck to the bark. It’s still as wild out here as the day Rudi arrived. by guides, artists, If there’s one thing Rudi does better than ski, it’s tell stories, delivered with a twinkle in his eye and perpetual half dogsledders, biologists, smile: growing up in Wengen in the shadow of the Eiger; the cowboy days of heli-skiing with Gmoser; his working lumberjacks, and skiers. friendship with fellow guide and renowned photographer Bruno Engler; being kicked out of Mount Norquay’s ski school (“They called me in and said, ‘You’re skiing too fast.’”);

clockwise from left 1. A Whitetooth craft brew. 2. Iconic Canada at sunset: Petro Canada, Tim Hortons, and the Rockies. 3. Cedar House Chalets & Restaurant. 4. Whitetooth Brewing Co., Golden’s go-to for après. carrying an enormous film camera down a race course for 5. Canadian Pacific rolling through Golden. the 1969 movie Downhill Racer (“Can you imagine how easy 6. The Treadways, a local freeriding family. that would be with a GoPro today?”). Each run brings a new tale — heavenly skiing served up with an earthly libretto. Scattered throughout Rudi’s property are hand-built cabins used for lunch stops. This day’s soup and sandwiches marquee peak, Terminator 1, to overlook Super Bowl. are served in one facing the pillow line we just skied. It also He loves it so much he wants others to know about it. And as has a gorgeous overlook to the Selkirks, which, in wan marketing manager at Kicking Horse that’s his job. But like others January light, appear to stampede toward the porch under who’ve unearthed this gem, he doesn’t want too many to know too a harlequin sky. It’s the kind of beauty that has captured much. Kicking Horse skiers can’t understand why the mountain more than one pilgrim’s heart. isn’t perpetually packed and neither can Emile (“It’s a happy mystery”), yet it’s the elbow room that keeps them coming back. After moving west from Quebec, Emile Lavoie did stints in And you don’t need a –30 degrees Celsius day here to have it Whistler and Revelstoke before being enthralled by Kicking to yourself. Horse. “The mountain is so different. There was no question WWW.KICKINGHORSERESORT.COM I wanted to live here,” he says as we bootpack the resort’s WWW.PURCELLHELISKIING.COM 108 109 Today no fewer than 20 five-star hotels — sybaritic palaces of silks velvets, marble, mahogany, and crystal — pepper the edges of Courchevel’s Aubusson- groomed pistes.

HÔTEL ANNAPURNA’S SLOPESIDE POOL.

It’s been 70 years since Courchevel became the first ski resort London, or New York City. And let us not forget Hôtel Barrière in France to be built from scratch, yet these days, no itch in Les Neiges, which opened last year with nightly live music and Courchevel goes unscratched. Hail the maître. Ring for the butler. a chic Argentine grill that will sate the appetite of the blood- Cherchez le moniteur, preferably one who’s equally talented aux des thirstiest emir, oligarch, or hedge fund honcho. sports de glisse and at slaloming round a carte des vin. Today no It is these high-flyers who are among the species most fewer than 20 five-star hotels — sybaritic palaces of silks, velvets, commonly sighted in Courch, flocking in by helicopter or looking marble, mahogany, and crystal — pepper the edges of Courchevel’s natty in their NetJets. To best take advantage of Courchevel’s Aubusson-groomed pistes. uber-convenient altiport (Europe’s highest tarmacked runway Where to begin? Perhaps with a glass of bubbly inside one of was famously featured in the James Bond filmTomorrow Never France’s only five-star-plus hotels outside Paris. In “Courch” there Dies), it’s Jetfly that makes the come-and-go a breeze. The private are three such “palaces”: Les Airelles, Hôtel Le K2 Palace, and jet company delivers guests smack into the midst of the Trois Oligarch ‘n’ over the top. rom the travails of war, a gilded cage is born. France’s Cheval Blanc. (The last is owned by Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton Vallées’ 373 miles of slopes that comprise the world’s largest Courchevel in Trois Vallées is one of the world’s most Chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault, the richest man in France, linked ski domain. France’s Courchevel glamorous ski resorts — the winter retreat of kings, who, when denied planning permission for his private chalet, Did we not mention the skiing? Oh yes, there is heaps of that and queens, and oligarchs. Yet its plans were hatched not in erected an entire hotel instead. His penthouse is available for rent it’s tough to beat. But like many Courchevel guests, we’ll get around harbors the who’s who of the a glittering salon, but behind the barbed wire of an at €34,520 per night.) to that later… international jet set in more FAustrian camp for prisoners of war. As an architect, town planner, HOTEL PHOTOS:COURTESY OF PROPERTIES. Perchance we should begin with a hotel that’s slightly more keen skier, and visionary, Laurent Chappis completed his doctorate sportif, such as Hôtel Manali, whose rooms are inspired by heli-ski First, let’s join the beautiful people, the crème of the one-percent five-star hotels than most during his incarceration at a prisoner-of-war camp in Austria. destinations favored by its McLaren-Honda Formula 1 team crème, whose luggage travels separately. Their monogrammed Sardonically, Chappis referred to his stalag camp as “l’université de owners. There’s also the Hôtel Annapurna, owned by Claude baggage is sometimes accompanied by staff, sometimes by wives, world capitals. captivité”. While behind bars, he and fellow POW Maurice Michaud, Pinturault, father of podium-stealing World Cup racer Alexis. Then or sometimes it’s simply left behind for next time. (Photographs a Savoyard engineer, drew plans, sketched drawings, and mapped again, for a whiff of French ski royalty, we could try Courchevel’s remind hotel staff of the re-placement of items so guests feel fully the world’s first purpose-built ski resort. With his idea of ski-in, haute-luxe Le Strato, owned by Laurent Boix-Vives, former owner chez nous upon return.) ski-out accommodation, Chappis spurred a revolution in mountain of the Rossignol empire. Much is made of the resort’s infamous Russian clientele, but by LESLIE WOIT urbanism and earned a reputation as a young “anarchitect”. His Alors… Two newer hotels are giving Courchevel’s traditional in truth Courchevel guests hail from more than 50 nationalities, raison d’être for Courchevel was high-minded hedonism with a châteaux a run for their money. The aptly named L’Apogée making it one of the world’s truly international ski destinations. difference: a state-sanctioned “People’s Resort”. It was styled as a Courchevel is a velvet-lined jewel-box run by the Oekter family. Indeed, Courch’s ESF Ski Schools employ more than 1,000 health-giving retreat for young winter sports enthusiasts and fellow The hotel is laden with beautiful Baccarat crystal, a plush cocktail instructors. It’s an army of moniteurs speaking dozens of languages travelers on a budget. Socialism meets skiing. A Utopian version of la lounge, and a louche cigar den, plus a pair of top-drawer Japanese and schooled in the fine art of teaching, guiding, and booking belle vie on skis. My, how the pendulum has swung... and French restaurants that would be equally at home in Paris, everything from restaurants to drivers, massages, even firework 110 111 Skiing celebs run a modest gamut from David and Victoria Beckham to George Clooney, Giorgio Armani, and Leonardo DiCaprio — all largely left by both the public and the paps to mercifully mind their own beeswax.

Top to bottom 1. Courchevel’s tram. 2. Luxury shopping at Valentino.

displays. French, English, Russian, Ukrainian, Brazilian… beautiful interior of Cheval Blanc. Duck into L’Apogée to — wonder in a posse of a hundred or more, booking out digs such as depending on the week, the month, or the holiday, the babble of of wonders — pick up a pair of mink Birkenstocks in its lavish ski Les Airelles in all its pomp and palatial entirety. Erring on the languages in Courchevel’s cafés, clubs, and lift queues shifts like boutique. For a little more than €1,000 they’re easier on your Swiss side of British discretion, Prince William and Kate, the Duchess snowdrifts in a storm. bank account than the fur-trimmed Bogner ski suit at Maison of Cambridge, arrived en famille last year with George and For some of the most diverting people-watching and fascinating Orcel. Located in Hôtel Barrière Les Neiges, Bernard Orcel is the Charlotte in tow. After lunching at La Cave des Creux, they stayed fingering of sumptuousobjets , we head for the shops dotted round resort’s largest “ski room” featuring leather banquettes, friendly quietly in a private chalet while very smartly offered the press one the village of Courchevel 1850, the highest and most exclusive of ski boot concierges, and an all-day dessert buffet. photo op in front of a different chalet door. Just a few years before, the four villages that comprise the Courchevel region. Nibble a pain the royal couple danced on the tables at Le Tremplin, a resto run au chocolat and spring for a tub of Beluga at Le Chabichou - Less a place for the famous to be seen, Courchevel is the place by Jean-Jacques Bertrand, ex-World Cup ski jumper and terminal L’Epicerie Fine. Linger in Christian Lacroix, where a set of specialty for the super-rich to be both super and rich. Back in the day, the bon vivant. diamond-decorated skis can set you back more than €40,000. St. Tropez of winter resorts was put on the map by the likes of Then there is the east-bloc-ocracy. When the Berlin Wall came Nothing to wear? Fix that in a handful of misspent moments at Brigitte Bardot and Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. More recently, skiing down, the new Russians embraced Courchevel, especially during Louis Vuitton, Prada, or Chanel. For fur go to Brentana. For celebs run a modest gamut from David and Victoria Beckham to the Orthodox Christmas holidays. By 2003, Chelsea Football owner cashmere consider Eric Bompard. For bling try Cartier or Graff. George Clooney, Giorgio Armani, and Leonardo DiCaprio — all Roman Abramovich was executing the ultimate oligarch shopping And just because you’re in the mountains, don’t imagine there’s largely left by both the public and the paps to mercifully mind their spree. Hovering overhead in a helicopter with three bodyguards anything provincial about the service. Kid-glove treatment from own beeswax. and a fixer, he phoned down $250-million worth of offers to buy a

Hermès has included the ferrying of VIP purchases all the way ANDRÉ TOURISME/DAVID COURCHEVEL PHOTOS: A healthy handful of the more royally anointed also exchange chalet… any chalet. Remarkably, there were no takers. He made do from Paris in a taxi. In just six hours that Kelly bag could be yours crowns for helmets here – along with the chance to schuss and sway with taking 40 suites in what was then called the Hôtel Byblos. The for €30,000. unfettered and unmolested. You might pass the King of Morocco Byblos gained further notoriety some years later when Mikhail Don’t stop there, mon amour. Courchevel is uniquely designed or the Aga Khan, who recently had two new chalets built for Prokhorov, current owner of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets, generously to favor an even more energetic kind of consumerism: ski-in, maximum privacy and ski-from-the-door convenience. The Saudi entertained a party of pretty depending on the week, the month, ski-out shopping. Schuss straight to the door of Fendi in the royals’ travel style is altogether different: Each winter they arrive bothered. A dawn police raid — again with helicopters, plus a herd

113 Less a place for the famous to be seen, Courchevel is the place for the super-rich to be both super

and rich. PHOTOS: COURTESY OF LE CHABICHOU

be a Courchevel record for host-with-the- left to right most, Pinchuk paid £4 million. No one 1. Victoria Beckham. 2. Chef Alain Ducasse. 3. William and said skiing was cheap, especially when Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. 4. Le Chabichou you’re hiring three-Michelin-starred chefs Michel Rochedy (left) and Stéphane Buron. 5. and 6. Le Chabichou’s Michelin-starred dishes. chef Alain Ducasse to fix dinner. 7. Your private Jetfly awaits.

One of several reasons the French are better at life is their food. Eating well is And we couldn’t possibly wind up without understood here, and with seven Michelin- a little homage where homage is due. starred restaurants in Courchevel (and a Courchevel serves up a topographical further 14 in the connected resorts of the smorgasbord that could feed the world. Trois Vallées), one may spoon, slice, skewer, This is ground zero for glossy grooming, and sip one’s way through a winter of wide cruising, and some of the best powder of Alsatians for extra frisson — saw him culinary decadence. Le Chabichou lays one stashes anywhere. The lift system is and his friends tossed in the hoosegow the world’s loveliest tables. Along with Chef gargantuan, stretching in all its Trois Vallées on trumped-up and quickly dropped Stéphane Buron, Chef Michel Rochedy has splendor from Col du Fruit in the east to charges relating to prostitution and been at its helm since de Gaulle was in Méribel, La Tania, Val Thorens, and Saint- drug trafficking. office. His 80th birthday party last year Martin-de-Belleville in the west. What kind of killjoy France is this? was a who’s who of renowned chefs and “Ski your hearts out, comrades!” Then again, when life gives you citrons, foodie friends. On any “regular” evening, Monsieur Chappis must be crying from you throw a soirée, just as Ukrainian the timelessly elegant room hums with above, perhaps enjoying a little residual fizz steel-king Victor Pinchuk did for his respect for grand gastronomy and good from one of those balthazars of Krug 50th birthday. He invited 300 guests, conversation. It attracts you-name-its, regularly sprayed into Courchevel’s heavenly booked 11 five-star hotels in their entirety, from heads of states to Gérard Depardieu. airspace. Long live the People’s Resort. and ordered up a purpose-built tent for Dinner at Le Chabichou keeps even Vive le Savoie libre. a Cirque du Soleil performance. Said to Gordon Ramsay quiet. WWW.COURCHEVEL.COM PHOTO: COURTESY OF JETFLY 114 The Alps It’s all about freedom and discoveries, PREMIER adventures ALPINE PROPERTIES

and excitement. NOW Magazine introduces Premier Alpine Properties. These ultra-chic hotels are united in offering guests the epitome of luxury. With curated It’s heliskiing. art, private butlers, bespoke cocktails, excellent dining, extraordinary style, and an incomparable level of service, these premier hotels Sreflect the best of alpine milieu. Sophisticated and savvy travelers seeking ski accommodations need search no more: From small boutique chalets to uber-luxury five-star hotels, this collection of individualized hotels reigns supreme. www.heliskiguidessweden.com 117 Premier Alpine Properties Premier Alpine Properties

HOTEL ARLBERG ALMHOF SCHNEIDER HOSPIZ HOTEL

6764 Lech am Arlberg St. Christoph 1 Austria 6580 Sankt Christoph am Arlberg Austria +43 5583 35000 +43 5446 2611 www.almhof.at www.arlberg1800resort.at

HOTEL HOTEL KITZHOF MOUNTAIN AURELIO DESIGN RESORT Tannberg 130 Schwarzseestraße 8-10 A - 6764 Lech am Arlberg 6370 Kitzbühel Austria Austria

+43 5583 2214 +43 5356 632 110 www.aureliolech.com www.hotel-kitzhof.com

GASTHOF SEVERIN*S – POST LECH THE ALPINE RETREAT

Dorf 11 Stubenbach 273 6764 Lech am Arlberg 6764 Lech Austria Austria +43 5583 22600 +43 5583 339 070 www.postlech.com www.severins-lech.at

118 119 Premier Alpine Properties Premier Alpine Properties

HOTEL TANNENHOF LE K2 ALTITUDE

Nassereinerstraße 98 356 Route de l’Altiport A-6580 St. Anton am Arlberg 73120 Courchevel Austria France

+43 5446 30311 +33 4 79 01 46 46 www.hoteltannenhof.net/en www.lek2altitude.com

TENNERHOF GOURMET & HÔTEL HAMEAU SPA DE CHARME HOTEL ALBERT 1ER

Griesenauweg 26 38 Route du Bouchet 6370 Kitzbühel 74400 Chamonix Mont Blanc Austria France

+43 5356 63181 +33 4 50 53 05 09 www.tennerhof.com www.hameaualbert.fr

GRANDES ALPES PRIVATE HOTEL BARRIERE HOTEL & SPA LES NEIGES

1 rue de l’Église 422 rue de Bellecôte 73120 Courchevel 1850 73120 Courchevel France France +33 4 57 55 22 00 +33 4 79 00 00 00 www.hotelsbarriere.com grandesalpes.com

120 121 Premier Alpine Properties Premier Alpine Properties

HÔTEL MANALI MGM HÔTELS & COURCHEVEL RÉSIDENCES - LE CRISTAL DE JADE 234 Rue de la Rosière 73120 Courchevel 174 Allée des Aiguilles France 74400 Chamonix Mont-Blanc France +33 4 79 08 07 07 www.hotelmanali.com +33 4 50 34 20 06 www.mgm-hotels-residences.com/ residence-le-cristal-de-jade-chamonix

HÔTEL MONT-BLANC HÔTEL LE K2 PALACE

62 Allée du Majestic Rue des Clarines 74400 Chamonix Mont-Blanc 73120 Saint-Bon-Tarentaise France France

+33 4 50 53 05 64 +33 4 79 40 08 80 www.hotelmontblancchamonix.com www.lek2palace.com

W VERBIER HOTEL LE SAINT ROCH

Piste Bellecote - BP3 Rue de Médran 70 73121 Courchevel 1850 1936 Verbier France Switzerland +33 4 79 08 02 66 +41 27 472 88 88 www.lesaintroch.com www.wverbier.com

122 123 Premier Alpine Properties Premier Alpine Properties

GUARDA GOLF HOTEL CARLTON HOTEL & RESIDENCES ST. MORITZ

Route des Zirès 14 Via Johannes Badrutt 11 3963 Crans-Montana 7500 St. Moritz Switzerland Switzerland

+41 27 486 20 00 +41 81 836 70 00 guardagolf.com carlton-stmoritz.ch

NIRA MONTANA GRAND HOTEL KRONENHOF

Località Arly, 87 Via Maistra 130 11016 La Thuile 7504 Pontresina Italy Switzerland

+39 0165 883125 +41 81 830 30 30 niramontana.com www.kronenhof.com

ROSAPETRA SPA RESORT GSTAAD PALACE

Zuel di Sopra 1 Palacestrasse 28 32043 Cortina d’Ampezzo Gstaad Italy Switzerland

+39 0436 869062 +41 33 748 50 00 www.rosapetracortina.it www.palace.ch

125 Premier Alpine Properties Premier Alpine Properties

KEMPINSKI GRAND HOTEL RIFFELALP RESORT DES BAINS ST MORITZ 3920 Zermatt Switzerland Via Mezdi 27 7500 St. Moritz Switzerland +41 27 966 05 55 www.riffelalp.com +41 81 838 38 38 www.kempinski.com/en/ st-moritz/grand-hotel-des-bains

KULM HOTEL ST. MORITZ SUVRETTA HOUSE

Via Veglia 18 Via Chasellas 1 7500 St. Moritz 7500 St. Moritz Switzerland Switzerland

+41 81 836 36 36 +41 81 836 80 00 suvrettahouse.ch www.kulm.com

LE GRAND BELLEVUE TSCHUGGEN GRAND HOTEL

Untergstaadstrasse 17 Sonnenbergstrasse 1 3780 Gstaad 7050 Arosa Switzerland Switzerland

+41 33 748 00 00 +41 81 378 99 99 www.bellevue-gstaad.ch tschuggen.ch

126 127 LAST RUN B the Story Bogner auf dem Weg zum internationalen Sport Fashion Leader. Bogner’s journey to becoming a KITSCH world-leader in sports fashion. CHARLIE ADAM CREDITS HIS GROOVY COOL ALPINE VISIONS TO A GARAGE SALE PURCHASE OF MAGIC GLASSES THAT ALLOW HIM TO “SEE INTO THE PAST OR THE FUTURE.” HIS STYLIZED SKI ART — POPULAR IN THE ALPS AND BEYOND — IS AS DELICIOUSLY KOOKY AS JUDY JETSON DESIGNING FOR AALLARD MEGÈVE. Bogner ist ein weltweit erfolgreiches Sportmodeunternehmen, Founded in 1932, Bogner has grown to become a successful das im Jahr 1932 gegründet wurde. Geleitet wird das Münchner Label name in global sports fashion. The Munich-based label is today headed Charlie Adam’s funky alpine posters heute von CEO & Vorstandsvorsitzenden Alexander Wirth – Inhaber by CEO Alexander Wirth, but is still owned by Willy Bogner, whose and prints — part nostalgia, part self- ist Willy Bogner, der Sohn des Gründers. Bogner beweist seit 85 Jahren father founded the company. Bogner has been uncompromisingly mockery — adorn the walls of Europe’s kompromisslose Leidenschaft für Sport und Mode und ist weltweit passionate about sport and fashion for 85 years, which has helped it to best private chalets and, more often, Marktführer in hochwertiger Skimode. Im Zuge der Weiterentwicklung become the global market leader in high-quality ski fashion. As part of appear as advertising for iconic spots und Neuausrichtung von Bogner hat sich das the ongoing development and reorganisation such as Val d’Isère, Chamonix, Zermatt, Traditionsunternehmen das Ziel gesetzt, auch of this traditional company, Bogner has set its Cervinia, and La Folie Douce. He once im Bereich Sport Fashion den Weltmarkt zu sights on conquering the world’s sports fashion decorated an entire sightseeing helicopter erobern. Alexander Wirth betont: „Dieser market too. Alexander Wirth: “Sports fashion is Bereich Sport Fashion ist nicht besetzt und liegt part of Bogner’s DNA, while the market itself has with cheerful peaks and a bronzed in der DNA von Bogner. Hier sehe ich großes plenty of room in which to operate. I see a lot of ski goddess. Entwicklungspotenzial für die Zukunft“ potential for future growth in this sector.” Based in the French Alps, the Ein Ziel, das auf der Bogner Leidenschaft This goal is founded on Bogner’s passion; and 40-something graphic artist looks fußt und mit Leidenschaft und Engagement it is passion and commitment that will help the both backward and forward in time for realisierbar ist. Nach dem Leitmotiv „One company to achieve it. With a guiding principle mountain inspiration. There are stretch- vision, one direction – Sport Fashion“ richtet das of “One vision, one direction – sports fashion” pant sexpots of the ‘50s and ‘60s; hot- Unternehmen seine Kraft auf diese Vision aus firmly in mind, the company is purposefully dogging disco-ball divas of the ‘70s; and und geht Schritt für Schritt gezielt seinen Weg. striding towards the realisation of this vision. futuristic ski worlds populated with tiki Die Kunden erwarten von Bogner mehr Profil. “The customer expects a certain style from Die Marke wird künftig noch intensiver die Bogner. In future the brand will continue to huts. Mixing old-school poster art Brücke zwischen Sport und Mode schlagen und work intensively on breaking down the barriers with contemporary design, his chic dies nicht nur im Winter, sondern ganzjährig,“ so between sportand fashion all year round, not just interpretations typically feature CEO Alexander Wirth. in winter,” says CEO Alexander Wirth. cocktail‑swilling après skiers, gondola shenanigans, and the odd fondue-forked yodeler. Crossing kitsch with cool wit, Adam says he’s mixing “a sense of fun to make life more colorful.” Art posters, as well as “kitsch cool” products — illustrated carpets, personalised bank card covers, beanbags, deck chairs — are sold online and at the Alp Chic boutiques in Annecy-le-Vieux and Chamonix. — Leslie Woit WWW.CHARLIEADAM.COM

128 bogner.com

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