Our friend Kortney Gruenwald checks in with an autumn dispatch from one of our favorite places: Sölden, Austria. Her stunning photography and writing is now captured in a new magazine, The Modern Jetsetter, which explores the intimate details of British culture and the nostalgia of continental travel through the lens of timelessness. Learn more at themodernjetsetter.com.

I’ll preface this postcard with noting our holiday in Austria was planned initially for three days. The escape was designed as a brief retreat before a bustling production season for our publication in London. In great thanks to a persistent oil leak and a near impossibility to import British car parts into Europe, I write this recollection after having spent the duration of Europe’s golden autumn in the Ötztal valley. This fortuitous misfortune rendered us “stranded” in the Alps in the fleeting time between the hiking season and unarguably, the most anticipated ski opening of the century.

Like many who frequent the Continent, stepping back into beloved European destinations comes with a renewed sense of clarity to observe transformation after a globally shared winter. In the case of Sölden, the well-nestled Tyrolean village accepted the pandemic as a moment to graduate from a shy, well-kept secret amongst European skiers to a polished jewel of alpine lifestyle.

A Golden October: Ski World Cup, Glacier Skiing & Hot Chocolate

It was a true and rare golden October in the Austrian Alps. The melange of amber, crimson and evergreen crawled down from the peaks and into the valley with every passing day, each sunrise feeling a touch more like winter. Sunshine flooded the village whilst sub-zero temperatures on the glacier allowed professional skiers treasured slope hours before the Olympics in Beijing.

We had the immense pleasure to attend the Sölden Ski World Cup for the first time – translate: a jovial alpine party. The international crowd felt especially genial given the previous autumn’s event was cancelled. Mikaela Shiffrin came in first place on Women’s Day. The Americans sprinkled throughout the thousands celebrated long into the night; we fell asleep to the sounds of victory festivities in the valley.

The rest of the fall season slipped by in a fleeting, satisfying mirage: sunrise hikes into the pines with our dachshund (bundled up in my most treasures Alps & Meters jumper), copious amounts hot chocolate at Das Central, and the rotation of spontaneous drives over Timmelsjoch – the Aston-worthy alpine pass connecting Austria to Italy. But perhaps the most marvellous activity was to observe winter slowly make her way into Sölden, in tangent with grand changes of the region itself.

A Valley Reinvented

Our unforeseen time in the Ötztal Valley doubled as a summit to observe both the cinematic changing of seasons and how locals weathered natural crisis in a proverbial Austrian way: resourcefully and astutely. Sölden is a ski village which, perhaps unlike brotherly destinations such as St. Moritz royalty-approved Courchevel, stubbornly puts tradition before commercialisation. With the usually unceasing stream of European tourism interrupted for nearly two years, the next generation of tourism families harnessed the moment to lean into reinvention.

A burgeoning new microbrewery which uses only local mountain ingredients became a household Austrian staple, Soelsch (slated to replace Aperol Spritz in the Après Ski scene indefinitely). Centuries-standing wooden chalets, inns and restaurants didn’t remain unmoved, but rather expanded, building quite literally upon ancestral labour whilst introducing architecturally avant garde features to frame the valley’s splendour. Restaurants renovated spaces into sprawling open kitchen concepts, where traditional Tyrolean cuisine stars locally farmed ingredients. Perhaps the most delightful contemporary development in Sölden is a Kaiserschmarren delivery service fit for Londoners, making for a dream late-night indulgence during snowfall (tested and true from Panorama Alm). Life is, after all, too short to not have Kaiserschmarren delivery service.

As a destination Sölden was always en route to be a crown of European ski destinations. Yet, the pandemic seemingly softened a shared hesitance across generations. Bashfulness toward the town’s world-class tourism trajectory was replaced with a determination Sölden follow that path, but on the truest Tyrolean terms.

Enter Winter: The First Snowfall

Our autumn ended as autumn always does in the Alps: with the first snowfall. This arrival was marked with a particular collision of childish excitement, innocence and anticipation. Just as we fell asleep to the sounds of Americans toasting Mikaela Shiffrin’s victory, the first snowfall came with the soundtrack of snowball fights and Schnaps toasts well past midnight. Families in Sölden and throughout Europe have held a collective breath for nearly two years in anticipation of this beloved ski season, but when we awoke to the valley blanketed in that wondrous white, normalcy didn’t quite feel the forecast.

The beginning of this winter rather feels like a step into a new season, an electrifying dawn for the Alps where luxury is as paramount as sustainability. A morning where the classic alpine spirit reigns, but alongside it a devotion to always celebrate the mountains first (while treasuring the adrenaline they generously give us in return).