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“Three things exercise a constant influence over the minds of men,” Voltaire wrote in the mid-18th century. “Climate, government and religion.”
Climate change anxieties as old as time come up as we wend our way over the twisting viaducts of the astonishingly beautiful Bernina Railway in Switzerland.
It’s winter and the tiny alpine village of Pontresina, in the Engadin Valley, is blessed by golden sunshine.
Low-key traditions endure at the 175-year-old Grand Hotel Kronenhof.
In the Grand Hotel Kronenhof, white tulips are pushing porcelain faces towards frescoed ceilings, a careful choreography that cannot fail to distract from the view beyond floor-to-ceiling windows, but the rocky slopes of the majestic Val Roseg are exposed, patchy and powderless.
Where is the snow? The concierge of our belle epoque palace immediately allays concerns. There’s skiing aplenty, he reassures, high up in the mountain passes.
And so, the show goes on, just as it always has in this tranquil corner of the Eastern Alps.
Low-key traditions endure in an almost forgotten world where, still, guests at the 175-year-old hotel dress for dinner after an afternoon tea of small ibex horn with air-dried meat, or scones with gruyere cream, accompanied by a proper pot of leaf tea.
On the first day of March, there’s a cacophonous clanging in the lobby – scores of children in heavily embroidered woollens, paper flowers in their hair, arrive with clanking cow bells. It’s Chalandamarz, an old custom dating back to Roman times, so the children are singing like angels one moment, cracking demonic whips the next, sending “wicked winter spirits” into the mountains to welcome the spring, though it’s been here for weeks.
The festival brings an overnight flurry of snowfall but, by noon, it feels like summer as another charming alpine tradition coaxes guests onto the terrace at Le Pavillon. Swaddled in white fur, they dip forks into oozing cheese fondue, a vital enrichment for cross-country skiing into St Moritz which, after all, is only six kilometres away.
St Moritz is a hotbed of winter Olympic sports.
Blinged-up St Moritz is the spiritual home of the glitterati, an opulent outpost for rich and famous people who own a chalet, a jet, a kingdom. They’ve been coming to the Engadin Valley for generations to drink Napoleon brandy, play polo, swoosh down mountains and mingle with celebrities – Coco Chanel, Alfred Hitchcock, millionaire playboy Gunter Sachs and his wife Brigitte Bardot, Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren, the Shah of Iran, Prince Albert of Monaco.
The empire of St Moritz nestles between two summits – Piz Nair (3057 metres) and Piz Corvatsch (3451 metres) – on either side of a winter frozen lake. It’s the hotbed of winter Olympic sports and, among other things, the home of the infamous toboggan course built by British upper-class gentlemen in 1884.
The Cresta Run is a terrific wheeze, but it isn’t for chaps-only, not anymore. Is it folly or fearlessness to lie face down, head first, using rakes on special boots to brake and steer a small toboggan down a precipitous ice run at 130 kilometres an hour? Either way, guests can apply for a slot in this exhilaratingly crazy marvel, with prices starting at CHF600 ($1012) for five rides.
Meanwhile, in the Kulm Country Club, wintry decorum settles in a cosseting blizzard of larch spray and pine vermouth martini. This charming art nouveau toboggan museum, overlooking a natural ice-rink, is tucked beneath an excellent restaurant recently remodelled by British architect Sir Norman Foster.
Kulm Country Club overlooks a natural ice-rink.
But let’s not forget the skiing. From the main village of St Moritz Dorf (1846 metres) a funicular railway whisks skiers to the slopes where 350 kilometres of mountain terrain fans out ahead.
The cable car that rises to the top of Piz Nair glides past the legendary men’s downhill race course (2840 metres). This is the steepest start gate in the world – an almost vertical drop that reportedly catapults competitors from standstill to 144 kilometres per hour in six seconds. It’s a spectacle captured by TV cameramen in crampons who abseil down the cliff to suitable filming positions.
For mere mortals, the summit branded with a bronze ibex is a place of perfect powder, and outstanding views to the opposite side of the valley. This is the smaller Corvatsch area above the less showy settlement of St Moritz Bad, a high point at 3303 metres, with open skiing on the glacier.
Unparalleled conditions make you want to stay out all day but the legendary Langosteria has a table free. It’s a warmly inviting restaurant where the guests look like extras in The Spy Who Loved Me, but the tiramisu is the real star on a menu crowded with sensations.
Hotelier Johannes Badrutt kick-started Alpine winter tourism in the Engadin Valley in 1864, telling well-heeled English summer guests that he’d refund them if they didn’t like his Kulm Hotel in the winter. The group endured the hardship of pioneers crossing the Julier Pass in furs to meet Badrutt in rolled-up shirt-sleeves under cloudless blue skies. They stayed the whole season.
Look out from just about any peak, path, terrace, spa or bar and it’s not hard to see why St Moritz has become a legend every season of the year.
THE DETAILS
FLY + TRAIN
Etihad Airways connects to Zurich via Abu Dhabi three times a week from Sydney and four times a week from Melbourne. See etihad.com
Swiss Travel Pass provides first class train travel through Switzerland with unlimited travel by train, bus and boat. See swisstravelpass.com
STAY
In sleepy Pontresina, the Grand Hotel Kronenhof is a heritage hub with sweeping alpine views of the Roseg glacier. Winter rate for a grand deluxe junior suite with half-board is CHF1195 ($2020) a night. See kronenhof.com
The Kulm Hotel, the oldest in St Moritz.
The Kulm Hotel is the oldest hotel in St Moritz and considered the cradle of winter tourism. It’s lost none of its charm with rooms redesigned by French architect and interior designer Pierre-Yves Rochon. Winter rates for a superior double room with half board is CHF1345 ($2275) a night. See kulm.com
EAT
Find the warmth and hospitality of an old Swiss guest house dining room in Pontresina with Kronenstubli’s famous specialty Canard à la presse (pressed duck). See kronenhof.com
In St Moritz, The K by superstar Argentinian chef Mauro Colagreco offers a simple table unadorned and plates are paired with poetry in a redefinition of Mediterranean cuisine. See engadin.ch
SPA
Not a fashion shoot in sight, The Kronenhof Spa has been deemed by spa guru and Wallpaper magazine founder Tyler Brule to be the “best in the Alps”. See kronenhof.com
SKI
Cross-country trails in the Upper Engadin offer 230 kilometres of glittering discovery. The Direttisimia is a favourite route across three frozen lakes that attracts more than 12,000 enthusiasts to the high Alpine valley every year for the legendary March marathon. See engadin.ch
Anabel Dean was a guest of Kulm Hotel and Swiss Travel Pass.
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