SNOW Alps 25-26 web - Flipbook - Page 36
SUITES
Heavenly
Hideaway
For those who’ve done the big mountains
and the sprawling wedding-cake hotels, a
new kind of alpine sanctuary awaits.
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF ERIRO
words by LESLIE WOIT
photography by ALEX MOLING
C
urious about quiet? Calling all alpine aesthetes who’ve
grown tired of dodging paparazzi in Verbier and
navigating the sprawl of St. Moritz — welcome to eriro.
Opened in 2024, perched mid-mountain at a small ski area one
hour from Innsbruck, this discreet adults-only boutique hotel
is not for the many. It’s a high-touch hideaway for the few.
As the gondola rises slowly skyward across the Austrian
flank of the Zugspitze, the pretty Tirolean villages of Ehrwald
and Lermoos retreat in the distance. At the summit, a black allterrain Can-Am waits to whisk us the extra few steps, across a
gentle piste to the front of a heavy hand-carved wooden door.
Inside, there’s a palette of calming taupes, a wash of alpine
panorama, and a delicate whiff of woodsmoke perfuming the
air. Soon, local conifers, salts and wild herbs will flavor not
just our food and drink but the very atmosphere itself. This is
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luxury — but on a deeply human scale.
Located in the quiet ski area of Ehrwald with only eight
lifts and immaculate grooming, this rustic-chic inn offers just
nine suites, alongside superb cuisine, classes that include
woodcarving, yodelling, and yoga, and a pampering spa
that outstrips what one would commonly expect in such a
bijou setting.
Expect nothing shiny, apart from polished stemware and
copper lampshades; nothing bright, save the crackling open fire
and shimmering onsen. Inside and out, the forest is reborn in
every possible permutation — from the extraordinary bathtubs
hewn from a single tree, to ceilings blanketed in hand-split,
recycled spruce, to the 4,000 cotter pins binding it all in place.
Among the hand-made linens and house-bottled spring water,
modern technology does exist — but only on request. A pair of
