Fashion designer Zoë Jordan wanted to bring together great friends, brand ambassadors and creatives who inspire her, combining fashion, sport and travel to reflect the ethos of her brand - and what better way to do it than with an alpine adventure to Gstaad? She took influencers including model and actress Caroline Winberg and TV presenter Laura Jackson to the mountains; this is what went down…
20 April, 2017
Mountain resorts can be hard to reach, so we decided to turn it into part of the experience. We took the scenic snow train from Montreux to Gstaad, ascending the mountain in a glass-roof train with an absolutely phenomenal view - made better by endless champagne served by waiters in white tie!
Our base camp for the week was the contemporary-chic Le Grand Bellevue, a magical century-old hotel in the heart of the village. Mornings were spent schussing down glorious slopes - the best are at 3000 metres because they're not too crowded and there's plenty of snow up there. Gstaad also has an amazing range of pistes and some really wide slopes, which we were grateful for after too much limoncello at lunch - that stuff is absolute fire water and we were hurtling down the mountains afterwards.
In the evening, we ate our way through multiple cheese-heavy Swiss dishes at rustic restaurant Le Petit Chalet. They have an old-fashioned cow bell hanging in the restaurant and, fuelled by fresh air and probably a bit too much red wine, we began a ridiculous game of who could high kick it. Juvenile as it may sound, it was hours and hours of fun! Needless to say, Caroline Weinberg made it look easy, Caroline Fragis pirouetted out of her kick elegantly (she used to be a dancer) and a few of us (me) just couldn't quite make it. Fortunately, we had a wicked DJ in tow, so we hit the dance floor instead and later had the whole hotel joining in.
Zoe: The Grand Bellevue Hotel, of course! It's beautiful and everything you could ever want from an alpine stay.
Laura: The hotel lounge for chilli margaritas - it has gorgeous House of Hackney wallpaper and birdcage swings.
Caroline: Le Petit Chalet! They have the best fondue and the spiciest margaritas I've ever tried. I know it doesn't sound like a good mix but they really are just perfect.
Zoe: Leonard's Wine Cellar and then Bouquet for cocktails and dancing. It has the perfect mood lighting - ideal if you're trying to hide goggle marks.
Caroline: The Grand Bellevue's Michelin-starred restaurant has the best food…
Laura: Go to the charming mountain wood cabin, Le Petit Chalet, for a hearty Swiss fondue then kick the cow bell!
Zoe: Kicking the cow bell!
Caroline: Kicking the cow bell!
Caroline: The only workout I need in the mountains is snowboarding all day long.
Zoe: There's an incredible gym in the hotel but I prefer to swim or wind down in one of the many steam rooms.
Caroline: Any hidden corner of the mountain with a cold beer in the sun.
Laura: La Refuge for lunch. It's a secret restaurant up in the mountains at Glacier 3000. Breath-taking views over the slopes and it has no electricity and runs off a stove.
Zoe: Dolce & Gabbana in the town, the wood-carved, chalet-style building is just beautiful.
Laura: Prada have an incredible edit; Gstaad isn't just for alpine shopping - they had in all the latest SS trends too!
Caroline: My favourite place to shop in Switzerland is always the pharmacy... So novel compared to the ones back home.
