Winter holiday through a photographer’s lens: Kitzbühel and Hall in Tirol

Casey Moore: My love for skiing started by moving from New Zealand with my parents in 1979 to live in the Swiss Alps from age 4 to 10 where I skied almost every day in the winter and could even ski right to my front door.

There was a long gap through my 20’s and 30’s where I didn’t ski very often but now I have kids and we have been to Tirol, Austria for the last 3 years in a row. What is incredible to me is how quickly everyone has taken the mountains to their hearts. Skiing is now our favourite family activity and the kids have become really confident with just one week per year. For anyone worried about how it will be with small kids I can really recommend it especially in these Tirolean mountains. There are challenges of course but all the effort pays off, I can’t think of any other physical activity that everyone in the family can enjoy as much.

We started this years Tirol holiday in Hall where we stayed at the beautiful Kontor Boutique Hotel for 2 nights and experienced the incredible history of this place which was famous for it’s salt mining and coin making. We had a tour of the mine and the children got to make their own  coins which was so exciting for them.

We also visited the mind blowing Swarovski Kristallwelten (Crystal World) which was an incredible surprise filled with the most inspiring art and artists and we all loved so much with creations by Alexander McQueen and Yayoi Kusama to name just two. The day was finished off with some time in the crystal world playground which is a completely unique play tower filled with physical challenges which was a perfect ending.

Next we set off to the famous resort Kitzbühel known for its downhill race and extreme beauty. We had such an amazing time in the mountains skiing all the variety of slopes (so many options to choose from) and also enjoying other activities for the kids like tobogganing and visiting a beautiful alpaca farm run by a lovely family overlooking Kitzbühel . The food and dining were also such a highlight eating at incredible places like the Bichlalm where we were also lucky enough to experience Full Moon night skiing. I skiied down with my oldest boy Luca by the light of the moon (and headlamps) while the rest of the family came down on a skidoo. We also did a shoot for Stella McCartney Kid’s latest skiwear collection. Our children Luca and Willow have done some modelling for Stella Kids in the past and it’s a brand they are happy to promote as they really care about the environmental impact of their collections. This seasons ski gear is made from recycled polyester which re-uses plastic bottles and textile waste.

My wife Claire and I did the shooting and it was a challenge to organise all the looks, with locations and camera gear (mostly shooting using analogue film) but also proved again what a joy it is just be in these mountains. We had Bettina from the Kitzbühel tourist office to help us and she really couldn’t have done it without her.

Kitzbühel was such a wonderful family holiday with so many facets to it. The people, the place and the skiing were filled with such warmth and class – we can’t wait to return!