Off-season in Gstaad means different things to different people. To society mavens and inveterate guests, the January lull, lying between Rosey’s commencement and the beginning of February, represents a kind of social Kalahari, a Promenade replete with tumbleweeds and scavenger dogs. To the hoteliers, restaurateurs, shop owners and other service specialists, Gstaad goes dark twice a year: once between Easter and mid-June, and then again from mid-September until the Christmas frenzy. To the building professions, off-season is when everyone else is on-season. And to the Saanenland farmer, there is no off-season; the cows work year-round, and so do they.

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