Providing excitement is our philosophy

Our exclusive location, our facility and the professionalism of our staff will make your stay a unique experience, to be enjoyed first of all and then remembered proudly.

Exclusive location

This exclusive location is highlighted by the outlines of the mountains around it, made unique by the total absence of light pollution or visible artificial lights, by the absolute silence broken only by the sigh of the wind, by the 2700 metres of altitude where the thrill of nearly touching the sky is more perceptible than ever. In the daytime, it is illuminated by ever-present sunshine, thanks to the east-west layout of Valle dell’Alpe.

Facility

Built with natural materials, Sunny Valley Kelo Mountain Lodge is an exclusive addition to the world of Alpine lodges. Excavation provided the stones for building the walls, and the roof was shingled entirely with larch shakes: with this, the use of local stones for the foundation and part of the walls, and with kelo, a special Lapland fir tree, the building harmonises perfectly with its natural environment. Staying in this structure built by Saami workers from Lapland and artisans from Valtellina, will let you experience the unique sensation of being surrounded and protected by century-old Nordic wood, inhaling the scents of resin and lichens still being released.

Kelo: the wood from Lapp fir trees resists time and frost

Kelo is the Laplander name used for the fir trees growing in the forests north of the Arctic Circle that, after finishing their life cycle (between 300 and 500 years), begin a slow drying process that only ends 50 to 100 years later. During this long period, due to the winds and low temperatures, the fir trees lose their branches and bark. Only at that point are they cut down to make room for new baby trees. Kelo was originally used to build the houses of the Saami people in Lapland. This wood is an extraordinary material, an environmentally sustainable raw material that ensures a high level of thermal insulation and does not require any kind of additional processing.

Kelo’s most notable feature is, in fact, its powerful insulating properties: as its growing season is severely restricted (only two months out of the year) due to the low temperatures, scant sunlight and the permafrost in the soil, the tree grows extremely slowly. Because of all this, the two months per year available for growth in a dry environment from the dry cold typical of the subarctic, the tree acquires an exceptionally dense texture that enhances its ability to insulate. With that very short annual growing season, trees 400 or 500 years old have trunks that are only 50 cm in diameter. When you look at a slice of the tree trunk under a magnifying lens, you’ll notice how the yearly growth rings are very close together. No living fir tree was cut down to meet the needs of our tourist business.

Personnel

Our skilled and motivated personnel can recommend the best experiences for you to enjoy at Sunny Valley Kelo Mountain Lodge, so you can tackle the activities you will experience here with a thrill of excitement.