A mountain village can be busy in February, busy in July and entirely shut in May. That gap is deliberate, and it follows from how mountain businesses actually earn.
Two seasons need two sets of infrastructure
Winter demand rests on snow cover, groomed pistes and lifts running to high stations. Summer demand rests on hiking trails, bike routes and lifts running to different points.
Each requires its own equipment, safety regime and trained staff. Converting from one to the other is a substantial operation rather than a change of signage.
The changeover period is when that work happens, which is a practical reason for closing rather than a commercial one.
The gap seasons offer nothing to sell
In late spring, snow is too poor for skiing and high trails are still buried or dangerous. The mountain supports neither activity properly.
Autumn produces a shorter version of the same problem, with trails open but weather unreliable and lifts not yet on winter operation.
Opening a hotel for a period with no reliable activity means paying full staffing costs against very low occupancy, so most simply close.
Lift operation dominates the economics
Cable cars and chairlifts carry high fixed costs in maintenance, inspection and crew, and those costs barely fall when passenger numbers do.
A lift therefore needs a minimum level of demand to be worth turning on at all, which is why only a few run outside the main seasons.
Which lifts open in summer is a commercial decision made annually, so a route that worked one year may require a long walk the next.
Staffing is seasonal and mobile
Mountain resorts recruit large temporary workforces for each season, often from elsewhere, and accommodate them locally. Those contracts start and end on fixed dates.
Between seasons the workforce leaves, and with it the capacity to run restaurants, lifts and hotels at any scale.
Permanent residents are a small fraction of peak-season population, which is why a village in the gap can feel abandoned rather than merely quiet.
Planning around the pattern is straightforward
Valley towns and larger year-round settlements keep functioning through the gap, so a trip in those weeks works if it is based lower down.
Checking lift opening dates rather than hotel availability is the more reliable test, since accommodation sometimes opens ahead of the transport that makes it useful.
The gap weeks reward travellers wanting quiet valleys, low prices and long light, provided the plan does not depend on reaching altitude.