TR – New Year “eatathon” in Obergurgl with a bit of skiing on the side

A snowHead

Where: Half Board at the Hotel Madeleine in Obergurgl, circa 1:45 from Innsbruck.

How: All booked through Crystal.

Why: Wanted somewhere high as New Year snow is never wholly reliable. Went via Crystal as it was the easy option. I was sufficiently uninvolved in the booking process that until the day we left, I thought we were going to Obertauern!

When: Flew out NYE, with 6 days of skiing to see in 2023.

Who: The usual Snowplough mob: Mrs TFS, two Uni student offspring (now aged 20 and 18 – how the chuff have they got so old?) and yours truly, in traditional (and yet more distant) “Tail End Charlie” mode.

How much: Haven’t dared add everything up. North of £6k (before lunch and bar bill) feels likely. But good value all things considered, as we prioritised having a good time rather than minimising cost. We could have made things cheaper by going for a family room, but given that the different generations of Snowploughs keep very different hours these days and none of us are really up for the discomforts of the 4th bed, we went for two twin rooms. The kids still managed to fight over bedding overnight, despite being in separate beds, with a gap between – and both being asleep. For the record, it was a score draw in terms of successfully stolen duvets!

Overall verdict: 9/10. Would have been 10/10 but for slightly dodgy snow conditions towards the end of the week.

Schoolboy error to kick things off: Having unpacked and collected our skis, there was time to head to the hotel bar for a well-deserved pre-dinner family bevy. Beer prices were on a par with standard London prices, which set my expectations for all drinks for the week. Big mistake! I should have checked the bar menu in more detail, as gin prices were eye-wateringly high. If I can stop my palpitations long enough to type on the subject, I think a round of double G&Ts for the ladies came in at north of EUR60. And of course, the ladies’ favourite drink for the week was G&T. There were a few other pale faces during the ritual mass bar bill settling on the final evening, so I don’t think I was alone in misjudging this aspect of the trip!

Hotel Madeleine: Notwithstanding gin prices, this is a fantastic place to spend a week. The food was amazing, but I don’t think I could have survived much more of the richness and calorific content. Breakfast was a buffet, with the usual continental treats, topped off with seemingly limitless supplies of fresh fruit. There was also Prosecco available, but we all passed on this, as there’s a time and a place, and 8am just isn’t the time! The evening meal was a multi-course feast (five courses on normal days, seven at the NYD gala dinner) with main course options of meat, fish and veggie. We had all three types between us over the week and standards were uniformly high. Again, limitless fresh produce was available via the salad bar.

One minor caveat re food – red meat was served on the rare side, which suits us, but the NYD lamb was so rare that a skilled vet could probably have constructed a sentient creature from what was served!

Another minor caveat re food – potatoes were the carbs of choice for the chef, bar the odd exception, so Younger Daughter, who doesn’t eat creamy / mashed potatoes had to carb load on bread in the evenings.

The most anticipated meal of the day though was “skiers’ snacks” served at the end the skiing day, where cakes, bread, cheese, cooked meats and the occasional soup were laid on.

The hotel’s comforts didn’t end in the dining room though. There was a spa with a hot tub, a steam room, an infra-red room and two saunas. I don’t really see the point of spas, but a quick tour of the facilities each day between snacks and pre-dinner drinks soon became a fixed point in the daily schedule!

Ski hire: The Crystal package gave some nice discounts on ski hire if one bought lift passes through Crystal too, which we did. So our premium skis cost around EUR100 for the week. For this, we were all kitted out with equipment that matched our specific preferences, notwithstanding that no ski shop will ever quite manage to satisfy my request of “something that will make me ski like a better looking version of Herman Maier”.

Lift passes: Younger Daughter is still a youth for lift pass purposes and qualified for a EUR50 discount, but the rest of us paid EUR390 for the area pass (which includes Solden) for the week. On face value, this is a bit steep, but holy moly, you get a lot of lift system for your money. 8 or 10 person high speed gondolas lurked at the bottom of pretty much every run, backed up by fast detachable chairs in strategic points. There were a couple of T-Bars, but we have certain standards and gave them a miss. Even allowing for public holidays and a lot of day trippers seeking snow, queues were virtually non-existent.

Ski area: I struggled to get my head round navigation here. With the lowest point in the ski area being circa 1900m, tree-lined runs were largely absent, and I struggled to distinguish one broad expanse of snow from another. Luckily, Mrs TFS and Elder Daughter both share the “navigation gene” so I just followed them, albeit usually from a very long way behind. Conditions weren’t brilliant, with lots of the blue runs on roads being very icy by the end of the week. The reds and blacks also seemed to deposit skiers right into the middle of obvious novice areas all too frequently, so a fair degree of caution was required. Once we’d sussed out where it was safe to push on, there were some really nice “leg burners”, with a couple of “top to bottom” runs involving nearly a vertical kilometre. I don’t think the area would really class as challenging in good snow conditions, but with the amount of ice (particularly on narrow blues) and piles of wind-blown loose snow, I had more than enough by way of challenge! The ladies also reported that there was more than enough ice for them though they weren’t bothered by the loose snow, as they can all ski properly.

Mountain catering: There were lots of mountain restaurants / cafes, and even though it was quite busy, finding a table for four was never much of a problem. Mains were in the range EUR13-20, and we soon discovered that the best option was “Kaisserschmarrn” which is a cross between pancakes and French Toast, chopped into bite-sized chunks served with fruit puree. I was very sceptical before my first forkfull but was soon a zealous convert!

Apres ski: We were out skiing from first lift to last and were pretty tired, so generally did no more than celebrate removing boots without injury with a couple of beers / G&Ts. Some of the younger elements in our hotel reported somewhat more lively goings on after hours in the Nederhutte though!

Getting back in the saddle: Readers with a long memory may recall that my last ski outing (Feb 2020) did not end particularly well, unless you count being skied into resulting in an uncontrolled impact with a flat piste, a broken shoulder, a broken elbow and mild concussion being good things. So it was with some trepidation that I pushed off for my first run on New Year’s Day. Thankfully, the snow was nice on the carefully selected blue run and my first few turns felt good, which restored my confidence. I had a couple of spills during the week, but thankfully these merely provided amusement to the rest of the Snowploughs rather than business for the local medical centre.

Something of a disappointment: Before the trip, Mrs TFS had acquired a new jacket, an orange number that struck me as rather bright. We confidently predicted that we’d be able to spot her from miles away whilst skiing. But it turns out that orange is a mainstream colour this year, and she rather mingled in with the masses, lacking the “daygo” edge to orange that some sported. Orange leggings would have done the trick, but again, there are standards to be maintained.

And a pleasant surprise on which to finish: Eleven years ago, at a mountain lodge 2200m high above Lauterbrunnen, I was able to avail myself of a Dyson Airblade with which to dry my hands. This altitude has not since been challenged in my personal log of “Highest Dyson Airblades”. But 2200m was knocked into the long grass by the discovery of one at 2800m in the Wurmkogelhutte one lunchtime. Having travelled from a country where seeing a Doctor appears to be impossible unless you’ve actually died, one couldn’t help being impressed by this!

A snowHead

Great review, amusingly written.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I am also just back from a ski trip, was considering writing a TR, but the above has humbled me into the ground.... fantastic TR, packed with info and also much amusement!

Can we hand over a Gold Star please?

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The G&Ts

The few times I've stayed in a hotel to ski (SH bashes) I've paid over the bar for drinks. Keeps it real!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Great TR - thanks for writing @The Flying Snowplough !

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@Old Fartbag, @womble, @Layne, thanks!

@pam w, the post-bill debrief did conclude that "pay as you go" would have given us more wallet-preserving options!

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@The Flying Snowplough, great review, thanks. Didn’t think Obergurgl would have iffy snow, nice to know we’re all in the same boat!

After all it is free

@The Flying Snowplough, thanks so much for this report, the kind where it makes the reader think 'I want that holiday!' Ouch on the G&Ts though... Shocked

"Something of a disappointment: Before the trip, Mrs TFS had acquired a new jacket, an orange number that struck me as rather bright. We confidently predicted that we’d be able to spot her from miles away whilst skiing. But it turns out that orange is a mainstream colour this year, and she rather mingled in with the masses, lacking the “daygo” edge to orange that some sported. Orange leggings would have done the trick, but again, there are standards to be maintained"

Just no! I must be a trendsetter - my orange Arc'Teryx jacket bought last year was unique (didn't see another in 2 weeks skiing in Zell am See and Obergurgl), and I saw very few orange jackets in total

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@telford_mike, thanks!

@ElzP, thanks! Re the G&Ts, Mrs TFS and I have calculated that a couple of weeks of "Dry January" (which were weren't planning on doing) should recoup the unanticipated element to the bar bill, so all is good! And all the drinks did slip down very agreeably...

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@buchanan101, I am now suffering "trend-setting orange jacket envy". I shall keep your bragging secret from Mrs TFS! Wink

snow reports

Nice TR but surely any self deserving Yorkshire man packs a bottle of gin from the duty free and grabs a bottle of tonic from a local supermarket?

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

@The Flying Snowplough, It is noticeable in both German & Austrian bars that drinks like G&T are much more expensive that in the UK even in a normal bar you would expect to pay €7 + per shot which very quickly adds up if you are drinking large G&Ts. Never understood why it is so expensive as gin is much cheaper in the supermarkets than in the UK. Best stick to beer Very Happy

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

When we did catered chalets my kids bought Old Lady gin and tonic from supermarket and got well oiled for a week for a lot less than one round in Obergurgl. Stylish it wasn't. As a less cheapskate Older Lady I take my bottle of Bombay Sapphire. One huge advantage of self catering is drinking lots of good wine at 10 euros a bottle. The food in Obergurgl sounds terrific, but after enjoying two days of having it all put in front of me I yearn to escape. One friend of mine, who struggles with weight (and has lost the battle for many years) assures me that her fully catered University hall, in the '60s, was the way to go.

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I thought orange pants were the big thing - don't think I've seen so many orange jackets.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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@buchanan101, have you always been a contrarian or were previously very different Laughing

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Great review, glad you got back in the saddle successfully!

A colleague of mine went with his family to Obergurgl regularly, raved about the food but did say it wasn't a cheap holiday. He certainly has a higher salary than me and higher standards to match. He mentioned a number once and I baulked. Last month was our first ski holiday in a hotel in Europe, it's been cheap apartments up to then.

We go to Banff for a fortnight every ?5 years and often started off with the American Breakfast in the adjoining restaurant, always a hot lunch on the mountain, then sample the restaurants in the evening. After about Day 4 we'd have not much more than a bowl of cereal in our rooms, couldn't look at much more food than that.

Nothing wrong with orange Smile

After all it is free

Great review. As others have said, goddamn thats some expensive drink.

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@Orange200, @turboblackbeard, thanks!

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I bought an orange jacket for a trip that didn't happen 2 years ago, so good to know i was ahead of the curve, even if I'll be common as muck this year...

Great TR, much appreciated.

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Great report. Need to get to Austria sooner rather than later.

I've just retired my orange jacket (9 seasons, but multiple pockets had failed in annoying-to-repair ways) in favour of a muted forest green one. I do need to reconsider my salopette game though; my black ones make for a rather stealthy look with the new jacket and I need the lads to be able see me from the bottom of a run when I've stacked it up the hill.

@SHAP, @Dyrlac, thanks!

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@The Flying Snowplough, hi, we have booked to stay in Madeleine for Easter and after reading your great TR I wondered if you might be able to shed some light of the wine prices? Thanks

A snowHead

@The Flying Snowplough, don't know how I missed this at the time. Thanks for a most entertaining review

Help!!

TR – New Year “eatathon” in Obergurgl with a bit of skiing on the side

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