 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@ElzP, _can_ keep it going is one thing. _Should_ keep it going is something else entirely 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Well, the last week and a bit has been a right sh1tshow for me - still can't shake that cold, it turned into a throat infection, lots of time off games. Went out a couple more times in Kitz where the warmth was becoming a problem - last Saturday was like skiing in cement by 10am at the top of Resterhohe - but otherwise nothing. 
Anyway, we moved on as scheduled from Kitzbuhel to St Johann im Pongau on Sunday, with Alpendorf our nearest lift base (the tiny St Johan im P area is not in operation as it's lost its snow. Our tiny apartment is a 3 min max walk to a ski bus stop and it takes maybe 5 minutes to get to Alpendorf, very easy. Husband has been out for the last two mornings and reports hard pistes but decent snow all the way over towards Wagrain, with brown patches on some south facing runs. I'm hoping to get out tomorrow!
St J itself is a funny little town, very 'normal', doesn't feel resorty or touristy, a little grey. However, it's very easy to get around, all the shops and restaurants you need, and it's cheaper than up by the ski lifts! Also, can confirm it contains at least one English speaking doctor. 
It's not Kitzbuhel, certainly - we both really liked Kitz, there's loads to do (went to the ice hockey last weekend!), the skiing is great, it's fun and there's a party if you want it. Having got lucky with the snow for the first couple of weeks it's difficult not to have rose tinted memories... but it's great to be somewhere new. 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@ElzP, thanks for the update and sorry to hear of your unwellness.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@ElzP, hope you're illness clears up soon! The skiing around Wagrain/Flachau is really nice, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@ElzP, Interesting about St Johann. It was the first place I went skiing, actually on the area that is closed which was mainly used by the ski school. There was a toboggan track from the hut at the top of the chair lift, the hut was reached in the evening by a very hairy ride in a mini bus on an icy track! I remember it as a fairly unremarkable sort of place, we stayed at the Brückenwirt, unsurprisingly next to the river, sure it is now a fancy wellness spot then an old school "Gasthof". Very easy for trips into Salzburg from the nearby station.
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@ElzP, hope you feel better soon and can report back more on the skiing tomorrow!
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@munich_irish, looks quite posh now that hotel! 
@Layne, @swskier, @denfinella, thanks!
Got out this morning - 8.07 ski bus, gondola up, all feeling very warm... First run down 34a to the bottom of the Buchaubahn gondola was absolutely perfect, softening corduroy at 8.40ish, and it's a super red, long enough to get the blood pumping.
By the time we got back up, it was already getting choppy with scraped bits on the blues at the top. 34 red was decent but had a pretty thick layer of man made snow on top; quite fun on my skis but felt like hard work as it was melting. Luckily the best underfoot was the longish steep before you reach the track round to the gondola.
We ended up just lapping both these runs for a couple of hours (34a perfect for practicing 'tits down the valley') then heading down for the bus on the gondola rather than brave the increasingly soupy and bumpy pistes. I loved being out again but was a bit under par/low energy so thought better to keep it easy and ski another day (some poor girl was being carted down in a medical gondola car just in front of us, suspect it's that kinda day). In fact I've taken myself back to bed just to be sure. 
Still blue skies but some clouds around (and a pretty rainbow earlier, barely visible to the right of the photo below). Snow and colder temperatures are forecast from Sunday so fingers crossed!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@ElzP, 66 in Scheffau is not difficult to get to from either the bottom or top of the "Ukraine" lift (the one with blue and yellow seats). I've never used the link from 72 as I think it involves poling (as it's two way). 72 is good (as it is wide and has a good aspect) but is so busy compared with 66
Most people probably aren't very good at working out what is what in a ski resort...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@ElzP, glad to hear it's going so well
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Very decent day yesterday - a few degrees colder, a little grey but the clouds stayed high, and the snow stayed reasonably firm until we copped out at 1.30ish. We went over to Flachau and back, and the snow is noticeably better on the Alpendorf side; shadier!
Amazingly, given how slowly I tend to ski, we made it from the bottom of the Alpendorf gondola at around 8.30am to the bottom of Hermann Maier in Flachau (piste 1) by 10am.  Testament to the excellent piste conditions and the fact that it wasn't very busy considering it was a Saturday and the beginning of holidays. Sure it will get busier this week, but yesterday we had no wait for any lifts, and weren't like sardines in the G-link.
We did see a few school trip coaches and hoardes if kids in the car park at Alpendorf and shared the lift up with a couple of very pleasant lads from King Ecgbert's school in Sheffield, my original home town. As one of them put it, 'Wasn't expecting the first person I spoke to in Austria to be from Sheff'.
Runs of the day = everything on our way over through Alpendorf in the morning, it was all firm and squeaky and fun. We did have to wait for a couple of runs to open on the way, as they seem to open up bit by bit from 8.30 (when most of the upper lifts start running) on even though the first gondola is at 8am. A bit odd but we weren't in any rush! By the time we finished for the day it was mildly choppy to the top of the gondola though I'm sure would have been very melty lower down.
It's snowing today up the hill (rain in town) and we've taken the day off to head for some culture and a curry in Hallein near Salzburg.  We may be a little hungover after too many apres beers, though we got a very early night as St Johan is absolutely dead in the early evening.  Even the apres bar at the bottom of the gondola in Alpendorf was mostly empty at 4ish. Kinda miss the Londoner now...  We ended up getting a very good kebab and pide from Black Sea imbiss - highly recommend!
Gorgeous red coming down to the G-link from Grafenberg in the morning.
Looking up from around the Achterjet top station in Flachau, lots of big wide runs.
From the bottom of the Hermann Maier race piste 1 in Flachau.
Bottom of black 30, my new confidence building run...
Beers watching the mild afternoon carnage at the top of the Alpendorf gondola.
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Skied a full day yesterday (we usually just do mornings during the week) lured by the fact that it's been snowing for the last couple of days and Wednesday was going to be clear and coldish. And it was great (in part - got pretty scraped later on (always interesting to see the blue ice that lies beneath  ), and a bit bumpy on busier, lower pistes), but my god it was busy. It was so quiet on Saturday that I think my brain was avoiding the fact on half term, even though it was a bit busier on Monday when we skied a morning.
Someone on SHs, in one of the nervous skier threads, recommended a book called 'A conversation with fear' which is excellent and chimed so much for me. One of the things the author discusses is the number of variables the anxious mind can cope with before overwhelm starts - clearly the crowds (constantly checking to see what's going on around me, skiing defensively and being pushed around in lift queues is exhausting) plus the variable conditions plus having been a bit ill was one variable too many for me so I had a sloooow day. Didn't cop out or actually cry though so I'll call that a win, still a much better scenario than last year.
We decided to head over to Flachauwinkl and Zauchensee, getting bus 530 from St Johan (Vormarkt stop, maybe 7 or 8 minutes from our apartment) to Kleinarl. The bus was empty until Wagrain as everyone else in St Jo was trying to cram onto the ski bus to Alpendorf so that was satisfying. All worked perfectly and arrived at the Kleinarl chair as it opened at 8.45.
We spent some time faffing about on the slopes of Flachauwinkl - there are some lovely blues under chair lifts 26 and 28, though the red under lift 28 caught me out a bit - felt a bit steep and hard underfoot for the nerves. We then took the red/blue down to the shuttle bus to get over to Zauchensee (alongside lots of other people as the crowds grew, probably at this point that the combination/volume of teen hooners and beginners started to put me about - and my own sking became almost too in control, every turn slow and over thought )
I genuinely lost track of which runs we did coming down to the line of lifts in Zauchensee - it's more a case of puck a gradient and go for it, and some pistes didn't seem to have markings towards the bottom. Some stuff was fine, some stuff felt steep. The poor child that was howling loud tears coming down one of the steeper bits, probably by mistake, in a snowplough followed by a frantic parent shouting what I assume was 'turn' will stay with me. Plenty of fallers and some near misses as people were shooting around in all directions to get to the various lifts. Nice views from the top though, and excellent apple strudel in the Rosskopfhutte.
Last year we spent a day in Zauchensee just pootling around when I was almost crippled with nerves and I liked it, mainly the area of runs which drops down into a lovely valley blue. My run if the day today was blue 10 off the Tauernkar lift number 8 - really gorgeous, a track but wide, very relaxing...
Run 9 from the other side (chair number 4 was also as nice as I remember. Both exactly the type of piste you need on a day when you're not totally loving it.
We started to head back over at 1ish with the thought that it would be quieter over lunch, then we would late lunch towards Wagrain. Everyone else obviously had a similar idea as at this point the lift queues became unpleasant (to be fair, we didn't wait more than 10-15 minutes, and then only for a couple of lifts, but too many people in close proximity, shoving through, elbows out - just annoying...) and it took us a good while to get over on the Panorama gondola. Which is absolutely gorgeous in terms of views! The red piste down to the g-link was a combo of bumpy and scraped but not ridiculous thank goodness (I impressed myself with the fact that my turns went where I wanted, in control!) We took the g-link then the Grafenberg gondola down to Wagrain, where some great ribs and too many beers awaited at the Kuhberg Alm. Last bus back at 18.25, job done!
As an associated aside, we met a couple of chaps last week who also have the Superski card and spend the season going between different resorts. However, they were heading back to the UK for 3 weeks... on purpose. If we do another stint next year on the snow, wherever we end up, I think we'll do the same. Quiet pistes and lifts are a total luxury that I now fully appreciate; we don't have to be skiing during the half term/Carnival/Fasching etc hols, so next time we won't.
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You know it makes sense.
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Another gap in reports - we moved on from St Johan im P on Saturday (got one more morning in Alpendorf on the Friday and it was frankly boiling and rammed) to a short stay in Bad Hofgastein - here til Monday 26th. The weather has been absolutely shocking since we got here, tipping rain up to high altitude and cloudy up the hill. So, I haven't skied til today, though my husband went up to Sportgastein on Sunday. He didn't love it though said the upper slopes had good snow; below the gondola mittelstation it's either two black pistes or a red track - the blacks far better than the red apparently but hard as nails.
So, can tell you mostly that Bad Gastein town is very attractive if precipitous, and the waterfall is picturesque... can also recommend the Alpentherme spa in Bad Hofgastein though this week is obviously still very busy with families. The sauna area is naked only, and adults only, and vast, probably 10 different saunas and steam rooms! For anyone nervous about the Austrian naked sauna thing, I'd say you get used to it very quickly when everyone is in the buff. In fact one girl who was wearing a bikini in the sauna stood out like a sore thumb and got side eyed.
Bad Gastein
Anyway, yesterday it finally snowed down to around 1500m, and it cleared up so we headed out up the Bad Hofgastein slopes this morning - along with everyone else. Was great to be back out with some actual real snow underfoot! All the pistes above chairs 6 and 7 were in good shape, as were the two off the little two man chair up to the very top (the latter were also quiet). The queues built quickly, with maybe 5 minute waits at the chairs feeling pretty good; unlike some other arwas, people actually seem to fill the lifts here and not fanny about too much, was the same on the gondola up.
I'd been really keen to do run H1 (red) which heads round the back at the top, and it was super. It's very beautiful, easing down through the peaks, and with the fresh snow just great. Obviously at a certain point that lovely snow turned into sugar over ice, but it was worth it for the upper part and the views. Only one nasty-ish section - a steep lower down where there is no sun and fake snow - but DO NOT take the revolting easy out to the left (I did it so you don't have to...), it's a rutted track. Otherwise it's all cruisey fun and I recommend. The Bad Hof slopes in general are a nice area and worth a visit.
I'm smiling so it must have been good...
Rest of the week is looking mixed in terms of weather, but hoping for the forecast dump of snow on Friday, and maybe a clear day so we can head to Dorfgastein at the weekend. There's a 'try biathlon' day here on Friday so Ill be having a go at that if they get the numbers needed to run it - have done a bit of xc but haven't done any target shooting since my teens so could be fun!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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The best laid plans and all that... Friday morning, the biathlon session didn't happen and it was raining - though snowing up the hill. In the afternoon the snowline dropped and it continued to snow in the valley til 4am Saturday - we woke to a blanket of snow in town, absolutely gorgeous.
We decided to pop out to the local slopes, and husband hired a pair of K2 mindbenders for the occasion. Got on the gondola early, to be chucked off along with everyone else at the mittelstation; nothing above was open (and apparently didn't open for at least another hour according to the app).
So, we rerouted by bus to Dorfgastein which was an excellent decision. There were very few people there (or certainly felt that way after the half term weeks!) and the upper lifts opened as we arrived and the skies were blue above a belt of cloud, so we had fun and games on the fresh snow which was a good few inches on top of the pistes. Husband ventured off and got stuck. Just a very fun morning though I've definitely forgotten how to ski on deeper snow and was totally knackered in an embarrassingly short time.
So busy, so awful... 
We'd planned to ski in Dorfgastein anyway on Sunday, and stuck to the plan; Jafa of this parish met up with us as well which was great. Another stunning day; we spent the morning over the Grossarl side where all the pistes were wide, pretty and perfect. Red 10 was a challenge for me being a bit steep to it's upper section, but the rest of the reds were a decent gradient. Jafa noted that most of the skiiers out that morning (and again it wasn't very busy) were rather good, locals! There was some super, controlled, zooming going on down those perfect slopes.
Back over on the Dorfgastein side we had a great lunch at the Reiter Hutte - cheese spatzle delicious! All the huts we went in for coffee breaks etc were super friendly. The whole place just has good vibes.
Really busy pistes in Grossarl...
So, a great end to a mixed week. General impressions of the area: we both agreed our favourite skiing was in Dorfgastein (it's not an easy beginner type place but perfect for decent intermediates), though H1 piste in Bad Hofgastein is the best piste of the week. Staying in Bad Hofgastein is really good - a very nice town, buzzy with cafes, super spa, stuff going on like the skating rink and criss country area. Would return to the Gastein Alm for chilled apres, and definitely to restaurant Da Dino which does a brilliant pizza. The buses to the other areas are easy and frequent so you can escape to Dorfgastein from the busier areas.
Bad Hofgastein town
Now on the train to Hochfilzen for the next part of the adventure - very excited to get out on the Ski Circus tomorrow!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Looks fantastic @ElzP, and Saalbach still to come! I'm a bit jealous of your blue sky though, can we swap weather patterns please?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Been a busy old time in the Saalbach area, but have to give a quick report on a very random evening we've just had before it fades from my memory like a strange dream...
We were lucky enough to experience the last Ski Symphony show in Fieberbrunn tonight; they have run every Tuesday. We've seen other ski resort evening shows - in fact Saalbach do a good one with a quite big jump and lots of fire.
Fieberbrunn have gone classy and classical, with a show in four movements. The surreal started with the host, Verdi, in bright yellow ski boots, playing us in. Some lovely synchronised skiing to Spring, then on to a girl twirling upside down in ribbons which was seriously impressive, I forget the music, frankly we were all distracted. Oh, it might have been Holst because Verdi gave us a singing lesson and made some lad play drums.
Then a bit of Orf, with skiiers in light suits coming down to a dub step version of Carmina Burana which was different, and then some tricks over a small jump with fire; last jumper came a cropper and got the biggest cheer.
At some point in the midst of this, Verdi was propelled up the slooe by an enormous fan strapped to his back.
Finally, 'Elegance', with the skiiers dancing to a Strauss waltz (of course). At this point we were accosted by a bloke who gave us hugs, saying it was the same every year and so beautiful he was crying.
A fire breathing piste basher and it was all over. 10 out of 10, would recommend. By far the strangest and most creative snow show I've seen.
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