My 10/11 season kicks off tomorrow at the Hintertux Glacier

Back in boots & boots in bindings tomorrow for the season opener on the Hintertux Glacier. Conditions there today look incredible - see the webcam below. The Hintertux Glacier was not the only recipient of the April snow - the Pitztal Glacier and Stubai Glacier also got around half a metre of new snow but the Hintertux Glacier is the only one offering skiing year round at the moment. I have to rate autumn glacier skiing as my favourite of the whole year. Cold, short afternoons and plenty of fresh snow and if you start in September then you have a full 9 months of skiing ahead of you.

The ski boots are going on again

Not the best advert for summer holidays in Austria (and you know this is a glorious place even without the snow) but today saw new snow across the local peaks around Innsbruck and it is currently hammering it down in cold weather. Snow is forecast down to 2000m overnight and judging by the precipitation it is going to heavy across the peaks. I am going for the first ski of the season on Wednesday to the Hintertux Glacier for some 1st September powder. It seems such a long time since the last ski in May on the Stubai Glacier. June, July and now August seem a blur - September skiing at last!

The northern Alps are set to get the most snow over the coming days - image © www.skiingaustria.co.uk

Tirol snow card - 2010/11

The new Tirol snow card has been advertised and the ski areas for the 2010/11 ski season total 81. In those 81 ski areas there are 960 lifts and over 3100km of skiing. Possibly the best aspect as well as the scope of the ski areas included is the fact that the pass covers all glaciers in Tirol (except the Rettenbach and Tiefenbach glaciers at Solden) and allows skiing from the 01.10.10 right through to the 15.05.11. Lots and lots of skiing over very many days for not much Geld. Those not resident in Tirol can get this card for 608 Euros for the coming season - I can’t seem to find the local’s price but last year it was 439 Euros. 7 and a half months of unbeatable skiing awaits!

Kitzbuhel - the complete alpine resort?

There has been much talk at home over the last weeks about Kitzbuhel. My wife is deserting me and Josh in a week or so for the Tirolean resort for what is a well deserved break from the two of us. It got us talking about what makes a great destination. One thing that you can often take for granted in Alpine resorts is the scenery - Alpbach might not have the Matterhorn or Eiger but in its own way the scenery is as attractive if not as dramatic, making a fairly ‘level’ playing field in terms of natural beauty. For me the two key variables in a resort are its built infrastructure and its atmosphere. From here you can pretty much rule out the ‘Star Destroyer’ of La Plagne or the ‘Polytechnic libraries’ of Tignes on any short-list of the Alps most desirable locations - the skiing and access to the slopes certainly good but the rest pretty diabolical to the eye really. Then there is atmosphere and this is where to my mind purpose built (Austria and Switzerland included) fall down. There is no permanence to these resorts, they offer a real sense of seasonality at the beginning and end of the winter seasons. I remember going for winter surfs in my Cornish stomping grounds some years back and the places out of season had a depressing air to them - closed shops, large empty communal areas etc etc. Majority self-catering resorts are another killer for resort atmosphere to my mind -, the process of lifts closing, slopes emptying and skiers and snowboarders heading back home to eat and drink is such a disappointing way to celebrate a day on snow. And whilst there are many equal and better locations in Austria to ski then for a resort experience I believe few can match Kitzbuhel. With a population that exceeds the tourist bed numbers (a rarity in many big resorts) Kitzbuhel has a superbly rounded feel to it. Out of season doesn’t exist and whilst some periods are quieter than others then these are times to see the locals going about their days, the saw mills run, the school kids amble to school and the shops remain open. Add to all this the superb medieval centre of Kitzbuhel and it is hard to think of too many better ski holiday resorts.

St Anton film festival - 24-28 August

2 options to enjoy your time this August in St Anton am Arlberg - summer hiking, biking, relaxation, dining, spa….. or better still to get the blood pumping for the coming winter season by seeing a selection of alpine films at the St Anton Film Festival. There might be no snow on the ground in St Anton but ski and snowboard movies from previous years are on offer for all those needing a winter fix. I will be heading down there to see a few of the features and take a look at the temporary Mooserwirt bar that I read is planned for the festival hosting Arlberg-well centre - if Mooserwirt and ‘well’ aren’t direct contradictions then I am lost for what is

Early extreme ski filming efforts - Skiing Austria style with an ice-screwed winch system to launch a zipflbob rider into the stratosphere - the rigging broke - image © www.skiingaustria.co.uk

Powder skiing in August!

Hard to believe but if September 2010 delivers some fresh powder then there has been powder skiing on offer on the Austria glaciers for a full 12 months. The last few days over in Austria have seen cool and very wet weather with snow down to around 2100m and 30cm of powder on the Hintertux Glacier. It will be little comfort for the fleece-wrapped summer guests that a bit higher above there will be a number of skiers getting some great powder skiing in August!

The view of the lower peaks above Innsbruck - image © www.skiingaustria.co.uk

Fresh powder snow on a base of 125cm - southern hemisphere?

….possibly somewhere but certainly also at the Hintertux Glacier in Austria this August 3rd. There are those out there that feel the summer is for water and tanning. And others who dream of the eternal ability to slide across snow and ice every single day of the year. Tragically I am too busy this week to clip into mein bindung and sample some Hintertux Glacier summer powder. If you are there then enjoy

GPS on the ski slopes

GPS but not as we know it - image © www.skiingaustria.co.uk

Heads-up display of speed and altitude inside a pair of ski goggles? Yes that is what I saw in a gadget magazine I was handed over the weekend in the New Forest. I thought they would be ideal for the German race teams that train on the Stubai Glacier in autumn and clock up about 20 km/h on slopes of around 3 degrees incline. They also reminded me of the 1980’s goggles that incorporated a battery powered fan to clear condensation. I am over in our UK office and I uncovered an old GPS system that I used when I canoed across Australia back in 1997 and got inventing (or perhaps integrating is more realistic). Do you think it will sell?

Snow for the July visitors

Possibly not the primary reason for the visit of most of the guests to the Austrian Tirol this July but the snow-capped peaks around Innsbruck made for a wonderful welcome back after another stay in the UK. We had heard from a partner that St Anton had white peaks over the last few days but it was pretty surprising to see in on the local mountains around Innsbruck. The glaciers will have received a great dump for sure. Not long now till the agonising wait for the glaciers to get in full flow again and for those looking for green pastures and sunny terraces the warm weather is set to return over the coming weekend.

Hintertux Glacier offering 20km of summer skiing

A client who contacted us went to the Hintertux Glacier today for some summer skiing - hard to believe given the temperatures of the Innsbruck valley right now but there was 20km of skiing on offer. Maybe the frigid May and June in the Austrian Alps has helped preserve the snow cover but 20 km in a hot July is pretty surprising. Sumer glacier skiing is almost always better in the mornings (unless there is a cold snap) when the surface of the snow melts after the overnight freeze and provides a fantastic soft surface. Later in the day the snow can get pretty heavy at this time of the year - still it beats crowded beaches

Can painting rocks save the glaciers?

Having watched the sheets rolled on the glaciers to protect them from the harsh summer heat / sun and having seen in countless mountain huts the extent of the glacial retreat from pictures taken earlier last century, I have often wondered if humankind really understands the immense loss we are soon to engineer. I can take or leave summer glacier skiing although skiing powder from October to June each year is something that I hold dear. The wider knock-on effect of their disappearance will make my recreation loss seem pretty trivial I am sure. I read recently about a pioneering project in Peru where the rocky terrain that once was home to a glacier was being effectively white-washed in order to create a cooler micro-climate that would encourage the reformation of the local glacier. The beneficiaries were not skiers but locals who relied on natural reservoirs to irrigate their lands throughout the year. For the last week or so I have been mulling this idea in the fierce heat of a hot European summer. If it works it is absolutely inspired - not nearly enough to prevent climate catastrophe but on a local level it could be a brilliantly novel solution. The simplicity of the idea of painting the rocks (with organic materials) is worrisome given the magnitude of the problem. Yet if our leading powers still set their technology horizons at burning coal (in the case of China) and the need for hazardous Gulf of Mexico oil (in the case of the USA) to power inefficient cars then maybe painting mountainsides is an entirely contemporary solution?

St Anton to Kappl lift connection going ahead

St Anton - Kappl ski areas link - image © www.skiingaustria.co.uk

The nights are thankfully drawing in

As the snow melts around Innsbruck following the late June falls I am comforting myself with the fact that the passing of the summer solstice means that the days are getting shorter and shorter as we hurtle toward another winter. Austria is a nation that skis from October to June with the associated ski passes at almost giveaway prices and it feels odd not to be on snow. I remember Bode Miller saying a few years ago that he couldn’t wait to get out of ski boots for a month and after heavy spring snow - I think my boots might be a bit more comfortable than his but I understand his point. My next ski will be with Josh sometime over the next month and then all systems go for the new glacier skiing season at the end of September - bring it on!

And if CO2 caused global cooling?

Late June in Innsbruck and with temperatures struggling to reach 10 degrees Celsius and snow all over the local mountains the mood of the residents and visitors to Innsbruck is somewhat gloomy. I am a believer in climate change and global warming - when I have pain I go to the doctor, when the car squeaks the mechanic, so when climate scientists give a consensus view that we are facing some devastating climate changes in the future I defer to their view - nightmare scenario as it is. It was a few years ago after the hottest October day on record in the UK that an editor of one of the daily tabloids quipped that being able to wear a t-shirt and BBQ in October was right up his street. The stupidity of the comment has long stayed with me but the underlying sentiment seems to be that in a relatively cool country such as the UK a bit of temperature rise was not all bad. Aside from the impacts on bio-diversity, of population movements, conflict, drought, food price rises and disappearing ski hills I have long wondered how the world might be reacting if atmospheric CO2 was actually cooling the planet and that we were in effect heading toward another ice age? If people thought June in Innsbruck would be accompanied by white peaks would they be moved to action? My gut feeling is that the world would be far more proactive in heading off a period of global cooling than warming. Being warm is something we tend to think of as comforting and secure, being cold leads to discomfort. So is the debate one that needs to be presented differently to engender the significant changes that we are told are required. CO2 is the cause of climate change, with a forecast of greater global temperatures. But if the opposite were true and as I suspect action would follow then we can surmise that the implications for a warmer planet are not being sufficiently well spelt out. Being warm is better than being cold? Well not really and certainly not better than being the way we were when things were in equilibrium a number of decades ago. And if CO2 caused global cooling? The reaction is one we will never know.

Summer powder skiing in Austria - the snow arrives around Innsbruck

Frozen grass for the goats - image © www.skiingaustria.co.uk

For those already missing the white peaks (myself certainly included) the last couple of days have provided a great tonic. Snow as far down as Fulpmes in the Stubai Valley in June is not unknown but may not be welcomed by all. I went up to Axamer Lizum today and the lower ski pistes were totally covered. The grazing cows and goats looked a tad miffed but there was even a ski tourer tackling the new snow. A colleague of ours went to see a football match in snow in the Stubai Valley whilst the glaciers will be serving up some epic summer powder skiing. And regarding the previous post, no footsteps equal a day of powder missed by Josh - tragic!