More snow adding to the 5.2m in St Anton

When St Anton am Arlberg has a January snow pack of 5.2m forecast snow is hardly needed - yet the incredible winter of 2012 rolls on. With barely a white patch of mountain but for the glacier areas at the start of December, it has been almost weekly heavy snow systems that have been rolling in across Austria. 5.2m is basically a male adult standing on the head of another with a third on top of the second - confusing maybe, but what it means is that at current rates is that in St Anton and most of Austria you won’t need to worry about catching an edge on a rock until mid summer. There have been building collapses in the northern Austrian Alps due to the snow and these units weren’t built to beach hut specs. This really has been a remarkable 8 weeks of winter in Austria. To what extent this heralds future weather patterns is unclear but after a record breaking dry period in November the heavens have opened to dramatic effect and there seems no let up.

Austria in the middle of a 2m snow storm

With 120cm of snow already having fallen across Austria since Thursday and with a forecast 80cm of further snow to fall over the coming 2 days, Austria is in the grip of an epic winter storm. Roads and railways have been closed, whole resorts in the Arlberg have been cut off and for those on the slopes there have been banks of snow that defy belief. All a far cry from mid November when the lush alpine grass was all too evident, the current issue for the resorts is getting people in and out of the resorts and when in the ski area, allowing them access to the lifts and mountain huts that are barely visible under the snow. For the record it is once again Austria that is baring the brunt of this winter storm - confirming (as if it was ever needed) that Austria is the snow capital of the Alps.

Extreme snow falls beginning across Austria

After the all too dry autumn, the winter has really arrived in the last month and the snow has been relentless with some great conditions on offer for those skiing or snowboarding in Austria over Christmas / New Year. Already there have been avalanche 4 warnings right across northern and western Austria and whilst the snow fall of the last month has been impressive we are currently entering a winter weather system that is predicted to cut of whole valleys such is the scale of the forecast snow falls. The system that arrived today is set to leave very significant snow accumulations across the entire region and is set to last right into next week. Without trying to pre-suppose too many downsides there could well be travel chaos on the roads this weekend as the busiest week of the tourist calendar draws to a close in Austria and the masses will be exiting the valleys. It is fair to say that heavy traffic should be soothed by the snowy experience of the previous week - November looked grim, mid December onwards looked very, very good.

We have snow by the bucket load in Salzburgerland

What an amazing day this is  - still fairly green at 8am and now in Saalbach and Kaprun there is a really decent dump. Add that to what the snow cannons have laid down and I think we are going to be good to go. One lift is already open in Hinterglemm ahead of the official opening. Friends on the mountain have been posting pictures of their kids more than knee deep in snow. There is also more forecast which is good as we plan to be on the snow next week. Needless to say there has been a lot of celebrations with hotels sending out mail shots today on the snow conditions. Salzburgerland has another couple of days of decent snow this week. I think I’d better get the snow shovel and auto socks ready for the car. Winter has arrived !

Corporate ski portal launches

Our parent company Jagged Horizons ltd. has launched a corporate ski events portal this month offering the promise of ‘Affordable, Inspired, Excellence’ in the Alps. Building on the knowledge that we have gained over many years operating across the breadth of the Austrian ski market - www.jaggedhorizons.com will offer ATOL protected corporate ski trips primarily to Austria but also Switzerland and France and for those looking for something really different - destinations in Hokkaido, Japan. With most attention focused on Austria the new venture is promising to deliver affordable options for corporate and ski groups that do not compromise at all on quality…..just no silly 1850 prices! The message seems to be getting out there to the wider market and it is certainly something our clients have long experienced - Austria can rarely be beaten or even matched on price without making serious compromises in quality.

Corporate ski trips from Jagged Horizons

Inspired programmes for groups are core to the new offering with venues chosen to match the corporate needs - castles to launch new products, ice caves to entertain, 3000m+ huts to brain storm and some of the best alpine events anywhere as backdrops to corporate hospitality - whatever the needs there is an activity / venue mix to make the absolute best of the trip time. And being Austria the delivery promises to be excellent from the arrivals lounge through to the departures lounge and everything in between from the deepest snow in the Alps to the best apres ski on the planet. Resort reviews and guides on our blog and website are based on experience - our © credit in the corner of our images means we have been to, skied and sampled what is on offer in a destination - we know these resorts and think we can provide unrivalled corporate and group ski trips to Austria.

World Record Breakers - All Love Austria

I was back in the UK and part of the world record breaking ski chain yesterday at the Chill Factore in Manchester. There is nothing like beating a world record with a bunch of fellow skiers on a Wednesday morning - it proved to be far more difficult than most people thought and we only made it on the last attempt.
Following the event we all had hot drinks and snacks in the bar and as ever talked about skiing. The vast majority of people there love Austria and ski there regularly which was great to hear - without fail they all had good things to say about it. The good value skiing, great terrain, glaciers and apres ski seemed to be the right mix for the enthusiastic skiers. The lovely thing about the record attempt was the people taking part - some were young students and had learnt to ski at school some had been skiing 40 or so years. Just reminds me of the wide appeal that both Skiing and Austria have.
Oh yes and a big well done to all my co record breakers.

Remote Mountain Peaks in Summer

A couple of weeks back my husband tried to complete the Seven Summits Challenge - a 24 km hike (or should I say in some parts scrabble) with around 1,500m assent. He had to admit defeat after 6 summits due to the 30+ degree temperatures and running out of water in his hydration pack.
The photos he brought back as well as some of the hikes I’ve done recently have brought home just how remote the mountains can be in summer. There are no roads, unmanned survival huts and a good 2-3 hours walk to civilisation. The difference is in winter is that you get the lift up and whizz down these at 30km/hour. In summer you walk down them at about an eighth of the speed and have to take a zig zag path due to the gradient.
Some of the weather at the end of August was very strange in the valley - summer and 30+degrees one day, raining 6 degrees and snowing on the tops within 12 hours. This makes for some interesting hiking especially if the thunder comes in while your on the mountain.
My husband is now determined to give the 7 summits another go - especially as a friend is doing it on Sunday and is likely to beat him to getting the 7 summit hat which is the prize for completion. I’m going to get him a bigger hydration pack and hope next time he tries that its not so hot. In the mean time I’ll be hiking in the valley at the end of the month to take a look at the progress of the latest lift on the Reiterkogel - one of the new lifts promising to make the resorts lift system the most modern in the world. The nice thing about this is the open mountain huts with refreshments along the route - I’d rather not get too far away from civilisation, coffee and apple strudel.

The new Skiing Austria iPhone app is available

Not sure what the deep link is but if you search iTunes for Skiing Austria you will find our new iPhone app amongst a few other seriously inferior ski apps Another thing that singles our app out is it is free to download and use. I am still unsure of the logic of charging for apps - our thinking is that the more people who use the app the better, it is not a cost covering or profit making exercise - we want you to be able to access superb information on skiing in Austria when the journey home is grinding you down. Download the app and get distracted by Austrian powder fields, a bit of apres or stunning villages.

Spa beneath the ice of the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier

Views onto the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier from warm thermal spa water - image © www.skiingaustria.co.uk

Kaprun occupies a spacious valley floor beneath the mighty Kitzsteinhorn Glacier and next to the lakeside ski holiday resort of Zell am See. The all-new Tauern Spa is one of the latest additions to the area as it expands its range of visitor facilities. Open year-round with outdoor thermal pools the Tauern Spa offers superb views onto the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier and the surrounding peaks. A weekend visit saw very mixed weather with Sunday offering superb sunny weather and today driving rain. Visitor numbers were representative of the weather. The spa is superbly designed and built and is a great addition to the region. Open till 23:00 each day, the Tauern Spa offers a great place to unwind and relax after a day on the slopes or as was evidenced today, a great poor weather option. Check out the restaurant as well - self-service and offering really good value food with a huge Goulash Soup coming in at Euros 4.50.

Lakes, Pools and Lidos and the Beaches of Vienna

Its pretty obvious that the Austrians have invested heavily in ski infrastructure - they have some of the best resorts in the world. Its not so evident however until after the snow melts just how much they have invested in summer infrastructure. Running through the information on publicly open swimming pools, lidos and spas in Salzburgerland there is a staggering 50+ in an area the size of Cumbria. Its fair to say you could spend a whole week just visiting pools, lidos and spas - they are of a very high quality usually with slides, play areas, cafes and other leisure facilities.

With Austria being a “land locked” country they really do make use of their 200 plus lakes - most of them preferable to any Italian beach I’ve visited. Children really wouldn’t notice that they had not been on a beach holiday with lake lidos having sand play areas and lake swimming. The most surprising places to find beaches in Austria is Vienna. The Old Danube area has been turned into a complex of beaches (one has 6000m2 of sand), lidos and pools - some even have simulated waves to give the seaside feel. For those looking for nightlife there are DJs playing fresh from the Med resorts and laid back bars with the holiday feeling. Having stayed in the Old Danube area I’m surprised that it feels nothing like being in a capital city - its too relaxed, friendly and full of people enjoying life at a leisurely pace.

If you fancy seeing the best of Austria in the summer then its possible to ski the glaciers or sample the mountains followed by some time in Vienna. Expedia do tailored flights online - we sometimes fly into Munich or Salzburg and then fly out from Vienna all at about the same price as a return to Vienna. Train links between the mountains and Vienna are good with an adult on the day fare from Zell am See to Vienna being under£50. The contrast between the peace of the mountains with the laid-back summer parties and culture in Vienna make it an affordable trip not to be missed.

Austria Summer Festivals

You don’t have to look far to find a summer party in Austira. Many villages have a Dorf-Fest in Summer or Autumn which is a wonderful excuse to drink beer and eat great food in the streets until late at night. Saalbach used to have an amazing Dorf-fest which involved a boat race on a man made river. It no longer takes place due to permission being removed from one land owner so now there are a number of smaller festivals. I do miss the opportunity to dress up as Amy Winehouse, drink beer in the afternoon and race down a river of foam followed by a party on a fake beach. Now you wouldn’t get that in England - and if you did it wouldn’t be kid friendly like it is in Austria.

Alm festivals are basically mountain hut festivals - good if you fancy a walk to and from the party. There are about 2 a week near us so its not hard to find a happening hut. They are quite traditional often with local musicians and traditional dress. there may also be a small market and children’s activities to keep the family happy. If your lazy get the cablecar up and down.

A great Austrian excuse for a drink in the morning is Frühschoppen - translated its morning pint. Yes you start drinking about 11am with food and music and go home at about 5pm full of beer and ready to sleep. The thing that amazes me is the amount of beer that people who are the age of my parents manage to put away at these things and still remain standing. They are definitely atmospheric and fine if you can stomach beer that early and plan to be in bed early.

My favourite festival of all is Bauern Herbst - a kind of farmers festival that you see from August through to October. This can be anything from a harvest festival party, to a food event celebrating the harvest to a farmers market. It always includes fresh produce and local ingredients and as ever music and beer usually figure. A fantastic way to ski and experience some of the real Austria is to go to the Glaciers between September and the end of October and go to some of the Bauern Herbst events. It really gives you a local view of Austria as although your welcome it really is a locally let and not a tourist experience.

Intermediate skiers - the ‘chosen many’?

Look at almost every piste map and the majority of marked pistes are the colour of the artists’ impression sky - blue. The geology is pretty simple - valley floors aren’t great for speed and rock faces don’t tend to hold the snow very well. So something in-between the 2 offers the possibility of gravity-induced pleasure on a metre or more of snow. And with most of the terrain in our ski area suited to intermediate skiers and snowboarders surely an ability to suit the prevailing topography would be optimal - alas that isn’t the case and intermediates find themselves a fair way above beginners but desperately short of the top skiers in terms of ability (at least implied ability).

There seems to be a certain shame at labelling oneself an intermediate skier - tried the sport, spent the time and got stuck at an inadequate level. Beginners have the excuse that they haven’t had the time on snow, great skiers (and they don’t need to do too much to look good) don’t need an excuse and so it is the intermediate who needs to explain and justify things, basically why they aren’t better than they are. In the past ski ability was measured in lift queues by the proximity of a ski tip to an overhead 737; these days competence is a little more scrutinised.

And let’s reflect of the many truly great things about being an intermediate skier:
- Flat light, crud, winds - nothing stops an intermediate skier clipping in.
- Intermediates stop at every sun trap, watering hole, waft of knodel broth…
- These skiers never have bad days - the worst it gets is average.
- In almost every ski area intermediates don’t need a piste map, they can side-step off an inadvertently accessed red.
- More intermediates equate to more friends on the slopes and more apres ski conversation.
- Resort search is akin to pinning an appendage to a Donkey’s arse  - almost

Great value ski trips that stop short of packed lunches

Let’s face it whilst a ski or snowboard trip might be the highlight of the year for many, it is also often a big outlay. Most of the time you can see where the money has gone - impressive hotels, extensive ski lift systems, great dining and superb locations but also sometimes the value is less obvious. How to maintain the really outstanding features of a ski trip whilst ensuring it costs less is a long standing conundrum. In light of 2 x 200ml orange juices (bottled, not even fresh pressed) costing one our clients €32 in the French Alps, some accommodation (and we have only heard this happening in France) have taken to offering guests packed lunches to avoid the price inflation that is happening in areas of the Alps. Novel and a good riposte to those looking to exploit with unjustifiable prices but certainly also something that for us that degrades the overall experience of a ski / snowboard trip. Kicking off your skis or board to eat and drink with a backdrop of jaw-dropping beauty is hugely preferable to wrestling with cling-film on a frozen chair lift. Rather we think it is better to look at ski holiday options that do not compromise the enjoyment. There are a number of ways to maximise ski holiday value without cutting too many corners.

Families get a rough deal from dates / availability with school holiday restrictions but for those who can be a little more flexible they should consider early season glacier skiing - early being October and November - prices can be excellent for flights and accommodation, slopes can be less crowded and the conditions can be epic (although sometimes cold). For those who prefer skiing or snowboarding in the spring sun then glacier skiing at the end of the season can also offer better prices and great conditions.

3 star Austria can offer some fantastic options, furthermore some accommodation that does not advertise star rating can deliver some exceptional accommodation. TripAdvisor might not be perfect but when you can wade through the ‘mate’ reviews there is a good deal of information online to help judge an accommodation.

Going slightly off the beaten track need not compromise the skiing / snowboarding experience - there are some outstanding ski areas that are beyond the scope of the mainstream package suppliers that the locals guard resolutely. Prices are often geared to the local market rather than the tourist market both on and off the slopes.

Do a little research, expensive areas tend to be just that right across the board, so everything from lunches, apres ski drinks and equipment tend to be more costly than other areas. The bottom-line price for accommodation, transfers and transfers soon looks irrelevant when every cost hurts during the stay.

For groups of 4 or 5 then the rental of a hire car can make the best sense for a transfer and also offers a bit of flexibility when at the destination. Be sure to ensure that winter tyres are fitted when reserving the vehicle and also make sure that you have the right road toll for the country - at peak times the local motorway police stake out key intersections looking for foreign number plates and the fines for those driving without valid toll stickers can be painful.

There is nothing wrong with a couple of small (supermarket bought) Jägermeister’s to keep you company on the slopes and the apres ski bars but carrying packed lunches for us rather undermines the experience of skiing and staying in some of the most wonderful locations in the world. Besides, a couple of falls and the sandwiches will look they have been through a mangle!

Skiing Austria app for android phones

skiing austria app

You can tell the local hills are devoid of snow by the fact that we are finding time to get apps for our portals. Huge thanks go to the guys at www.offtothemountains.com for developing our Skiing Austria app that can be downloaded here using the barcode below. They did an amazing job on a really vague brief and with no fuss. It helps that they are keen skiers and snowboarders, they really understood what we needed. Download the app to ensure your next train journey is a whole lot better, more informative, inspirational…

skiing austria app barcode

Saalbach - so how do the lift investment figures add up ?

I’ve just been reading up today on the further plans for 2 lifts and related infrastructure costing 27 Million Euros this year. This is the most I have seen Saalbach or any existing resort invest in lifts in a single year to date. Now Saalbach is not a cheap resort – we know that but they do consistently re-invest and the infrastructure is getting better and better. I guess I wonder how they have managed it – yes Austria and Germany are further out of recession than we are but it is a huge amount to be spending. In a way as a resident who pays taxes I’m pleased to see that the lift companies are putting back and not just putting the profit into the pockets of the big cheeses (große Käse?) I just wonder how long this can go on – at some point the hill will be saturated and some of the new lift designs have been amended to shorten their length in view of environmental issues. What point does the resort reach saturation?
On another note it is sad to see the indoor pool in Hinterglemm has been demolished and not replaced. I asked a few questions in town and it turns out it was not turning profit. As this was owned by the town council and not the lift companies there is not enough money to rebuild a more suitable pool – they may consider doing so in a few years. It was about the only place open to take the kids out of season and leaves the whole valley without an indoor pool. I took my Dad back a tile from the demolition site – he was a big fan of the restaurant in there.