November at the Stubai Glacier

Cold November skiing at the Stubai Glacier, Austria – image © www.skiingaustria.co.uk

So after hauling around a load of camera gear so far this season, today was the first ski where I could let the skis run a bit without being bulked-up with camera harnesses and get the legs working. Today I skied at the Stubai Glacier with a couple of friends that came over from the UK. We only got there mid-afternoon and whilst some of the steeper stuff was a bit icy most of the pistes were really impressive with hard packed, groomed conditions. They were great conditions for some fast descents although with the short days at this time of the year it was a bit of a lottery what you crossed when moving at speed in the flat, late faternoon light. Tomorrow is more of the same - Stubai Glacier, but I will be re-living my days as an Austrian ski instructor and hopefully helping a friend  get past her fear of stopping.

David or goliath for snow?

Stuben am Arlberg – part of the snow capital of the Alps at 1407m, 900m lower than Val Thorens, France but many metres more snow per winter – image © www.skiingaustria.co.uk

We just had a blog comment from Japan, a hotel owner in Hakuba, Nagano Japan talking about the depth of snow they get in their region. With a top height of less than 2000m we in Europe are conditioned to think that this region in Japan is not snow sure. Well they get 11m of the stuff on average each year. I recall a few years ago showing a Austrian where I previously lived in British Columbia, Canada and he thought the map was incorrect in showing glaciers at far lower elevations than the Alps. If you go the Greenland (for now at least) glaciers exist at sea level. The point is height is a useful indicator and one that we are increasingly reliant on, but it is just one factor of many. Historical snow reports have proven that the west of Austria gets more snow than anywhere else in the Alps. Take the Bregenzerwald ski resorts that are located at 1000m, they get far more snow than any other ski resorts in the Alps despite some being 1300m higher. Go to St Anton, St Christoph, Stuben, Lech or Zurs in the winter and see unrivalled snow packs. The aspect of height is important in broadly achieving lower temperatures in a defined region. Comparing Canada to Austria is problematic because of latitude. But broadly speaking you would expect areas on a similar latitude to be colder the higher (and this is very broadly speaking). But the same micro-climates that can affect this relationship also throw up different weather patterns. Hence the unbeatable amount of snow that comes in over Switzerland, hits the western mountains in the Austrian Arlberg region and dumps month after month, year after year. So height yes, one factor but you don’t just want to be cold on holiday? You need to be surrounded by the white stuff. There are 3 regions of the world where I have found unimaginable levels of snow – Japan, the west of Canada and the west of Austria. And you know what… if I had looked at a detailed map and made my judgement on that I would never have experienced such incredible levels of snow.

Glaciers are go!

Morning glacier skiing in Solden is now in operation, the Stubai Glacier has skiing on 2 glaciers, the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier has skiing on the upper slopes, whilst the Hintertux Glacier never closed! We are still awaiting the first big falls of snow for the season  but the conditions are still ok to get high up and get some very early turns in.

Pitztal Glacier - image © www.skiingaustria.co.uk

Countdown to snow

The first snows of the season arrived over the last week in Innsbruck but milder weather and sunny days soon saw off the dusting. The Pleisen as Axamer Lizum is pictured as seen from the valley. The glaciers of the Tirol are awaiting the first sizeable snowfall before opening. The weather is set to be sunny and around average temperatures for the time of year, with no snow on the forecast.

First snow of the season at Axamer Lizum - image © www.skiingaustria.co.uk

Arlberg season dates 2009/2010

Season times for the big one - the Arlberg! With a new lift for the St Anton Rendl and a fair bet that the region will get more snow than anywhere else but for Bregenzerwald, then get in some early season action in the Arlberg this winter. For the resorts of  Lech,  Zürs,  St. Anton,  St. Christoph and  Stuben the ski lifts are set  to roll on the 27.11.09, whilst the Klösterle-Sonnenkopf season starts on the 05.12.09.  The Season runs until  25.04.10 in Lech,  Zürs,  St. Anton,  St. Christoph and  Stuben and finishes a week earlier in  Klösterle-Sonnenkopf.

Milders – a new ski area for Neustift / Stubai Glacier

Negotiations are underway in the resort of Neustift to develop a new ski region in the Stubaital ski holiday resort of Neustift. Investors are being sought to develop a totally new ski area in the Milders area of Neustift that will add to the existing ski regions around Neustift that include Elfer, Schlick 2000 and the Stubai Glacier. The new Milders ski area would likely put an end to the plans to link Schlick 2000 and Axamer Lizum. The company behind the Stubai Glacier ski lift company are being courted as potential investors.

47 days old and checking out the piste map at Ischgl

Josh in Ischgl - waiting for the powder days

Josh made his first real trips into the heart of Austrian skiing with a day combining visits to St Anton am Arlberg and Ischgl – two of the places he is likely to spend some time if all goes to plan. St Anton was abuzz with work on the new Rendlbahn ski lift and you can see the first impressions of how it is going to look when work is completed alter this year on the following video:

Watch his progress on our blog as he is absolutely sure to ski next winter barring freak weather or a meteorite strike.

The new Rendlbahn, St Anton am Arlberg is underway

I have been in contact today with the Arlberg Bergbahnen and the Apartment La Vita in St Anton and things are moving fast on the new Rendlbahn. The old Rendlbahn that has run since 1974 is now fully demolished and work is underway to build the new base station at the existing bus terminal close to the new Galzigbahn. I am trying to get hold of a few more design details but basically the new Rendlbahn is part of a major redevelopment of the lift systems in St Anton, centring them around the heart of the resort and linking both the Galzigbahn and the Rendlbahn from a central location, with the bus terminal that serves the outlying areas of St Anton am Arlberg terminating at the point of embarkation for the 2 lifts. One thing that is for sure, the Rendl area is certainly going to become more popular as a result of the new developments, precisely the reason for the huge investments required but likely to sadden the locals who have had the Rendl region to themselves for many, many winters.

Skiing throughout the summer on the Hintertux Glacier

Hintertux Glacier top station at 3250m - image © skiingaustria.co.uk

Back from an enjoyable day on the Hintertux Glacier yesterday, with great early summer skiing under blue skies and still with a great cover of snow. The Hintertux Glacier freestyle park was in full flow yesterday with a multinational mix of skiers and snowboarders taking advantage of the sunny weather of soft snow for landings. The wind picked up early afternoon which might have explained some of the missed landings but the break in action gave me the chance to chase down a ski ballerina – an exponent of a ski discipline that I thought was long extinct but seems to still thrive on the wide and gentle slopes of the Hintertux Glacier. I am not sure how much I captured of the display until I edited the video from yesterday but hopefully some  as the action was priceless.

Soft snow for big air landings - image © skiingaustria.co.uk

Firn skiing on 3m of snow at the Stubai Glacier

Even at the end of May the Stubai Glacier is boasting 3m of snow after a winter that just never seemed to stop snowing. A couple of lifts were closed for scheduled maintenance yesterday on the Stubai Glacier but the ski area still comprised over 30km of ski pistes and whilst the snow got heavy in the late afternoon sun, morning skiing on the Stubai Glacier offers firn snow skiing as the frozen granular snow melts forming a soft and even top layer. Skiing on the Stubai Glacier runs throughout the year but for weather disruptions. Despite the holiday over here there were very few people on the Stubai Glacier on the 21st, you did however get chance to see the racers of the future with the Tirol youth race team training on the Daunferner.

I will try and get a few more days in this summer, especially when the temperatures drop again and we get fresh snow on the glacier – this happens each year and with hardly any crowds if you time it right the late, late season powder skiing can be outstanding. I skied the Stubai Glacier on Thursday with a guy from the Mid West USA who flew over to get a look at the glacier skiing over here. He was used to seeing grass when the temperatures got warmer, all you could see on the Stubai Glacier was snow, ice and rock.

Snow down to around 1100m in Innsbruck

Most of the lifts may have now stopped here in Innsbruck but the glaciers are in superb shape and powder skiing is on offer to anyone up on a local glacier over the next few days. Ski tourers can still be found on the local peaks but the Stubai Glacier, Pitztal Glacier, Hintertux Glacier or Solden will be offering the best conditions and an operational lift system. The weather is set to remain cool and wet over the next couple of days. All is pretty irrelevant for me, my wife is a week overdue with our first child so I will be as close to skiing the glaciers here as many blog readers 

Best ski images of winter 08/09 - Westendorf

Late February, looking back toward Brixen and the main section of the Ski Welt Wilder Kaiser region from Westendorf on the best day in the region that I have ever encountered. There was tons of new snow and the clouds had a real symmetry to them especially viewed from the new top station of the Choralmbahn gondola.

The new Choralmbahn gondola – image © skiingaustria.co.uk

Best ski images of winter 08/09 - Ischgl powder in December

……and after this we were invited to watch the Ischgl Top Model beauty pageant up on the mountain. Some days in Ischgl are impossible to beat

Easter ski holidays in Innsbruck and the Tirol

My view this morning, Mutters / Gotzens ski area in the background and far right Axamer Lizum – image © skiingaustria.co.uk

For those looking to escape to the snow over the Easter period, conditions should be sensationally good. I was in the Vorarlberg ski holiday resort of Stuben am Arlberg yesterday and the trip back to Innsbruck through St Christoph was pretty sketchy with lots of snow coming down. This morning saw a good snow accumulation in Gotzens, one of the ski holiday resort resorts in the Innsbruck ski region. Milder and sunny weather is forecast for the coming days, whilst the skiing is about as good as you could imagine for the very end of March.

Axamer Lizum – Schlick 2000 ski link a step closer

From www.ineedsnow.com/blog

Axamer Lizum – Schlick 2000 ski link a step closer

March 24th, 2009 by mat

Following a council meeting in the Stubai village of Telfes yesterday evening, a majority of the votes are now in favour of proceeding with ski lift connection between Axamer Lizum and Schlick 2000. The combined area would eventually bring together Mutters, Gotzens, Axamer Lizum and Schlick 2000 and complete the biggest ski region in the Innsbruck region. According to locals the project to link the Axamer Lizum and Schlick 2000 ski areas has been under discussion 20 years and deep divisions have existed between the towns of the Stubai valley as to whether to link into the Axamer Lizum ski region. The vote paves the way toward the start of the consultation and financing of the project.

via Ineedsnow ski holidays blog.