Schnapps, fireworks and the waltz - New Year in Austria

The skiing across Austria should be generally good over New Year, this year despite the usual crowds. There is a strong Fohn blowing that is set to break over the next 24 hours and as always this will mean a downpour in the Austrian Tirol, with snow down to Innsbruck over the coming days. For those on the slopes tomorrow, New Years day there will be many people and more après ski. Austria does après ski better than anywhere else and tomorrow will be mighty. Fireworks in the Innsbruck valley are an amazing spectacle with the denotations reverberating off the narrow and steep valley mountains. And at midnight watch the crowds of strangers who will break into spontaneous dance - the waltz is a national treasure and dead on midnight the nation gets to its feet to dance.