 Poster: A snowHead
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We booked our flights to Munich as soon as they were available a year ago, and threw out the question to this forum on where to go as we had some specific requirements – us a family of three with non-skiing wife, and our friends a family of six including non-skiing grandmother in tow. Adults are advanced intermediate/early advanced skiers and all the kids have skied quite a bit and can mostly tackle anything, but we wanted to all be able to meet up with the non-skiers for snacks or lunch. One suggestion that came up (from @nevergreenterrace) was Fügen, or more specifically, Hochfügen (in the Hochzillertal ski area), and it seemed to fit the bill. An important point to note is that this week coincided with Fasching, thus peak week, unbeknown to us when booking flights...
Finding accommodation for that week was tricky, especially since we booked Saturday flights and our friends booked Sunday flights, and we wanted to stay in the same chalet/apartments. In the end we found self-catering Wildauhof Apartments in Fügenberg www.wildauhof.at, which was lovely. It’s a small working farm and 5 minutes’ drive from Fügen (and the Spieljochbahn lift) and on the ski bus route to Hochfügen, after a few minutes’ walk up/down a rather steep driveway. That said, we drove up to Hochfügen daily – 15 to 20 minutes – as parking was plentiful even at this peak time. The apartments are spacious, modern, and well fitted. Next to the house is a 300 year old hut that the host invited us to one evening for some Fasching celebration snaps, and later in the week we used the inside grill int he hut which was wonderful. The farm animals and small play area outside were a nice bonus for the kids. I would be very happy to recommend it and stay there again.
The start to the holiday was a little stressful. We booked flights with SAS as you can take skis as checked baggage, and I am a frequent flyer with them so benefit from extra baggage allowance etc. But on arrival at the airport we were told that as the flight was operated by Lufthansa, we should have pre-notified them of the skis and it was already full now for skis! Nightmare. Luckily our friends dropped us at the airport, so after some panicked re-packing, they returned to the airport and took our skis home (we managed to pack our boots). We hired skis from Sport2000 (two outlets in Fügen and one in Hochfügen). As I booked the skis in the airport, I couldn’t print the voucher, which meant several queues, and using their computer to print the voucher. A frustrating and antiquated system. But there was a good choice of skis – I took some Atomic Vantage 90 – and hassle free return given a few scratches from rocks offpiste.
There were some frustrations also at Munich airport, as it took a really long time for bags to come out, and even longer waiting for the hire car from Avis/Budget (over 2 hours from landing to getting out the airport). That said, the hire car was a bargain at £135 for the week for an intermediate sized car (Nissan Qashqai). All German cars are required to have winter tyres. The only thing we thought about later was a lack of snow chains, which wasn't a problem, but in heavy snow/ice it would be very stetchy to get up/down the steep road to the apartment. Once out of the airport the journey to Fügen was easy. It took around 2 hours with a bit of traffic when entering the Zillertal valley. We needed to buy an Austrian motorway vignette before the border, and we pulled into a petrol station off the motorway and got that in a couple of minutes. EUR 9.90 for 10 days. The return journey was worse as there was heavy traffic leaving the Zillertal valley and there was an accident. Fortunately we left with hours to spare, but even so we were starting to worry about missing the flight. Luckily after we cleared the accident it was a smooth journey to the airport, but it took 3.5 hours. We used ¾ of tank during the week which cost EUR 70 to refill.
In terms of skiing, the Zillertal Superskipass covers the areas Spieljoch, Hochfügen, Kaltenbach, Mayrhofen, Zell-Gerlos, Hintertux, Finkenberg etc. Spieljoch was our closest ski area, but it was unseasonably warm and it was just a strip of snow on a green meadow that was visible. Conditions at the top were probably much better, but instead we chose to drive to Hochfügen each day. Sunday and Monday were busy due to Fasching, and we waited maybe 20 minutes for the 8er gondola in the morning, and 5-10 minutes for other lifts. I was worried about the queues at Fasching, but from Tuesday onwards it either straight on the lifts or max 5 minute wait for the rest of the week. We loved Hochfügen. It ticked all our boxes in terms of mix of runs, and very accessible off-piste with varying challenges. The only thing missing was a good snow park. Early in the week it was very warm, so things got a bit slushy on the west facing slopes. But we found some shaded slopes with good snow conditions.
We booked some lessons with @SaraJ (www.alpinefreedom.co.uk), for my son and I, for some lift-accessible off-piste. For the lesson on Tuesday, we started with some avalanche awareness discussion and practice in the transceiver search field. We’ve played finding the transceivers at home and I’ve used the search field at the Åre Lavincenter, but this was harder than I thought and a good reminder of the need to practice. Despite a lack of recent snow, and wind that closed the Hochfügen 2000 chair to the top, Sara showed us some good routes down between the pistes and off to the side, with some tips on technique. Sara also gave my son some “homework” to look at the Tirol avalanche information website the next morning, which was a really great idea. It snowed on Tuesday night – this transformed the place (although the snow didn’t stay lower down) and we had one our best ever days skiing on Wednesday in some of the offpiste areas Sara showed us. In the afternoon we had a couple more hours with Sara, although by the end my legs were suffering! Hochfügen appears to have everything from very accessible and fun offpiste, freeride areas, and is also a freeride world tour location. Yet my impression was that it is far less tracked out than the French mega resorts like PDS or EK.
It almost looks like I know what I’m doing in this photo 
It was forecasting a sunny clear day for Friday, so we headed up to the Hintertuxer glacier, which was a 50 minute drive with some traffic. This journey can also be done by ski bus or train (I believe). It was well worth a trip. It takes a while to get to the top – three different gondolas – but the ski area up there was much a much larger expanse than I imagined. There was a huge contrast in the temperature between the base at 1500 m, near summer conditions in the sunshine, and the top lift at 3250 m at -11°C. The snow wasn’t quite as good as I’d hoped – hard packed on the piste – but it was a few days after the last snowfall. The main snow park wasn’t open either (maybe this is more a focus for summer park training?). I was tempted by the itineraries, but my son was tired, and the snow was quite hard and wind swept.
Whilst we headed over to the connected Kaltenbach a couple of times, we didn’t visit the other ski areas in Zillertal Arena. We were happy in Hochfügen. I also can’t comment on the après ski as we went back to the apartments in the evening to hang out and eat dinner. On the few occasions we did eat out, the food was nice and good value. Although it wasn’t a problem, the lack of English language skill was noticeable (living in Sweden we take it for granted that of course everyone can speak English) but people were very friendly.
Another hit with the kids in Fügen was the swimming pool / adventure pool. The cost was very reasonable at EUR 26 for our family. Nice warm water, some slides, wave pool, outside pool, salt-water pool. We went there on two evenings.
A less stressful start to the holiday with our own skis would have been nice, and I would now expect the airport hire car faff and traffic (during this peak week), but overall Fügen and Hochfügen was a hit.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Mon 24-07-17 17:03; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Looks like you had a great time. Thanks for posting this interesting trip report. You will have a great ski buddy in years to come.
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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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@Themasterpiece great trip report. we stayed in fugenburg over xmas and absolutely loved the area.
Though we only drove up to hochfugen for an afternoon whilst we were there (did not manage to ski it, but enjoyed sitting in a hotel across from the nursery slope for a spot of lunch ), it looked like a good spot to ski from.
we drove down the valley to kaltenbach to ski from and had a great time, fugen was not open whilst we were there, to be honest my missus and kids are not brilliant on winding roads!!
like you we went to the thermae baths a couple of times, and I cannot recommend them highly enough. our trip to the church in fugen on xmas eve and watching their nativity celebrations and hearing silent night performed in the place it was first sung in nearly 200 years ago was truly memorable (plans are being made to be there for the double centenary in xmas 2018), if not before.
we absolutely adored the zillertal area, and have decided that it will be our first choice destination for family ski holidays in the future.
have just been given a german language media course for my birthday, and about to start it in preparation for next time (I like to be able to order beers in confidence!!!!!)
also big thank you to Saraj, as although we did not get to meet her this time, her general advice and local knowledge was invaluable!!!
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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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Great report and photos, cheers.
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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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@Themasterpiece, a belated comment on your excellent trip report. You said "Hochfügen (in Zillertal Arena, Tirol)". Actually the ski area of Kaltenbach/Hochfügen is called the Hochzillertal ski area. The Zillertal Arena ski area is situated near to Zell am Ziller.
Oh, and you said you bought a Swiss motorway vignette before the border, I think you'll find it was (I hope) actually an Austrian motorway vignette! 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Alastair Pink, thanks. Made the corrections just in case anyone searches in the future for Hochfugen, and ends up going to Zell am Ziller via Switzerland 
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Great read 👍
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Nice report.
I'd add that Hochfügen is easily accessible from Kaltenbach if you have reasonable skiers and there isn't too much WIND. Then it can be a bit of a pain.
Kaltenbach also has a park, which oddly doesn't seem to get too busy.
I was in 'The valley' that week too.
Valley pass is great value for experienced skiers/boarders.
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