Saalbach - Hinterglemm - Leogang - Fieberbrunn 2017/18 Official Unofficial Thread

A snowHead

@radar, Now, if you'd gone out at 2.00pm and skied down at 5.00pm, as we did, you would have described it as a bluebird day! Smile

A snowHead

Some sad news (following on from the closure of Wallners). Apparently this will be the last season for Magic Peter and his restaurant at Hotel Peter. Over the years we have sat through his Friday evening magic show countless times, usually after tucking into one of his famous “Felsensteaks”, and we have always found something to laugh at in his “Tommy Cooper meets Benny Hill” routine, even when we knew what was coming next and had heard the punch line of his jokes until we could recite them word for word. Peter is one of the great characters of Saalbach, as well as a genuinely nice guy (likewise his son, Rudi, who never could quite manage the glamorous assistant role convincingly). However his wife passed away last year, and it is no great surprise that he felt it was time to hang up his lederhosen and top hat. It couldn’t go on for ever. Anyway, those of you visiting Saalbach this season, it will be your last chance to experience Magic Peter and his restaurant.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@tatmanstours,

Re magic Peter-

We had a great time there a few years ago. He got my wife up on stage and "chopped" through her hand with a mini guillotine. He referred to me as her President. It was a real good laugh and good steak also. We would live to go back but won't be able to visit saalbach together until my kids get a little bigger though I'm going to zell in January so will no doubt ski the saalbach area while there.

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Is rudi keeping the restaurant going?

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Thanks to @tatmanstours, we took advantage of 68 being open and weren't disappointed, I can see why its a favourite, there was us and two others on the route, the snow was amazing as were the views, we stoped for an early lunch at the Hecherhutte ( another @tatmanstours, recommendation) superb goulash soup, followed by the most amazing Apple Strudel with Vanilla sauce, it has to be one of the best I have ever tasted, finished the day in Burgi's and met Ellie the Newfoundland dog who hadn't appreciated how big they are

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It might be worth mentioning that the Hecherhuette will cater for groups and special occasions, and an evening up there would surely be a memorable experience. A taxi for 8 people from Saalbach would apparently cost EUR 40 each way (so only EUR 5 each). It's a rustic old hut, located up the mountain above Viehhofen in the most picturesque setting imaginable. You can be assured of fantastic food, a warm welcome and a party atmosphere. The special group menu is as follows:

"Hechersteak" 300gr. with all the accompaniments/trimmings EUR 32.00
"Hechersteak" 200gr. ditto EUR 25.00
Fondue - Bourguinon style, sauces, chips, garlic bread, salad EUR 24.00
King prawns in garlic/olive oil with salad and bread EUR 24.00

As for the fabled piste 68 down to it, that was open for only about 10 days last season and only about a week the season before. As @radar, has commented above, it's currently open and in great condition, so make the most of it. Skiing down to it and staying for the evening would of course mean that you would only need a taxi for the return journey, and they will call one for you when you're ready to leave. The Hecherhuette is reckoned to serve the best steaks and gulasch soup in the valley. Tell the owner, Jarmila, that I sent you and it just might earn you one of her "Hecherfeuer" flaming schnapps.

After all it is free

Today's highlights, skied F14 absolutely fabulous, great snow, uncrowded a joy, lunched and the Wieseralm, great Tiroler Gröstl, the toilet sign can be a bit confusing! Skied 32a another run that is hardly ever open handy if you need to Shop at Mpreis Very Happy

, 33,35 were in great condition , wanted to 36 which looked good with powder over the top but ran out of time.

There is a new food place up at the Residence Saalbach, last season it was a fondue place, I'm sure there will be a@tatmanstours, review soon Toofy Grin

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Is there any apres or nightlife at all in viehofen as we are staying there in Jan? also do you have to pay extra to ski the floodlight run or is that included in your liftpass? hanks

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@conor256, As far as I know, there is no night life in Viehhofen, but the Hecherhuette is a great place to tarry in at the end of the afternoon. They try to get an apres-ski party atmosphere going at around 3.30pm. If you intend to ski down afterwards, head torches would be a good idea.
The night skiing at Hinterglemm is included in the lift pass.

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Many thanks tatman....

Webcam footage of the pistes is mouthwatering! Only 2 weeks to go and counting! snowHead

You know it makes sense.

Spent last week skiing in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, a place I had not been to for a long time so think it's probably worth doing a quick review.
All in all we had a very good time. Conditions were excellent, particularly early in the week when there was lots of powder that could be accessed in multiple locations and we had lots of fun skiing up to our thighs in places. This is an area for fairly high mileage cruising runs and there really is very little to challenge even decent intermediate skiers. Lots of blues and easy reds and only a few blacks none of which will really pose competent skiers with any problems. The steepest run is probably the very bottom section of F14 towards the Fieberbrunn connection but lasts only a few hundred metres.
Lifts are very good although a few too many gondola's rather than chair lifts and a few spots where lack of direct connectivity is a bit frustrating.
Apres Ski was quiet but that was due to the time of the season and I know from experience that it's good at busy times although in my opinion can't compete with the big boys of Austrian Apres, St Anton and Ischgl. The mountain huts are worthy of special mention and for me two stood out. The Alte Schmiede at the top of the runs down to Leogang serves very good food - the Apfel Strudel is probably as good as I have had anywhere. My favourite was a new hut called Luis Alm. Beautifully built and the food was excellent - the Groestl and Chicken and Chips both fabulous.
All in all a very good weeks skiing but without the off-piste then it would be a struggle to find anything very challenging at all. A very good ski area but I'd say only really suited to skiers in the 1 to 6 out of 10 ability range. Better skiers will become a little bored fairly quickly.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@downhillalltheway, Seems like a fair review to me. For context, I'm well into middle age and have gone past the point of wanting to ski off piste or down huge bump runs. I like the Ski Circus because of the variety of intermediate terrain, the quality of the mountain restaurants, and the good apres (in context). I've been to Ischgl and St Anton and yes, Saalbach has nothing to compare in terms of terrain or the full-on apres, but for what I want it beats the pants off anywhere else I've been and we'll be there on Saturday for our fourth visit.

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@downhillalltheway, Your review just shows how people can come away from a resort with different impressions.
1. The lift system. One of the things that people I talk to really rate is the lift system - the fact that that there are so many gondolas distributed throughout the area (the highest number of any resort world-wide), which serves to reduce congestion and queues in high season, as well as making for a speedy uplift and maximum time on skis. I have never heard anyone opine that more chair lifts, rather than gondolas, would be an improvement. I would be interested in where you think that it would be better to substitute a chair for a gondola. Also where you feel there is a connectivity problem (I can think of two places - the conspicuous absence of a gondola to get you up Schattberg from the bottom of pistes 2b and 61 at Jausern, and at Viehhofen, where a link between Saalbach and Zell am See is planned for next year, but where the lack of a gondola from the bottom of piste 68 has made that run what it is - a very quiet, off the beaten track, 7km run, which people generally enthuse about).

2. Apres-ski. The time of the season is, as you acknowledge, all-important. I've been to St Anton in late season, and nothing was going on - even less, I suspect than last week in Saalbach. Other Snowheads have commented that the apres is excellent in Saalbach (also rated 5 stars by the bigger German equivalent of the AA, ADAC) and compares favourably with both St A and Ischgl for both variety and prices. I have taken guests to the Hinterhag Alm (which incidentally had its season opening party this evening), and they have said that they liked it better than the Mooserwirt. It's a hard topic to be objective about, because so much depends on what people like and where they end up going. I have spoken to many people, who have been to Saalbach for multiple holidays and have never discovered the Hinterhag Alm, even though it's been holding its daily apres-ski party with live music since 1976. Likewise, despite my own fairly intimate acquaintance with the area over many years, I have apres-skied only once at the Hexenhauesl, and never at the Schwarzacher - both reportedly very lively haunts. As for the later apres bars, only last week I took radar and Mrs radar, who are regulars in Saalbach, to the Underbar and Otzi Bar in Saalbach, and I had the impression that it was a bit of a revelation, as they didn't seem to know that these bars existed. Another example is the Kuhstall in Saalbach, which over the years has been one of our favourite late night bars for music and dancing; however I don't think that I have met anyone, including Saalbach regulars, who have ever been there or knew of its existence. Again "Spacey" from Newcastle area is renowned as a very talented musician and entertainer, who has a residency in three of the bars in Saalbach and has a bit of a cult following, but many people I speak to, who keep returning to Saalbach, have never even heard of him. (Snowheads kooky and scarpa once commented to me that they that thought that one of his apres-ski parties at Saalbach's Spitzbub was the best apres-ski that they had ever experienced).
I don't doubt what you say, but I would be interested in why you think that the S-H apres cannot compete.

3. Mountain huts, Again one of the Ski Circus's strong points - there are around 60 of them and I don't know of a bad one, although curiously we always give your favourite, the Luis Alm, a wide berth, on account of its relative lack of charm and large, functional appearance (can't comment on the food, as we've never partaken). We're not alone in this impression - only last week I was talking to some people who didn't rate that Alm and much preferred (as we do) the Westernstadl, which is just a few hundred meters further down the same piste. Did you try that one?
Also what did you think of the Asitz Braeu and Mama Thresl's Hendl Fischerei, which are in the same location as the Alte Schmiede? The latter is by far our favourite of those three and has a growing reputation as "the coolest restaurant in the Alps" (it was our choice for Christmas Day lunch). The former (for those who don't know) was built using the salvage from two demolished breweries in Bavaria and is owned by the same people who own the similarly excellent Alte Schmiede. People generally enthuse about the Asitz Braeu.
You mention the Apfelstrudl - radar and Mrs radar told me last week that the best Apfelstrudl that they had anywhere in Austria was at the Hecherhuette (which is also reputed to serve the best steaks and gulasch soup in the entire area). How did you rate the Hecherhuette, by the way? It's a candidate for best mountain restaurant, and I would be absolutely amazed if you preferred the Luis Alm! (I would also be staggered, incidentally, if you preferred the chicken at the Luis Alm to the absolutely fabled chicken served at Mama Thresl's Hendl Fischerei - known to many as "The Chicken Man". The grilled chicken served here has been the subject of many a Snowheads discussion, and some have actually commented that they have been looking forward to the chicken as much as the skiing! Smile

)

4. That leaves the skiing. Firstly, I've taken many a cautious skier (including Mrs TT) down F14, and, although most people agree that it's a challenging red, no one has said that it's more testing than say the first and last sections of black 14 (Zwoelfer Nord Abfahrt), or even the steeper sections of number 1 (Schattberg Nord black run). For my part, I have always maintained that the black sections of piste 14 are the steepest in the entire area - again there have been many Snowheads discussions about the steepness of part of this piste over the years. How did you rate those sections of piste 14, and why did you consider F14 more challenging? That is quite a puzzle to me.
What did you think of some of the more challenging skiing over at Fieberbrunn (supposedly Austria's answer to La Grave)?
I partly agree with your impression that an advanced skier is unlikely to encounter "problems" without going off-piste. It's essentially 270km of cruisey, mainly intermediate skiing, which includes the largest ski circuit in the Alps (72 kilometres, 32 lifts, 12,500 meters in height and approx. 7 hours skiing time). The area suits improvers, as well as those who are satisfied doing long itineraries, practising carving their turns on blues and reds, and aiming for some of their favourite hostelries for lunch and apres-ski. A couple of Germans - both experienced skiers - I was talking to in Burgi's Bar told me that they prefer it to both St A and Ischgl, as they liked the comparatively relaxing skiing, the prettiness of the scenery and forested runs, and the quality of the mountain huts.
What I've always said about this area is that good skiers will always find an interesting challenge if they look for it. One of my current guests is a 40 year old Australian guy who has raced for the Armed Forces; he is also a Canadian qualified ski instructor, who has skied in the US, Canada and Alaska. He has returned to Saalbach many times and really enjoys the skiing here. Three years ago, in early January, he commented that he had skied the best powder here than anywhere else he had been - he had a constant smile on his face.
Which brings me to the bit of your critique that I slightly take issue with - that better than 6/10 ability skiers will quickly become bored. That hasn't been my experience. One only has to look out of my living room window to see very competent skiers blasting down the Schattberg black run and loving it. Earlier today I was watching skiers coming down the Schattberg Westgipfel red run, and also the Zwoelferkogel World Cup run (black 15) - many of them were evidently very good skiers, revelling in the superb piste conditions, and I would wager that none of them would have said that they felt bored.
Many of our guests return year after year. I myself have been skiing every year since 1981 (and since retirement for whole seasons), (and incidentally I have tackled the usual blacks in resorts such as Val D, 3Vs, Paradiski, Verbier, Avoriaz, Alpe d'H, LDA), and I can honestly say that I never become bored here in Saalbach. That is not to say that some people will not have a yearning for the "Steep and Deep" that will not be assuaged by the generally leisurely skiing of the Ski Circus - after all some Himalayan mountaineers would no doubt turn their noses up at days out in the Lakeland Fells or the Cuillin Hills on Skye. Whilst understanding where you are coming from, "bored" is not a word I could agree with, based on my experience - clearly however, boredom is a subjective concept.

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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Anyone who gets 'bored' skiing in an area like S-H in the current fantastic conditions might as well give up and find another hobby

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Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I've eaten in the Alte Schmiede a couple of times and can't fault it (particularity the speed of service) but the Chicken Man cannot be beaten. And the Luis Alm is a nice building but again there are way better places to eat in the Circus (at least one doesn't have to take their life in the hands to get to a down stairs toilet in the Luis Alm I suppose).

As for "gondola's rather than chair lifts", really?!

As for "getting bored", perhaps the skiing isn't particularly technically challenging but that's not really what the circus is all about.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

It was my opinion of a week's skiing in S-H. I clearly touched a nerve with Tatman but I ski a wide range of ski areas every year and I'm just calling it as I see it.
The one gondola that I don't see as being necessary is lift number 30 up in Hinterglemm. It must be the shortest gondola in the Alps and I just think that some times it's a lot easier to ski on to a chair for a lift of that length.
Other than the poor links Tatman called out my main criticism was that you have to take your ski's off and walk through the village to link from skiing Saalbach / Leogang side on to the Bernkogelbahn. That just seems silly to me and connectivity across the valley in Saalbach could be better.
Re restaurants I was actually complementing the standard of the mountain huts. In a week of course you are not going to be able to sample all of them and only provided my view on two that I thought were particularly good.
We had a great week but I probably wouldn't want to go back. I feel we pretty much skied everything that was there in a week and that there was little challenge. That was a common view of both families that went on the holiday.
The view of the best Bulgarian skier in the village is certainly not going to change my opinion.

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@downhillalltheway, No, I had a feeling that if I said anything, you would feel that you'd touched a nerve. I just enjoy engaging, debating and discussing and am fully prepared to accept that there are some people (like you), who might prefer a different skiing experience. However you can't expect to disparage some aspects of some people's favourite resort without encountering some disagreement.

To criticise the fastest lift system in the world ("a few too many gondola's rather than chair lifts") on the basis that one short gondola might have been better as a chair is IMHO being picky in the extreme! We used to have to walk across the flat meadow between Schattberg and Zwoelferkogel, and the gondola was a very welcome addition. You have the distinction of being the only person I have ever heard complain that it should have been a chair! Laughing

Regarding the connectivity between the Kohlmais and the Bernkogel, did you realise that you can ski down a piste to a point on the main street that is only about 30m from the alley way that leads to the Bernkogelbahn lift station - in other words a walk of about 60m from piste to lift? I suppose that a lift going across the village from one mountain to the other would be a welcome addition, but I've never heard anyone complain about that very short walk (Now, If you'd flagged up the walk from the Schattberg Xpress to the other lifts, that might have been a different story; however even then I would respectfully contend that the compactness of Saalbach (compared with many resorts that entail a ski bus between lift stations) is a positive. In terms of connectivity I think that the most yomping in ski boots, and bussing, that I've ever done was in Badgastein, Mayrhofen, Cervinia, Val d'Isere, St Anton, and Zermatt, although I guess that the location of one's accommodation is a factor. Personally, that 60m walk between the Turmwiese on the Kohlmais side and the Bernkogel on the other side of the main village street is the longest walk in ski boots that I ever do!

Re the mountain restaurants, I think we all realise that you were just calling it as you saw it, and you couldn't be expected to sample 60 or so of them in a week. However it is interesting that you were impressed by a restaurant that we avoid and (based on innumerable conversations with the ex pat community here) is unlikely to feature in anyone's list of the top mountain restaurants in Saalbach. Granted the Alte Schmiede would be up there, as well as the Asitz Braeu and the Hendl Fischerei at Leogang (also, from what we hear, the Kralleralm, although we haven't tried it), the Hecherhuette above Viehhofen (hidden gem!), the cosy, friendly Thurneralm (Kohlmaisgipfel), the popular Bergeralm (Kohlmaisgipfel), the locals' favourite, the Kohlmaisstübn (Kohlmaisgipfel), the friendly Westernstadl (Bernkogel), the upmarket Wieseralm (Reiterkogel), the cosy, candlelit Pfefferalm (oldest restaurant in the valley) (Reiterkogel), the Hochwartalm and Rachkuchl (next to each other on the Wildenkarkogel), the Rosswaldhütte (Reiterkogel), the Goassstall (Reiterkogel), the Simalalm (Schattberg Ost), the Breitfussalm (Zwölferkogel), the Ellmaualm (Zwölferkogel), the scenic Hintermaisalm and Winkleralm (same ownership, same menu) (Zwölferkogel), the Westgipfelhütte (fantastic views), the Bergstadl and the sunny, off the beaten track Gerstreitalm (Schattberg West), and the Ferchlstadl, the Wildalpgatterl, and the tiny, rustic Teehuette (Fieberbrunn). Even the unpretentious Baernalm, directly opposite the Luis Alm, has over the years proved more popular with our circle than the Luis Alm. My conclusion from all this is that we may have been unfairly disciminating against the Luis Alm on account of its uninspiring appearance, and that one day we really ought to sample its "fabulous" Groestl and chicken and chips.

I may pass on your views to the "best Bulgarian skier in the village" - he would undoubtedly be flattered to be so described, especially as his Bulgarian "oppo" is generally reckoned to be the best Laughing

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@tatmanstours, don't forget the panorama alm, lovely place, stunning in summer as well.
As you say, everyone entitled to their opinion but I, like you, having travelled and skied/boarded extensively throughout Europe ( inc. St Anton and Ischgl) struggle to find anywhere which offers such a great all round experience as Saalbach Hinterglemm

@summerseat,

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I, through work, really only get to ski 1 week a year. For the last 10 years at least, that week has been in Saalbach (with odd weeks/weekends thrown in elsewhere, when I've been lucky).

I haven't skied it all and haven't been in more than 20% of the huts and I've never been bored.

I demand we stop this nonsense of extolling the resort's virtues - for goodness sake people, keep it quiet!

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I will be in Saalbach from the 2nd to the 6th Jan, but won't get to ski, so perhaps not too worried about the "crowds".

Will be straight back on the 14th though and definitely WILL be hitting the slopes!

@NickYoung, you must be strong willed, I couldn’t spend a day in Saalbach and not ski, let alone 4, I couldn’t punish myself to that degree!

You know it makes sense.

It's gonna be hard, real hard!

I'll be there doing some wedding planning for next December and I don't think the prospective missus will be too chuffed if I disappear up the hill.

She skis too, but then there is the issue of our 3 and half year old...

Could I just sit him in the corner of Burgi's??

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@NickYoung, I'm sure she could find you a baby sitting service

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I was having this conversation with my stepdaughter only yesterday - how there is a big business opportunity for the right person to set up a crèche/child-minding service in Saalbach (independent of the Furstaer/Snow Academy set-up).

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My efforts might push to getting some plastic skis for the little one and letting him have a slide about at the bottom of the Turm.

I'll just have to save myself for the visit after.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

More praise for SH. I've skied 1 or 2 weeks every year since 2006 and just keep heading back. I'm a solo skier so usually join one of the ski schools and have met some wonderful people over the years. For 2017/18 I've bought a season pass and have trips planned for 6-20 January and 3-11 March. So if you see a brit on his own say hello

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It’s been dumping heavily all day - a serious amount of new snow. Clearing by tomorrow morning - should be a great day! 😀⛷

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@NickYoung, If you would find it helpful to talk to my step-daughter and her husband, who got married in Saalbach 8 years ago, they happen to be staying with us in Saalbach at the moment and will be here during your visit.

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After all it is free

Hi All, and especially gourmet's such as Tatman. I'm looking for quick bit of advice. I want to include the Chicken Man and the Hecherhutte on my gastro ski tour next week.

Myself and the wife are arriving on Saturday for the busiest week of the year. She is a nervous later begginner / kind of intermediate standard. Can sallbach snowheads advise the brest huts for my to bring her to. I'm not sure if a trip to the Chicken Man is viable - can you ski handy blues over there and back to Saalbach ? I'd like to sample a few of the huts in Asitz / Leogang if the route is easy

I was in hecherhutte myself last year but cant remember how challenging the piste was (no.68??) or how we got over there. I think it got a bit messy low down and we took taxi back from Viefhofen...

Anyway if any one can reassure that route to either or both are doable or suggest alternatives eg Tatman has suggested the Westernstadl and I will bring nervous wife to Bernkogle on first day that would be much appreciated.

Finally what time are celebrations on new years eve (eg fire works) so I can plan romantic dinner (pizza in Bobby's !!) around it ?

Really looking forward to my first week if Saalbach (after long weekends last 2 years) if nervous about doing the couples thing for a week and concerned about crowded slopes and struggle to get table at popular huts...

Laughing

If your wife can manage the Bernkogel top to bottom, she will be able to cope with all the other blue runs, including those that lead to the Bergeralm, the Chicken Man and the Hecherhuette. The only slope that might give her the wobblies is the red run from the top of the Polten Lift down into the Leogang bowl, but that that can be circumvented by going off to the right and snowploughing down the wave slope (Montelino's Trail). If I can be of any help let me know.

Incidentally, piste 68 was idyllic today, and the ski bus from the bottom, which takes you back to the Schoenleitenbahn, leaves at 10 to, 10 past and half past the hour. Leave the Hecherhuette 10 minutes before (for a competent skier) or 20 minutes before (for a slow skier), and you will be in time for the bus.

As for the NYE celebrations, it all kicks off at 5.00pm on the Turmwiese nursery slopes - displays of carving, snowboarding, piste bashers, and ski instructors' torchlit descent, followed by a pretty impressive firework display. Then there is plenty of time for getting changed and fed, before it all goes mental at 11.30pm - again the Turmwiese is good place to be at midnight - also the village square.

Re your last paragraph, don't worry about it - the Ski Circus is big enough for everybody -you'll have a great time!

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Thanks Tatman, that's reassuring... looking forward to getting to Saalbach tomorrow pm, squeezing in a quick ski and long apres ski...

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Saalbach - Hinterglemm - Leogang - Fieberbrunn 2017/18 Official Unofficial Thread

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