 Poster: A snowHead
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There is not much on Schladming here so here is my report for any others thinking about it.
We decided to go there as we have some friends who love it and recommended it, in general it does not seem to be a very popular destination for Brits, but I am not sure why.
We went the first weekend after new year and stayed at the Kirchenwirt hotel and booked the flights and accommodation ourselves but Crystal also do that combo as a package deal.
I did not make any arrangements ahead of time for a transfer but when we got to the airport I asked a Crystal rep if we could go on their bus and they said no problem for Euro30 each. The backup plan was to go down by train. To my surprise it was a mini bus with about 10 people on it, packed coaches seemed to be heading off to other destinations, as I say, Schladders not that popular with Brits.
Perhaps it is not that popular as it is low, about 700m, but we were in luck, there was plenty snow to the village and it snowed heavily on Sunday/Monday, so great conditions for the rest of the week. It is popular with Eastern Europeans, I would guess that 70% on the hill were Eastern European or Russian.
As for the ski area, there are 4 main hills, three linked and one a short bus ride away. We spent two days on the Planai, two days on Hauser, and a day each on Hochwurzen and Reiteralm (there are lots of other smaller areas as well as the Glacier).
The best feature of each of the hills was the really long red runs from top (circa 1900m) to the bottom (circa 700m), lots of different runs and great conditions an all the runs, some real leg burners. Most of the runs are tree lined so great if light is an issue but we got good light for most of the week. There could have been more black runs though but the black down into the village is great fun. There was plenty to keep us interested for the week but a downside is that the terrain is all a bit similar as it is all on one side of the valley. Also we found it tricky to get much time in the sun as it seemed like almost all of the runs are north facing. The lift system was excellent, new and fast with few queues and few T bars. We did not use a T or button at all. Plaini was they most busy so it is worth getting over onto the other hills which as just as good but quieter. There is night skiing too which we just about did on our last run on the last day. There are very few bad flat areas for boarders also, I did not need to unstrap at any point during the week. There was plenty OP available between the trees and above the tree line also.
There are great heated lockers available in the Plaini base station which we used, 24 Euro for the week and has space for 4 boots 2 sets of skis and a shelf for helmets.
We were not hitting the hill too hard, generally lazy starts and earlyish ends, according to ski line we did 38,000 vertical meters in the 6 days we were there, but I am not sure how that compares to other holidays, but I get the feeling it is more than average. If it had been a boys trip hitting the hill a bit harder I think we could have easily done 70 to 80k vertical in a week.
The skiing level seemed to be pretty good overall with few beginners and most at an intermediate level or above, I only saw one accident which was just a racing incident.
There were many great huts/restaurants all over all of the hills with great food but few are non smoking.
There is plenty of apri ski on the hill and at the bottom to chose from, we spent most of the early evenings in the outside area of Charlys or in the Hoenhaus but again it was all smoking.
The village/town is pretty enough but not very traditional.
Our Hotel was cheap at 65 Euro for DBB, the food was just OK for me but poor for Kim who is a vegie. The room was ok size and at the back which was good for street noise but it is close to the church which has bells that start at 6am, just too loud.
Overall we had a great holiday and would go back again sometime in a few years.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 13-01-15 15:03; edited 5 times 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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Thanks for this. OH and I are heading out there in 4 weeks and from what I've researched it looks a really great place. Any other tips would be greatly appreciated.
Re food. Austrian cuisine has never known to be veggie friendly, this suits me fine. 😃😃
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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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People often talk about resorts such as Schladming "only" being at 700m but you have to realise that because of how far East it is then the snow record is probably comparable with French resorts at twice the height. Schladming is up there every year with the first resorts in Europe to open and snow making there is as good as it gets.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Excellent report. We are off on Saturday for the first time to Schladming. Very excited.
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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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Great report. I had similar feelings after our trip a few years ago.
I think all 4 mountains are linked (but we used buses as well).
Huts are very good although some might not have the English menu. I liked the one on the top of Hauser Kaibling, with the terrace overlooking Schladming mountain.
The restaurant under top station of Planai gondola had live music on some days.
Overall I think we liked Hauser the most for skiing. And the run under newish gondola in Reiteralm is great.
Agree also the skiing and views are a bit samey after a while. We actually moved to Bad Gastein for the second part of the holidays which is more high alpine terrain but on the same ski pass.
(or for someone with car I would recommend day trip to Zauchensee, again same ski pass but different feels and views. Brilliant place.)
Hope to re-visit soon!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@JimboS, you would imagine a hotel called 'Kirchenwirt' to be near a church... 
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It was worse than that, it was between two churches that seemed to be in competition, they seemed to have a "ring off" every morning, one morning I counted 70 bell rings at 7am that went on for an age!
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@JimboS, But with first lifts at 08:10 surely you were up and running
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@queen bodecia, I was hoping that the garden would be full of cheery trees, but then again my German has never been that good. 
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Been to Schladming a couple of times. The challenge was always four hill Friday (or any other day that you care to do it).
Start from the top of Plania, ski across to Hauser Kaibling, and down to Haus. Back up to the top of hause Kaibling, and across to the top of Plania again, then down Hochwurzen top station and take the lift across the valley (it used to go through a tunnel). Then up to the top on Hochwurzen, any take the run all the way down to Pichl. Then up ReiterAlm, and once you get to the top, ski down to the far lift(skiers left). half time, then just reverse the route. You do need to keep a decent pace to be able to finish in a day (Start early), It is a total 'leg burner', and infact you end up with about 8 or nine summit to valley runs.
I always found the decent to the bottom of planai testing, it was always hard pack, and being part of the 'night slalom' course, pretty steep for tired legs at the end of the day. Gets easier as the week goes on
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@JimboS, that's a 'Kirsche', subtle difference...
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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We really enjoyed it when we were there too.
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We liked Schladming too. The 'music piste' was fun, is that still there?
LOVED the black down into town, you can sort of imagine what it's like to be a racer skiing down towards the crowds (with a really active imagination  !!!)
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@JimboS, looking good, getting so excited now.........BTW we followed you to Wengen last year and now we are following you to Schladming😀
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Poster: A snowHead
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Do they still have a weekly knees up at Onkel Willie's Hut?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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For those going Schladders soon. Some info in that thread, a little old but mostly still relevant.
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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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| spenney wrote: |
| Do they still have a weekly knees up at Onkel Willie's Hut? |
Weekly ? Every day can turn into a session in Onkel Willi's. A friend of mine kept the bill from a lunch we once had in there, had it framed and placed on the wall in their downstairs loo. Including the tip it was €700 for 4 of us and the food component was €57. I think we went down the entire Schnapps list at least twice.
I actually skied down to the village afterwards.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I remember them doing an amazing meat platter in Onkel Willie's. There was no heavy drinking though, just lunch! We saved the drinking session for the umbrella bar down near the lift station, fantastic atmosphere in there AND the nail game! They had a cool B52-making machine too.
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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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I endorse most of the views expressed on here. Schladming is an excellent ski area. It is more of a working town than some of the other more traditional resorts. Competitively priced. Not what your young Brit party goers would probably go for.
Only 75 minute coach to Salzburg airport and it has its own station.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@NE1, Well how about Italy for next Jan, as I think I've totally skied out Austria now.
Done -
Da Hoff and the whole Ziller valley > 25 times
Schladders
Ischgl
St Anton
Lech
Gerlos
Zell am See
Obertauren
Soelden (in a week time)
Soll
Kaprun
Salbach
Kitzbuhel
Hintertux
Stubai
Are there any other areas that are good for a week long holiday or is it time to move on?
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You've got the rest of Ski Amadé for a start.
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@JimboS, lol. It's about time we (that's me & Mr NE1 revisited the Dolomites
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Tom W, Serfaus looks really interesting, not sure why I haven't been there yet. I think I will look into it for this Easter.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@JimboS, Beware. Although it looks high for Austrian resort, quite a lot is south facing and very open valley. So might have poor snow on the villages side.
It gets great reviews, it's very modern and runs are apparently long, but I think I would go there rather in main season.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@Tom W, OK, thanks, maybe save that for next Jan and try Cervina at Easter, could also be a slush fest there too though. But I wouldn't be surprised if I end up back at the Hoff at Easter as it seems to have a magnetic attraction for us then.
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OK, last year we asked Ski Amade-ites to convince us to visit the area and they did. We visited last week and what a treat we had, we are now totally converted and were even looking in Estate agent windows 😀
We flew through Crystal from Newcastle. The transfer was painless though green, which was a little bit worrying. No sooner had we left the airport, we arrived in Schladming, having dropped off some peeps in Radstadt for their journey to Obertauren. Schladming wasn't as big as we thought it would be, so first impressions were good. We stayed in the Kirchenwirt (we asked for a high floor at the back as recommended), who needs warm up exercises when you have 3 flights of stairs 😉. The gasthof was perfect for us, homely, bitty, a bit eclectic. Lovely views from the window over towards Rorhmoos, and a beautiful onion church tower (!) Off we went down to Planai to deposit our skis in the lockers, wow, what lockers! Heated boot warmer in each locker and a lovely warm room. Cost €4 a day, each locker fits two pairs of skis or boots. ( Note: don't take your skis down till after 3pm or they will charge you for that day). The toilets are amazing- each cubicle has a different mural in it - I had to take photos 😀. From the locker room the lift takes you direct to the Planai gondola - now that's what I call civilised. A quick look at the night race piste - OMG that's steep (and closed -thankfully 😉)
6am the church bells started, but the ones at 7 are the best. I counted 141 from all the churches in the area, we made the mistake of sleeping with a slightly open window 😉😀😳. Lesson learnt - turn off radiator .
The sking is across four mountains. We tried to ski a different one each day and like Hauser Kaibling the best. Lovely long runs from mountain top to village level, which came in very useful on the Friday due to freezing fog at the top. It's in the main tree lined skiing with a lovely smell of pine. Nothing was too daunting apart from the Black Rose at the top of Reiteralm, we watched many a people making a mess of that. We were going to attempt the four hills challenge, but the weather on the last day wasn't great so we stayed at Hauser Kaibling. Day one on Marchenwiesebahn - "is your bum getting warm?". Heated seats! This wasn't the only one through the week, what a fabulous invention! All in all the skiing was great, it was mainly artificial snow so made it a bit hard pack and icy, so we need to return to try the soft stuff.
Thanks for persuading us to give this area a try.
I think for those of you who live there and have cars, it's a great place to be in life as there are so many areas to ski, but for a week Schladming had enough for us. We never made it to Fageralm due to transport. In this aspect 'Austria' could learn from 'France (well Tignes). Buses were infrequent and packed at busy times. Really these link buses should be on a constant loop every 10-15mins at busy times. We bused to Reiteralm one day and we left more people on the pavement than were on the bus. The next bus wasn't for an hour and I'm sure our bus was overloaded.
We 'apres' at Tscugamugas. Nice little local bar round the corner from Kirchenwirt, same locals in every day, who would chat to us. We don't do bouncy eurobeat apres. 😉
Pros
Good intermediate skiing on tree lined pistes.
Heated seats on some chairs and gondolas
Friendly locals
Lovely mountain restuarants - try the gulashsuppe
Cons.
Buses, but apparently they have improved!
Links at Rohrmoos and Pichl - rickety old chairs to uplift, probably the worst in the area.
Kirchenwirt had nowhere to sit after you had eaten. It would have been nice to have an area to go to to play cards or read, with a nice fire. The bar/restaurant was always full of outside diners.
Overall - we shall return. Thank you snowheads.
Last edited by So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much  on Sun 25-01-15 11:32; edited 1 time in total
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You know it makes sense.
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Oooo, I forgot. At the end of the day, near the pay desk there's a computer screen where you touch you lift pass to the screen and you get a print off of your day. We liked that 😀
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@NE1, you can ski from Planai to Reiteralm way more interesting than taking the bus!
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Samerberg Sue, yes I know, we did, but the uplifts are not great and you have to download over the gorge, so we tried the bus. Either way us not ideal. Once they improve the uplift at Planai West towards Hochwurzen and Pichl towards Reiteralm it will be better, not that there are any plans as far as I know, maybe locals will know more.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@NE1, Glad you enjoyed it, I arrived in Solden yesterday and hit the hill today, not nearly as good as Schladming so far, given its height I though it would be ice free, but there is a lot of ice, especially on the home run..... full report later.
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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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Thanks @NE1,
We're off on the 7th fen with crystal from newvastle too but staying at kaiserweg hotel.
What time did your transfer get you to the town? Any scope for a cheeky afternoon on the slopes on the first day?
Joe
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@joe1978, got to resort about 1-1.30pm, we had to wait for Gatwick flight which was a bit late and then had to drop people in Radstadt going to Obertauren. The Kaiserweg is about 100m from Planai West (we collected people from there on way home). Last lift is 4pm. Nice red run down from Hochwurzen nearby you.
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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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1.30 you say? That could leave plenty of time if I can talk Mrs joe into it.
Yeah I picked the place because it seems you can do either mountain from the same ish place.
Reviews are decent too.
Apes wise I like both. A couple of beers to a bit of euro house then a nice chill out before dinner.
We're B&B so looking forward to trying a few restaurants.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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And something else I've just remembered............use the "sky toilets" in the 'portacabin' at the very top of Planai. You will never have a more memorable wee 😀😉
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@joe1978, Couple of restaurant tips for you :
Talbachschenke - Fantastic.
Zirngast - Gasthof / Restaurant that is on the campsite in Schladming. Very good.
Tauernalm - At the bottom of the toboggan run at Hochwurzen if you decide to do an evening there. Very good indeed and their goats cheese and bacon starter is as good a dish as you'll have anywhere. Easy to get to and back by bus.
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| downhillalltheway wrote: |
@joe1978, Couple of restaurant tips for you :
Talbachschenke - Fantastic.
Zirngast - Gasthof / Restaurant that is on the campsite in Schladming. Very good.
Tauernalm - At the bottom of the toboggan run at Hochwurzen if you decide to do an evening there. Very good indeed and their goats cheese and bacon starter is as good a dish as you'll have anywhere. Easy to get to and back by bus. |
Thanks for that! I'll add it to my list!
I need to find the other Schladming threads on here to gleam more info before I go.
Joe
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