Ellmau trip, January 2016

A snowHead

Quick(ish) report on my trip, with 7 others, to Ellmau last week. All of us were new to the Ski Welt area but have been to other places in Europe and Canada. We went with Crystal and flights and transfers were fine.

We stayed at the Sporthotel in Ellmau which was superb. It is on the edge of Ellmau and it is necessary to get a free bus to and from the main Hartkaiser gondola (about every 15 mins). The bus stop is right opposite the hotel and it is a 5 minute ride - make sure you take the Line A bus back home. Alternatively, it is possible to access the Hartkaiser gondola from the Hotel (via a short walk, a drag, two chairs and a selection of pistes in the Going area) but if you want to get to the main slopes straight away, take the bus! It is also possible to ski back to the Hotel via Going.

For beginners, there are some great, wide and gentle nursery slopes (served by drags and T Bars) at the back of the Hotel and these have no passing traffic. However, these are at only 800m so vulnerable to poor snow. There are some other nursery areas up the mountain but some of the blues would be a bit tricky for progression.

Snow was patchy when we arrived but it snowed consistently all week (with rain one day lower down though), and we had one day of good sunshine. Visibility was not great on the other days which made getting around a completely new area quite tricky. This was not helped by the over-ambitious piste map, which looks like a bowl of red and blue spaghetti, with lots of variations on runs (eg a blue and red variant of many runs each with (a), (b) and (c) sub-variants. This is coupled with the most abysmal piste marking I have ever encountered! A run would suddenly split with no indication of the correct turn, and if there was it might be 100m or more down the run and impossible to see in bad visibility. We got to the top of Hohe Salve which is one of the highest points at 1800m, but it was completely unclear how to get back down without taking a black in next to no visibility. We downloaded in the gondola. We went back another day in better visibility, managed to find a red route down only to find it closed part way down and having to divert. We were looking for one run and found that it was behind some cowsheds with no indication on the piste. Really bad. (Only after returning have I read that someone produced a 3D plastic map of the area a few years ago. Not sure if this is still available but it would have been a Godsend for us!)

The Ski Welt claims to be the largest ski area in Austria but it felt much smaller and less "coherent" than Saalbach Hinterglemm (which anyway might now have the largest area accolade). We felt that the Ski Welt was a collection of mountain tops with a few (shortish) runs down to mid station, with longer runs to the base villages. To go from area to area it was necessary to "leapfrog" over the tops of the peaks with a succession of lifts.

I am conscious that this sounds entirely negative but it is not meant to be. We found the snowmaking to be excellent and the lift system to be good, with mostly big, heated chairs and large gondolas from the base stations (but the lifts are not quite in the same class as Saalbach Hinterglemm). Lift queues were never a problem. Mountain restaurants were good to very good, and excellent value, but again Saalbach Hinterglemm has the edge

However, we did enjoy the skiing and would like to go back. What perhaps tips the balance is the wonderful hotel we stayed in!! We found the Sporthotel to be excellent, with the one exception - that in common with many other Austrian hotels it still allows smoking. The bar was pretty much a no-go area for us and our room stank on arrival. This apart, the room was comfortable and quite spacious with a balcony. We were in a very quiet part of town with no outside noise. This suited us, but it might be too quiet for some. There is a pleasant Apres bar behind the hotel (the Ellmauer Alm) with a selection of cheesy music to dance to. No noise permeated outside and we only found it towards the end of the week.

The food in the hotel was excellent - the best we have ever had on a ski holiday. All you can eat breakfasts with every hot and cold option you could possibly want. Dinners were multiple courses of good quality and sizeable portions. On most nights there were help-yourself buffets (one night pasta, another anti-pasti, another hot and cold meats, another desserts). No afternoon tea though. Water on the table was charged at 1.8 euros a carafe. Wine was expensive - nothing much less than 30 euros a bottle - but a 250ml carafe of house wine was better value at about 5-6 euros.

There is a lovely indoor/outdoor pool and wellness area with a range of saunas, steam rooms and a whirlpool. Relaxation beds are around the pool and in the wellness area. There is a small gym and games room which we didn't use. There is a separate "KaiserSpa" area which was not included in our package but which you can upgrade to for 16 euros a night. We went there once. It had a large Sauna (with a 5.30 infusion), a smaller sauna, steam room, small pool with jets at one end, and very comfortable relaxers around the pool. This was a lovely, quality area, only a year old, but the other "free" wellness area was fine for our needs on the other nights.

(Both the free wellness area and "Kaiserspa" are nude areas which some might find disconcerting. While it is possible to wear towels when using the facilities, no-one did. Cossies are verboten apart from in the "free" swimming pool.) Dressing gowns and flip flop type slippers are provided as well as a couple of towels (not the unlimited towels that we have had in other places).

Hope this is of interest - please PM me if anyone has any questions.

A snowHead

Thanks Big Dave. We're off to Soll for the first time next week, so useful advice. I've heard about the terrible piste map and signage, so we've downloaded the Crystal Ski app. Did you try that? We're with a group who've been before, so hopefully they know their way around. Any runs that are a must do?

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

You need to Login to know who's really who.

been to ellmau twice and love it there. agree with it being a bit confusing to get around but once you have worked it out it is a fantastic ski area. visibility would make it awkward though. hopefully you go back and get nice conditions cause it really is a fantastic ski area

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Thank you for taking the time to write this. I love a good trip report to read in my tea break.!

You'll need to Register first of course.

Thanks for the report, having loved Skiwelt before, I must go and try the new improved Saalbach if the lifts and extent are even better.

@wotnowalshy, do a day trip over to Westendorf while you are there. From the top of Gampenkogel the KiWest run is great and back on the Westendorf side there is a good lunch stop (marked No 74) on the map. It is in the trees (turn left at the giant plastic snowman, yes really) so does not get noticed, lovely terrace with deckchairs and views.

111 down the Windau valley and 11 to Brixen are both good long runs worth doing.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

Just come back from a few days in söll and have to say completely agree with big Dave re the skiwelt. Good to a point but could be better... Maps and signs terrible.

Enjoyable few days. Not the easiest or most straightforward to get from village to village. Too many short 400m ish runs and only seemed to be getting about 100m nearer your destination with every lift and run

Would I go back? Certainly

Would I rush back and would it be in my top 5 destinations? Probably not.

I stayed in the hotel Austria and that was OK. Nothing spectacular at all but it was clen and comfortable. The food was v good in fairness and was also v friendly.

I'm taking the misses to Soll next week (30th), I just do hope we get sunny weather and I get over this cold.

We had a disappointing week in Neiderau last year because of the weather and she came down with a bad cold.
+ we found Neiderau very dull, and the skiing bad for timid intermediates.

But hey! Lets go Wild in the Wildkaiser, and get back in the Gemuklishkeit groove of Austrian skiing.

Well done Big Dave on detailed report.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

@Big Dave, thanks for the report. I'm heading to Ellmau on Thursday for four nights. Have visited previously but it was quite a few years ago. Can I ask where you got your lift passes from? I assume they can be picked up from the Hartkaiser main lift? Do you know whether they can be picked up in resort - i.e near the beginner lifts in the centre? We are staying behind the Hochfilzer and would rather take the drag lift up above resort and traverse across to the Hartkaiser.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

@Liam,
I bought them in a supermarket (I think, definitely a shop) just down the road from the Hochfilzer the evening we arrived.

snow reports

@musher, Cheers for that.

@musher, Cheers for that.

You know it makes sense.

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

Great report, thanks. Going myself at the end of Feb. What are the prices like in the resort shops for clothing / equipment compared to the UK?

A snowHead

A snowHead

We have been to Ellmau (once in March) and Scheffau (once in January) and our conclusion was that we would not go back in January due to the poor visibility. I think most low Austrian resorts have this problem early in the year. But Ellmau with good snow cover was fantastic in March and I would go back again as long as snow conditions were good enough. We organised our own trip, flying to Munich and then the train. Everything worked brilliantly. Stayed in the Altepost which was great.

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

Surely you can have bad vis anywhere in snowy weather? Luck of the draw. The most persistent bad vis I've encountered was in La Rosiere. Days of it.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Our bad visibility was not due to snow, but fog!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Our bad visibility sometimes cleared at the top of the mountain - but you skied down into fog after about 200m

Help!!

Ellmau trip, January 2016

snowHeads Forum Index >>> Resort Reviews and Trip Reports