 Poster: A snowHead
|
Yesterday a friend and I went to Kitzbühel, to ski the Steinbergkogel area on the first day of its opening. In the morning there were more skiers on the pistes than I had expected but lift queues were not bad. We went up on the Fleckalm gondola and skied first the Ochsalm runs. Here is a view looking down what I call the "back road" of the Ochsalm pistes, piste 40...
There were several novelties in the area. The first we came across was the s'Ochsal café, a new building beside the bottom station of the Ochsalm chairlift...
It wasn't long before we went in to test it. The decoration was attractive, including a fine ox carving...
Sadly, that was the best I can say about the café, for the service was terrible. It was very slow and, after 15-20 minutes, only managed to bring us one chocolate, pretty cold, cup only 3/4 full and without cream, when we had ordered two mit Sahne. I trust that these were only problems from their very first day - it can only get better. We walked out, leaving the cold chocolate, and, after one run at the Walde chairlift, moved on to the Melkalm hut, one of my favourites. There the chocolate was hot and the service friendly and we stayed for lunch. This is the view to the Steinbergkogel from the terrace...
After lunch we skied mostly on the Steinbergkogel and there there was another, more interesting, novelty - the new 8-seater Jufen chairlift. Construction isn't finished yet but the opening is promised for 17th December, only a month away. The lift replaces the old 3-seater lift which was here previously. Here is a view showing the bottom station and the line of the lift...
And here the station on the ridge at the top of the Steinbergkogel...
The snow was mostly artificial, I think, and often hard and polished. We didn't try much off-piste (though some others did) but what I tried certainly wasn't powder. The weather was very good, light cloud at first but a warm sun coming through more and more. The valleys stayed enclosed in clouds all day but it was great higher up - this photo was taken just beside the top station of the Maierl gondola...
All in all, a good start to the Kitzbühel season (skiing is also available up at Pass Thurn, including one valley run there).
P.S. Forgot one more novelty. The Hochbrunn hut has been completely renovated inside and now has a very attractive interior of wood (the photo doesn't do it justice) - and friendly, efficient staff too...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
Nice, looking good
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
|
@espri, how many lifts are actually open? Bergfex is reporting 0/56 right now!
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
@Steilhang, the Fleckalmbahn to get you up and down (or the Hahnenkammbahn). For real skiing the Steinbergkogel, Ochsalm and Ehrenbachhöhe chairlifts (+ the Walde and Sonnenrast chairlifts for other short runs). Official info here: https://www.kitzski.at/de/aktuelles-service/starten-sie-im-skigebiet-kitzbuehel-kirchberg-als-erstes-in-den-winter.html .
And at Pass Thurn chairlifts at Resterhöhe, Resterkogel and over to the Hanglalm as well as the Panorama gondola (for access).
Today it has been snowing quite heavily at times, about 10cm in Fieberbrunn.
P.S. The Steinbergkogel area is only open at the weekend presently, I believe. Pass Thurn daily.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
I'm glad they've upgraded the Jufen chair! Always a big queue there.
I noticed it on the new piste map.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
As an aside, @Drammeister, yesterday on my way to Kitzbühel I saw the cabins moving on the new Eichenhof gondola at St. Johann.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
So would I be right in saying, the base station for the new Jufen lift is close to the Sonnenrast lift, saving the ski round the corner to the old 3 man base?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
@jafa, yes. And they seem to have flattened out the approach to the corner, so that no polling is necessary to reach the bottom part of the Diretissima, piste 38.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
Ok looking good. I'm out from the 10th for a week, so will give u a bell if u are around?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Good. I'll be here. And another Scot, who's out for the season. Has snowed again overnight, though not very much.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
Had a super day's skiing in the Kirchberg/Kitzbühel area yesterday, skiing with johnbarr and another friend. The skies were mostly overcast to start with but more and more blue showed through in the course of the day, until it was almost cloudless in the late afternoon. There was a cold wind at times. In addition to the lifts which were running last time we were there, now the Brunn (and Kasereck) lifts are operating (daily), so that a whole new area with good pistes is available. Here is a view looking down piste 27c leading to the Brunn chairlift.
The pistes were extremely quiet - sometimes we seemed to have the whole area to ourselves, though there were a few more people near the Hahnenkamm gondola. The next photo is looking down the Streif, the course for the Hahnenkamm race, from the Hahnenkamm Starthaus towards the Mausefalle. We didn't go down the Streif but took the easier route beside the Walde lift. The second photo is from there looking back towards the Mausefalle.
We enjoyed a good lunch at the Hochbrunn Alm hut, here the view looking out.
The snow was mostly very good, some powder though crusty in other places and with one section like polished concrete on piste 23 down to the Ehrenbachgraben. For a final shot showing things to come, this is the bottom station of the new 8-seater Jufen chairlift with the Sonnenrast lift up to the Ehrenbachhöhe behind it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
Lovely photos
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Just a quick update to say that the 20 or 30 cm's which some websites were forecasting for Kitzbühel looks like its staying to the South and West of here, so Switzerland, St Moritz and in general Sud Tirol should be receiving the brunt of it, and probably makes for some really fine conditions in those directions.
We have had pretty cold temperatures this last week, one day my car doors were frozen shut with -16,5'C. But today its much warmer, we are getting Firn-Winds and temperatures are forecast to be pretty high (+10'C) for the next few days before falling again deep into minus figures.
Snow conditions are however at the moment still good, the warm winds make it a bit weird as you are not really cold up there and the winds have been pretty strong, closing quite a few lifts over the last couple of days. The offpiste is somewhat unstable given the prevalent weather conditions.
Thats it, more to come over the coming few days / weeks / months!
Have fun, stay safe!
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
What a day! Blue skies and sunshine with a fresh dusting of 20cms plus, up top.
I spent all morning off piste skiing with an old friend on his snowboard and a ski instructor whom I have trained through to full Landeslehrer. The three of us had a whale of a time.
Avalanche level is 3, so we were naturally cautious, the specifics were the same as a few days ago, above 1800m (tree level) the danger was wind blown snow and below 2400m the main danger was slab snow avalanches.
We found the snowpack to be very stable, thankfully. The wind seems to have come from the south, judging by the massive amounts of snow on the northerly faces. Most likely the warm firn-winds from the south, so the northern facing slopes which here in Kitzbühel can sometimes be very wind swept were today the best.
However the southern facing slopes didn't look bad at all, in places they looked amazing, so its possible that last night there was very little wind and the snow is overall good. But we didn't test the theory properly, only skiing one south facing slope so its hard to definitively say. Unfortunately still no Hochsaukaser lift which is frustrating but if you have the energy to hike/tour out there you'll certainly be very well rewarded.
Lastly its worth mentioning that at times you could feel the firmer, slightly crusty layer underneath the new snow, on convex rollovers for example, but it was overall better than anticipated from the snow conditions and of course with good friends you can't have a bad time!
I hope all you snowheads are out there enjoying the freshies!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
