Ski amade

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Maria Alm and Hoch Koenig is great for getting a sense of travel because you start at one end a ski a long way to the other end of the area and back which is a long way away as the crow flies but it does mean that theres not that much variety, each lift has on average 1-2 runs from it. But its very nice and pretty and if im going to Amade i would alway spend at least 1 day there

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Nightcap, blimey, hun, you don't post much but when you do...such pearls of information and wisdom! A small grammatical error is a mere bagatelle in such a context. Very Happy

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

The Flying Gooseberry, Very Happy

Well, sometimes less is more Laughing

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Thought surplus bonus ' were a legal requirement to posting on forum's these days? Wink

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I'm going there again twice this season. My fourth and fifth visits respectively. I haven't skied anywhere near half of it yet and I'm very much looking forward to revisiting old favourites too. Very Happy

I've done a taxi transfer from Salzburg too, €50 return or €30 one way. Very efficient. However due to lack of flights to Salzburg I normally fly to Munich and a very good friend picks me up. I'm sure Munich is easily do-able by train too, German efficiency and all that...

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yup. 1 change at Ostbahnhof (I think).

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Could anyone please tell me what the otherside of Flachauwinkl is like, the hill opposite the Highliner that the shuttle takes you to? Never made it there the other year, the family really enjoyed the run back under the Highliner gondola - is it similar standard? Thanks.

After all it is free

skimac, that's one of the bits I haven't done yet, the piste map shows another ski area linking Flachauwinkl and Kleinarl. Perhaps one of our nice locals can elaborate...?

skimac, Highliner is the Zauchensee side - do you mean the Sunshine Express side (Flachauwinkl?). I think you do... I love it, but not sure what you mean by similar standard? In what sense?

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Well.. just to confuse things there were some name changes....

So lets start in Zauchensee... pop up one side and then ski down to the Flachau Winkl side of Zauchensee.
This used to have a small gondola and a 3 man lift but now has highliner I (gondola) and highliner II (6 or 8 man chair) which lead you back up towards Zauchensee.

The arena built at the bottom of Highliner I is now called Flachau Winkl but isn't really it is Flachau Winkl/Zauchensee.

From here you either get a shuttle bus or as Frosty the Snowman called it yonks ago "a little Noddy tractor train" under the motorway and across the valley to the REAL Flachau Winkl. This area has the 'shuttle' set of lifts and also has the massive Absolut Park and The Stash. The top of this (Powder shuttle) can lead you down to Kleinarl which is often much quieter and a good set of pistes (healthy vert and distance!).

Both of the winkles have a bus stop for the bus down to Flachau.

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Thanks flangesax, definitely haven't been there yet, might get a chance to rectify that in a few weeks... Very Happy

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Yes, the 'Sunshine' side. We are of mixed ability, the 'Oma' likes it slow, my 6 and 9 year old like it semi - suicidal........I just do as I am told! The Highliner was nice because you can take the quick route down the piste or slowly wind through the trees. The piste map shows something for everyone on the other side, but maps can be deceptive and just wondered if anyone had first hand knowledge of it.

Thank you Flangesax, sounds like we will give it a go.

You know it makes sense.

skimac, the blues are typical Austrian blues from top to bottom.
can be very cold and windy at the top of the Powder Shuttle.
There is a wickedly fast speed trap near this lift, along with a timed carving run (set out for boarders rather than skiers... although anyone can do it!)
There is also a timed gated tun on the way down to Kleinarl.
An ideal place for families! They have a family run which is like the blue you just mentioned on the Zauch side but they have an orienteering puzzle. You get a card from the lift office and then each corner on the family run has one of their characters with a stamp.
Great area!

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

skimac, I stayed in Zauchensee last year, and the Flachau winkl/kleinarl area was our favourite to ski as a family. My wife was in her first week skiing, as was my daughter who was 7. Absolutely loved it!. As Flangesax says, plenty of family specific attractions. We also enjoyed the Lil Stash area which was at the top of the powder shuttle I think?

Highly recommend it.

We were there the week of some freestlye championships, so plenty of impressive jumps to watch while riding the lifts too!

Probably my favourite day on skis so far

Jon

A snowHead

Thank you everyone for your help. I have gleemed a whole lot of info now. It's definitely on the list for January 2015.

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flangesax, I think the kids did the timed gate run the first year we were there - they had fun. I didn't feel confident to have a bash at it in case it was very icy.

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

NE1, if cost is an issue then I think this is the place to go (even if it's not it's still the place to go!). We went last Easter and had a whistle stop tour, we were there all week but tried to ski all the ski areas around Radstadt at least once just so we could experience each of the areas. For us this was perfect as without getting into KMs, each area was about a day piste skiing covering nearly every run.

We didn't bus it, but did see the buses, there seemed to be plenty and mostly empty (quiet time of year though). This was our first DIY ski holiday and found it all far too easy! Door to door took us 6.5 hours, that includes 2hrs waiting around Luton airport departure "scrum/lounge", we are only 30 mins from Luton airport though. We hired a car though which meant that we could get about easier, it was about the same cost as transfers for 3 people. All the ski areas are easy to find and only 10 mins-ish drive from Radstadt (we stayed at Flangesax's place).

If we were looking to go with a TO we'd probably go to Schladming as this seems the biggest connected area. Or probably Flachau/Wagrain as now these are connected it makes a fairly large area and gives the option (if you want it) of a short bus ride up to Flachauwinkl or Kleinarl to another large connected area.

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My group (14 of us) is staying at the Alpenland Sporthotel in St Johann over New Year 2014/15.

Can any of my fellow Snowheads provide a link to a website that has descriptions of the Ski Amade pistes ?

Which parts of Ski Amade are best for an intermediate who's crap on anything narrow or with cliff-edge drop offs near by ?

I'm the worst skier of the group and will probably have to rely on the free-bus system most days to get to a starting point.

Finally for now, can anyone tell me which piste these guys are skiing about 30 secs into the vid ?

It looks ideal for me

http://youtube.com/v/3PbgdYs5gS4

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Zauch just had 20cm of fresh snow right down at the bottom Shocked

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ukredsox, I don't think there were many runs that we skied where there were any drop offs or narrow sections, so you should be fine.

Can't help with the St Johann vid as the day we spent there it was very foggy.

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Can't help you with that specific piste but in my experience there is loads and loads of piste like that in Ski Amade... the runs might be 'red' but they're usually very very very wide. I guess I'm mostly speaking about Flachau and Radstadt/Altenmarkt. Zauchensee is a little bit tighter in places but not especially so.

After all it is free

ukredsox, 33 secs in that is the Flying Mozart lift on the Wagrain/Flachau side, (you will need to get the new G link from St Jo to get across there)land at 38 seconds that is Flachau, the Achter Jet.

If you are in St. Jo ski the Buchaubahn, it´s a really lovely one for inexperienced people to get some confidence. There is honestly nothing scary in that whole area,(unless you go off-piste with some of the regulars here, who shall remain nameless!) you will be fine!

Thanks for the prompt responses. I'm sure to be back for more advice nearer the time.

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ukredsox, when I'm home (currently in my office for 3 days staying in a hotel at night), I'll identify all the pistes by their numbers so you can look for them on a piste map. The initial watch I had showed a lot of Wagrain and the Wagrain side of the Flachau (Piste 31 is what most of us called the Red 8 red run), as well as a run under the Achter as kooky says but which one remains to be seen. It also showed bits of the so-called Autobahn on the Graffenberg side of Wagrain. I can't watch the video on the office PCs but have had a quick peek on my Tablet in my hotel last night. There was no order to the bits and pieces so it is not really divided into segments showing the different areas. I've been skiing in this area for well over 20 years, mainly from the St Johann side to begin with but now I base myself more centrally.

The Alpenland provides a free minibus shuttle by the way, to and from the Alpendorf Gondola, you do not have to rely on the ski buses unless you want to. The run kooky mentions is Red 60, which has a steepish and narrow entry point just below the Buchau Hütte but an easier and more pleasant wide entry off the Talabfahrt (Piste 56 if I remember correctly), just below the top of the Alpendorf gondola top station.

I'll be skiing in St Johann that week as well, but just for the skiing as my hotel is in Altenmarkt, but what exactly I'll be doing I will not know until the week before.

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Back to the OP - I have been to Schladming several times and whilst you do need the bus to get around they are regular; free with the lift pass and have ski carriers on the back too so not a real headache.

Also Schladming is linked to 4 other mountains so lots to ski anyhow without getting a bus necessarily unless you are a big miles type.

Food and drink very reasonable - miles cheaper than France - not much different up the mountain to in the town too and the locals actually seem pleased to have you there unlike France IMHO

Give it a try!

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geoffo, You mean €3.90 a large beer compared to €7.50 Toofy Grin

Remember though, smaller French towns and villages have the same atmosphere, it seems to just be the massive big business resorts that have the attitude and prices.

You know it makes sense.

ukredsox, OK I can now give you the piste numbers:
first shots - top of the Graffenberg Express chairlift, heading down the Graffenberg Abfahrt Piste 38, followed immediately by a ride up the chairlift. This is the piste we all refer to as "The Autobahn" - top bit is hero blue and super wide, steepens and divides just above the bottom station of the chairlift, but nothing hairy.
Then switches at 30 seconds to the the Rote 8er (on the Griesskareck side of Wagrain) and the skiing is on Red 33 - again fabulous long red (not intimidating at all).
At 36 secs they are on the Flachau slopes either on Blue 2 or Red 4, difficult to say which to be honest as they criss-cross each other.

From around 45 secs it could be just about anywhere in the system to be honest, I think they show some of Red 31, some of Blue 41 and maybe some of Red 40a but it is difficult to say as the scenes keep switching.
At about 1 minute they are riding either Space Jet 3 or maybe Star Jet 3 and I think skiing down Red 31, as they certainly pass the mid-station buildings. They then use the blue track to cut around the very short but steepish finish to the run coming out by the bottom of the Rote 8er gondola.
At 1min 32 they are getting into the Achter Jet at the bottom of Flachau, but where they are skiing at 1.39 - no idea could be any one of a number of different pistes.
At 1min 46 I think they are coming down Red 60 (the Buchau Abfahrt that kooky mentioned).
2 min. 30 and they are back on the Achter Jet, the skiing shots afterwards could again be a number of different places, but most likely is Red 31.
At 2min 47 they are on the Alpendorf side again, below the Buchau Hütte, the lift is the Obergassalm chair (new last season), the piste is Red 56. The jump they are using is a natural terrain change and quite popular. The last bit of skiing could be under a part of the Strassalmbahn where they have those avalanche inhibitors, but I'm not sure as they are scattered around all over the place.

You can find all these places on this map ( http://www.skiamade.com/en/winter/skiresorts/slopespanorama?zoom=2437).

You'll love the resort and there is so much skiing just between the 3 centres of Alpendorf, Wagrain and Flachau. Add Flachauwinkel and Kleinarl to the equation as well as Zauchensee and you will be on your knees by the end of the week, but very very happy!

I was there as well in December 2013 and can (along with all the other snowHeads based there) say in all honesty that we had fabulous snow.

Hope that helps wet the appetite a wee bit! Toofy Grin

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

Samerberg Sue,
The snow was still fabulous at Easter.

NE1, ukredsox,
Anyone intending to go to Ski Amade should allow at least 2 weeks as there is so much great skiing to be enjoyed snowHead

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musher, Yep I know I was there then too! wink

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Thanks Samerberg Sue, geoffo et al

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Well folks, you convinced us. We are booked for January. Now just doing the snow dance.

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@NE1, where have you booked and what dates?

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@NE1,
If you want to know about snow dances you'd better ask Kooky

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Schaldming jan 17th for one week

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@NE1, lovely, we'll miss you as we leave Flachau on 17th. Have a great week Very Happy

After all it is free

@NE1, I'll tell you when I get back. We're going for the first time at Christmas. My experiences in Austrian resorts has been all good so far and a whole lot cheaper than the one time we tried Morzine (still had a good time though)

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Thanks HL, leave us some snow 😉

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I just noticed this ran to 5 pages so my post is largely irrelevant, nothing new there then Very Happy

Help!!

Ski amade

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