Ski Amadé 2020-21

A snowHead

We skiied Zauchensee today and were quite surprised how pleasant it was despite the crowds. Longest we queued was 15 mins everything was very orderly and people incredibly polite and sensible. Had a beer and a sarnie sitting by the car for lunch although I did see the Felserhutte is offering takeaways.
The one thing I am noticing is as its almost only Austrians there are some incredibly fast people tearing about, you really do need to keep focused a lot more than usually.

A snowHead

Seconded, and the off piste is surprisingly good up high.

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

Our local hill (Radstadt/Altenmarkt) opened today. Great conditions and a good way to say goodbye to 2020.

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@queenie pretty please, Cool

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Not really Ski Amade, but not sure where else to put this, other than starting a new thread all on my lonesome (which I already did for Carinithia 2020/21). Anyway, I went to Präbichl today. This is a smallish resort near the Styrian city of Leoben. It's about 1/3 of the way between Graz and Schladming (Close to Ski Amade!).

We arrived, as usual, late-ish around 10:30. Parking in the main carpark was challenging, but we managed to slip into a spot of someone leaving (at 10:30!!). Compared to my recent visits to Weinebene and Klipittztoerl in Carinthia, Präbichl actually seemed to have employed some security to insure masks were worn and social distancing adhered to. I counted three such staff. Once again FFP2 masks were not required, and a neck buff over the nose was more than sufficient. The policing of social distancing only seemed to really happen in the ticket queue and not the lift queues.

Crowds were about on a par with what I've experienced in the past here. There were fences in place to funnel people into the lifts single file, rather than like the great big funnel scrum it usually is.

Präbichl is a resort (high and mighty term for what this place is) situated in the valley between two mountains. A 4-seat chair lift runs up both sides. The "left" side (as you look at the piste map) is easier. We started here and spent most of the day here too. The snow was generally reasonable, a bit grainy, but nice patches of powder around the piste sides and under the trees. As the day progressed the usual things surfaced. Parts of the piste were down to ice by 15:00 or so. This place could do with some more natural snowfall. The Arena piste (a few lumps, bumps and jumps for the kids) had the snow cannons pumping from around 14:00.

On the "right" side, there is just one long challenging red slope down, with a fork partway down along a forest fire road if one was interested. This piste was hammered by 14:30 when we tried it. Loads of powder moguls and dirt showing through in places.

Unfortunately, most of the pistes are in the shade from late morning on, so it does start to get pretty chilly from mid-afternoon.

Still, a decent day out and no complaints. Lunch was once again sandwiches on camping chairs in the carpark. One toilet was open in the main resort building.

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Skied Flachau today, not going to go into it apart from to say I saw a group of little uns, about 8 all under 10s probably breaking some kind of covid rule, but the shrieks of pure joy and laughter made me want to cry with happiness. Sod this bloody virus.

One of the really weird things I'm noticing here is although the slopes are quiet, they are literally quiet. No one whoops, no one is calling out to their mates, even rode the gondola/ chair all morning with random strangers and no one spoke apart from one family. Its really quite strangely silent.

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@Kooky, I noticed that too. There are people about, it's not like the slopes are totally empty, but the people are just quietly enjoying skiing and not making a big deal of it. Maybe this is the difference with locals and day trippers versus tourists?

After all it is free

@phillc,
Thanks for the update on Präbichl I've skied / ski toured it a few times. Surprised you went in that direction rather than further south where more snow is esp. as Präbichl is within reach of the Vienna crowds.

@DB, We've been to Weinebene and Klippitz earlier, and wrote some notes in a new Carinthia thread. However, somewhere like Klippitz has been really fogged in the last week or so. Hence we tried somewhere different for a bit of blue sky. Also, Koralp seems to be operating limited lifts, and some people aren't all that happy. Tomorrow the plan is to head to Turracher Höhe, where the weather will hopefully be as good as the snow!

On a related note, just about worth posting on this thread, yesterday we went to Riesneralm. Again, almost Ski Amade! The weather was fantastic and the pistes not too bad either. We arrived around 11:00, as I still can't raus people from the house fast enough in the morning. However, there was plenty of parking in the main carpark.

There was a filtering system for the lifts and in general the 4-seater chair lift was being limited to three maximum - either a family group of three, or two people, with a vacant seat and a third single. In practice, I only saw the single person join the other two once. The six-seater was similarly being limited to four people. There were Riesneralm branded staff policing wearing of masks. Again a neck buff was fine in the lifts and ticket office, without the need to go FFP2.

The skies were blue, the weather maybe one or two degrees above zero, as I was quite warm after a couple of runs. This changed by later afternoon. Our last run at 15:30 was pretty cold in the chairlift going up.

The snow felt quick sticky initially, probably due to the positive temperature (or my poor ski waxing). There was in general a decent amount of powder on the slopes. By late afternoon a few bumpy areas and some more icy patches, but nowhere near as bad as Präbichl. The areas of really deep powder on the piste edges were even sign posted for those who wanted to avoid them.

We really love this place. It's so laid back, the pistes are long and enjoyable and everyone so friendly. We had three nights in the local Jufa hotel booked between Jan 22nd and 25th, which we've now had to push back until the 28th, with the new lockdown restrictions.

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The weekend has been sunny and cold. Pistes are hard-packed with patches of zero-grip. Luckily it looks like Frau Hölle is giving us a nice refresh midweek.

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Great news for Flachau picking up the Men's Slalom next weekend. Would love to have been there to see Dave Ryding in action. Downhill possibly as well but not confirmed on FIS Site yet. You lucky locals enjoy!

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You know it makes sense.

@RedandWhiteFlachau, I also think no viewers are allowed, it will be a closed event like the ladies on Tuesday.

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

Unless you have a balcony overlooking the piste, it's TV time only. Also it looks like the downhill in Kitzbühel next week will go ahead. The mass testing in the valley has shown only two further positive cases of the virus, in addition to the group of mainly British ski instructor trainees.

Flachau doesn't have a World Cup downhill piste. Zauchensee does but I don't know if the men have ever used it.

A snowHead

There's lots of new snow for the course setters to deal with. The conditions look like they will be very different for the men compared with the women on Tuesday night.

A snowHead

Will Brits ever be welcome again? Crying or Very sad

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

Nah, too smelly

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An update list of fis races https://m.snow-online.com/skimag/alpine-skiing-world-cup-dates-calendar-schedule-venues.htm

I see schladming night race still on

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I vaguely recall that place too.

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Looks like a cracking morning, -10 and windy, fresh snow, def a day to head for the trees
https://www.bergfex.at/schladming-planai/webcams/c378/

After all it is free

@waynos, it's so windy that a lot of the higher lifts are closed. The wind should die down this afternoon though.

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The tree skiing was indeed good today.

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Hijacking this thread again, but I didn't find anywhere else relevant to post this report.

We went to Brunnalm yesterday. Another small resort in the eastern part of Styria. Accessible easily from both Graz and Vienna. So while not part of Ski Amade as such, this report could be interesting for the likes of @DB perhaps.

We arrived late, as usual, but there was still plenty of parking. I saw a few Vienna registered cars in the carpark. The slopes weren't particularly crowded, but there were roaming packs of grommets to avoid.

On the COVID-19 side of things, nose/mouth coverings were generally to be worn in the lift queues, but this wasn't particularly policed and FFP2 masks weren't required. A neck buff temporarily pulled over the nose was good enough. To be fair, there weren't really any lift queues. Brunnalm only has one chair lift and a couple of t-bars. There was never really a time where we waited in a queue for more than five minutes, and mostly we just skied straight up and on to the lift.

Weather wise the day wasn't great, but not terrible either (compared to last weekend at Klippitz). Snow gently fell throughout the day and the mountain peak was always fog shrouded. At Brunnalm the chairlift terminates well before the summit though, so the pistes were pretty much always fog/cloud free. Temperatures were chilly. The bottom lift station displayed mostly -6, so I presume colder at the top. Until about 14:30 there was hardly any wind. Around 15:00 the wind really picked up and the last couple of runs were blustery. At one point on the last run a strong gust dumped all the snow from slope-side pines on top of us.

The slopes themselves were excellent. Really well prepared and plenty of powder on top. By the end of the day powder "moguls" had formed on the more popular slopes - the main blue run was more difficult than some of the less trafficked reds. However, the resort had also been pretty considerate and some of the wider slopes were only half groomed, so it was possible to ski through un-groomed and quite deep powder on the other side. Also plenty of opportunity for running powder through the trees if that's your thing.

Overall a nice challenging day out at a fun little resort with lots of great snow. The young fella skied his first black run and was totally chuffed with that (to be fair, Brunnalm's black runs are short and very much on the easier end of the scale).

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@phillc,

Thanks, was thinking of doing a ski tour at Brunnalm this week.
Did you happen to see many ski-tourers about on their way up to Hohe Veitsch?

https://www.brunnalm-hoheveitsch.at/winter/

It's also good to know there's somewhere you can still ski at the weekends within 2 hrs from Vienna without having to book online (although they do request that at Brunnalm too). Most ski resorts near here won't even let you on the car-park if you haven't already pre-booked.

@phillc, it's nice to hear about these little ski areas that many of us don't know at all. Hidden gems!

Worth pointing out that FFP2 masks are well policed in Ski Amadé, as well as queue discipline.

You know it makes sense.

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

@DB, Looks like Brunnalm are operating some lifts today, but less than yesterday. I did see maybe four or five people ski touring at Brunnalm yesterday. I hadn't even thought about booking lift passes online! Didn't seem to be frowned at when purchasing from the ticket window yesterday. Paid in filthy cash too.

@queenie pretty please, Maybe this season is different with less people (tourists) around, but I actually feel like I have a better time at some of the smaller resorts. More low key and relaxed. Could just be that I'm getting old!

A snowHead

I'm not sure if anyone wants to hear this, but we have had some truly epic snow here. We skiied Zauchensee, probably saw 100 people the whole day, its very eerie without any people, quite extraordinary.
The off piste now has a great base, we had untracked all day, obviously as there is no bug 9ger here, but it feels weird.

A snowHead

Well it's a bit painful to read but glad you guys can still get to enjoy the powder. Keep it coming.

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

@waynos, oh man did we miss you and your whoops Crying or Very sad

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Kreischberg yesterday in glorious conditions (probably as close to Ski Amade as I've been this season!). First time there and quite enjoyed it. Unfortunately, only about half the lifts were open, so some pistes were inaccessible. Still, the place is big enough to not be bored for a day. And the reason half the lifts were closed? Almost no one there! Well, it felt like that anyway. There were times where we were literally the only ones on the piste.

Weather conditions were ideal. Blue skies, no wind and around -4c to -6c.

The snow was pretty good. The slopes were generally well prepared, although one red (number 7) clearly hadn't been groomed overnight, but still wasn't too bad mainly because it had such little use. OVerall not a lot of powder left on top, but still grainy enough. They're expecting another 25-30 cm in the coming week, according to the Bergfex weather forecast. The black slope from the middle gondola station to the bottom was a little icy in patches, but just icy on top, not down to the ice base.

FFP2 masks were supposed to be worn in the gondolas, even though one could only ride with a family group. I was stopped a couple of times as I'd only pulled up my neck buff, and forgotten the FFP2 mask underneath. However, this policing was haphazard as I saw plenty of others entering gondolas without an FFP2 mask in place. On the T-bars (there were no chair lifts operating) just a neck buff was sufficient. There were basically no queues anyway.

Also worth mentioning is that lift passes can now ONLY be purchased online, since Saturday January 16th. So no more cash payments. Rather, one had to create an account on Starjack, entering all personal details and pay with credit/debit card. I don't really buy their reasoning:

Due to the current official restrictions, only a limited number of ski guests can currently be transported on the Kreischberg and Lachtal. In order to avoid long queues or even a build-up of traffic jams....

Given how few people were there yesterday, there was zero risk of long queues or traffic jams. I'm supposing it's as much about track and trace. Perhaps online only during the weekend or school holidays, but in general mid-week it seemed a pointless restriction.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

^^^Wow, nice indeed!!!

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Back at Kreischberg today and frankly it was still brilliant. All the lifts were open, still not too much of a crowd, very little wind and great snow. A bit foggy in the morning, but by 14:00 it had lifted.

Apparently all lifts will be operating midweek throughout the Styrian school holidays, which start on February 8th.

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Yesterday at Flachau there were a few more people about, only one car park out of 4 (and associated main lift up) was open but again queues were minimal, 2m spacing and FFP2 masks very well adhered to and some extremely empty pistes. Lifts are shutting at 3pm mid week but even by then the run down was still on flat grippy snow. Took the new lift across to Flachauwinkl and explored the new piste layout down to Kleinarl. It is going to be strange getting used to the crowds again once the restrictions are over.

After all it is free

@Scarpa, ooh..new piste layout? whats changed?

@holidayloverxx, It's where the Lumberjack meets up with the Panoramabahn to Flachau. They have created a few new cut throughs and links down to Kleinarl. Plus a massive signed freeride area where we used to catch some deeper snow.

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@Scarpa, nice

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Ski Amadé 2020-21

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