Obertauern - the good, the bad and the ugly . . .

A snowHead

Try Coventry. Great flight times if it is not too far for you to drive to. Small airport. parking right outside the terminal. And you will be on the slopes by 12.30!!!

A snowHead

cathy, yes, they are showing that from just about everywhere, tried all the airlines and pretty much the same. The annoying thing is we normally avoid peak times, but we are going this year with couples who have kids at school, to tied to that date.

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

We went to Obertauern a lot last year as it is only about 20min drive from our house. We always had a great time escept for visibility problems! It does get clouded in up there at times which is a pain. Cos we live in Radstadt (which is the nearest main town down from Obertauern) we get the Salzburger Super ski card rather than just the Obertauern or just the Ski Amade. This is available as both a season card and a weekly card. The bonus with the Salzburger card is you get all of Obertauern and all of Ski Amade and all of Ski Circus (Zell... Saalbach, Hinterglem etc.. etc..) So if you get a bit cloudy you cn zip down to Radstadt/Altenmarkt, Zauchensee or Flachau... The big card is only a little bit more than the Obertauern one - 2 trips and it pays forthe difference! We had loads of Hungarians staying with us last year that managed to fit in a different resort every day!

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flangesax, oh what a lucky person you are! We have had to change our dates due to hyped up airfares for 1/2 term, which means 9 people with kids have had to drop out! Such a shame, but I'm not being forced to pay 3 times as much for flying there because the airlines are greedy!! We are having to fly from an airport 1 1/2 hours drive away at 02:00 instead of zipping down the motorway 20 mins away and flying at 09:15. Upside is we could buy a half day lift pass and ski the day we arrive!!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

sharon1953, I am afraid it is that old demon, Democracy.......market forces dictate the fluctuation in prices as with most things. If they got something lots of us want then that commoditity becomes more valuable and therefore more expensive!

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northantsred, trouble is, it's not that people want it, it's that people are forced by outside influences to purchase at that time, if they want to go at all. So choice is removed. In my day, no one turned a hair at taking kids out of school for annual holidays, so there was never this rush for school breaks, perhaps it's time to return to common sense!

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

After all it is free

Sharon 1953 - Common sense ???

Have you seen this ?

London Times Obituary of the late Mr. Common Sense - Thursday, 15 Feb 2007
_______________________________

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who
has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was,
since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He
will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
Knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the
worm; Life isn't always fair; and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more
than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in
charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but
overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy
charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended
from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for
reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition..

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the
job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly
children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental
consent to administer sun lotion or an Elastoplast to a student; but
could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to
have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became
contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better
treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you
couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar
could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to
realise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in
her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his
wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He
is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now,
Someone Else Is To Blame, and I'm A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realised he was gone. If
you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do
nothing.'

And a little extra........................

Can you imagine working for a company that has a little more than 600
employees and has the following statistics?

29 have been accused of spouse abuse
7 have been arrested for fraud
19 have been accused of writing bad cheques
117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
3 have done time for assault
71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
4 have been arrested on drug-related charges
8 have been arrested for shoplifting
21 are currently defendants in lawsuits
84 have been arrested for drink driving in the last year

Which organisation is this?

It's the 635 members of the House of Commons, the same group that cranks
out hundreds of new laws each year designed to keep the rest of us in
line.

beetle, I know this funny ditty well, it does the rounds in email-land often, but still has an impact when read. Makes me think...help, take me to the nearest snow covered mountain and let me live there in a wooden hut miles away from everyone, except those I choose to be with!

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

On the subject of common sense (sorry - not much to do with Obertauern) - did you see the article in yesterday`s papers stating that the Institute of Sports and Recreation Management had directed that swimming pools should not hand out armbands to kids for fear of swimming pool employees/parents catching infection when inflating the armbands. In fairness (!) to the ISRM I think they recommended that staff undergo training on the safe and hygienic inflation of armbands - a number of local authorities have decided this would not be cost effective and banned the issue of armbands altogether. To think that some pratt was paid vast sums of (public) money to come up a scheme like that.

Anyway, back to Obertauern. We`re heading there in Jan 08. Haven`t been for about 13 years so looking forward to it enormously.

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cathy, SkyEurope have definitely stopped their flights to Salzburg, but it took a few emails and phone calls for them to finally admit this. So spent the next 2 days surfing every booking agent, and used various screen scrapers as recommended by Martin Lewis.
BA’s own website was showing astronomical prices, but the same flights could be bought trough ebookers, lastminute.com and Greenbee at a fraction of the price. But we decided that over £300 for flights was far too expensive, so ditched the ½ term dates and went for same date as last year, 23rd Feb. This has meant that unfortunately, we have lost 9 of our group, who have kids. The hotel have been great, moved all the bookings and offered the deposits back for those cancelling.

We opted for jet2 in the end, and will drive up to Leeds at the ridiculous hour of 1.30 am!!. Yes we could get half a days skiing in when we arrive, but with no hotel room ready in time, and a missed nights sleep, and the price of days lift pass – we won’t. We will just chill and enjoy the scenery. Now we have the flights booked, it all seems that much nearer, and we are counting the days (well I was as soon as we got back – sad or what?)

snow reports

sharon1953, That's good you were able to get your hotel booking changed - shame some of your party has had to drop out though Sad

. And a 1.30 start! Skullie

That fresh mountain air will soon waken you up Very Happy

You know it makes sense.

Well, it has not been officially announced yet, but they started to build the new lift in Obertauern. Hundskogelbahn, the new six seater with bubble, is built in a protected area for birds. No helicopters can be used here until August 15, that is the deadline for the no fly rule over the birds' nests. They needed to built a temporary road for the trucks from the valley to the top of Hundskogel.

flangesax, a PM has been sent.

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

kerekip, is this actually in the resort? Ive heard there are proposals for one on the edge before the resort itself. If you know the main road in - its just past Untertauern before the tunnel. Do you know anything about this? Im not sure if its certain or proposals. Smile

A snowHead

flangesax, here is a map with the new lift.
This is a replacement for the old two seater.

Technical data in German is here:
http://www.ski-obertauern.at/new2007.htm

A snowHead

kerekip, not been up that one yet, so looking forward to it!

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

kerekip, The old lift is one you would only use on a nice day it was slow and catches a lot of wind
Great vew from the top though

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Garfield, yes, many people suggested that the new lift should be built on a different route, closer to the hills, to be more protected from wind.
But it seems to follow the route of the old one.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

It's snowing in our resort folks, 20 cms deep, and -7 min temp. I know it will probably all melt, but it sure looks good.

http://www.obertauern.com/user/PanoramaKameraLgoFrameSet.php?popup=1 (it's a pop up)

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i liked th eold coat hanger lift not too many people went up there good tent bar at the top on a sunny day. the main runs back down all encourage max speed.. but i like taking a right turn and doing the black run.. the bit up to it is good fun and on a powder day the black bit its superb.. on a mogul day its somewhat tiring!!!

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CANV CANVINGTON, Are any of the runs down from that lift any good for a nervous skier, who usually does blues? We never got there on our last visit, but if there is an easy run down, I'd like to try it, the views must be fantastic.

After all it is free

sharon1953, not really there are three runs from the top all a bit steep if your a bit wary .. then they meet up for another steep bit that gets very mogully before the long drag back to the bottom of said chair.. you could make it slowly but also bear in the mind the chair back to the eidleweiss run has a tricky bit for beginners to negotiate once you get off.. if your going to do it then do it first thing if its not icy .. the views up there are on a par with the ones from the top of gamesleiten 2 but with the added benefit of a bar!!

CANV CANVINGTON, thanks, just confirms my thoughts that the "green" circuit has nothing to do with the ease of the runs, but rather more just a way of joining up various lifts, which meant the pink/red routes often had easier runs than the green. Would be so much simpler if they just numbered the runs and gave them coloured posts like everywhere else in Europe. I can't tell you how many people we met all struggling to understand the piste maps, and then find the run they wanted once they got off the lift. I even emailed the tourist office to urge them to think about adding more information and markers, so you know where you are at any given time, but got no reply. I met an instructor that said he was aware of the problem for beginners getting stuck on the wrong lift or run, so you'd think they would listen to the feedback from instructors at the very least! Wont stop me going there though, would just be nice to be more informed!

Help!!

Obertauern - the good, the bad and the ugly . . .

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