Poster: A snowHead
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Dear all,
Team chemistry and friends are all booked up and heading off to Hinterglemm for Feb 2014 (half term, but hopefully it won't be as busy as France will be). Whoohoo! Our party will be our usual mix of adults and kids (the latter aged 8 to 12), all of whom have 2 or 3 weeks skiing experience, can ski parallel (badly in most cases) and are happy on blues and easy-to-mid reds (although the kids are better than the adults!).
Well be based in Hinterglemm (staying at the Kinder Hotel "Familienresort Ellmauhof-das Feriengut") and, since none of us has been to the area before, I would be grateful for suggestions as to 'circuits' of pistes/lifts we can ski together, ideally:
i) Circuits which originate from a main lift in Hinterglemm and which terminate close to our hotel (which is allegedly ski in/out).
ii) Nothing too long i.e. ideally we'd like circuits that we can all ski comfortably over the course of an hour or two, in case folks get tired. We'd rather do a good circuit twice during a morning/afternoon, than have tired children start flagging halfway round a longer run...
iii) Alternative easy/harder options for sections of each circuit, to help us get tired children home if necessary, or challenge the better skiers in our group (i.e. the occasional hard red or black).
iv) Recommended coffee stops etc. along the way!
Thanks in advance; any and all advice gratefully received!
chemistry
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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?
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The circuits along both sides of the valley can be skied entirely on blues and you can enter from either side of the valley in Hinterglemm. From the Ellmauhof, you'll need to ski down into Hinterglemm to join the Ski Circus by either taking the Zwolfer or Westgipfel lifts up, or crossing the pedestrian street and taking the Reiterkogel gondola. At almost any point you can ski down to the valley and jump on a free bus back to Hinterglemm if people are getting tired. Similarly, you could start by taking the bus, e.g. to Saalbach or the other way to Hochalm, and then ski back. Don't forget there is a trip over to Leogang (from the top of the Schonleiten in Saalbach) and the marvellous run down to Viehofen. If Tatman's Tours doesn't appear on here soon with more options, PM him and ask for his guide to Saalbach-Hinterglemm.
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I'd echo quinton's recommendation. TT is the man. Mind you, he might recommend the lovely little goat hut in Hinterglemm as a great reward for the younger skiers for that end of day tiredness...
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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chemistry, your hotel is on the side of the main nursery slope in Hinterglemm, and alongside the floodlight piste and park, so you can ski down/across to the lifts fairly easily. From that area, you can start on the main circuit of the whole area simply by taking the Unterschwarzach lift to the top and heading east towards Saalbach. If you mean short circuits of 3-4 pistes and lifts, then there's nothing marked as such, but you can come up with any number of combinations over the length of the valley. While the valley is linked, I suspect you'll struggle to find what I think you're looking for, and it may be the case that you are more comfortable on the Reiterkogel side of the valley, where the whole hillside is criss-crossed with runs, rather than on the Schattberg side where they tend to be fairly much straight up and down.
With kids, you really have to do the floodlit toboggan run on the Reiterkogel at least once. It uses the main lift to get you up, and then provides 3Km of downhill which ends in some narrow, twisty but very fun parts. It runs until 1600 (crosses a piste in one part, and the last 100m are down the main piste), then opens again at 1800 when the skiers are long gone.
And the Goasstall really has to be done as well, possibly as a midpoint break in tobogganing, as you can catch the last run before 1600, stop off for a beer or three and maybe some food, then go back up again when it restarts.
And half-term in Hinterglemm is busy, but not uncomfortably so - we've been for the last two years, and are returning this year. Once you are clear of the main lifts, it thins out a lot unless you follow the ski schools.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Thanks all - very interesting stuff so far, and much appreciated! Already pathetically over excited...
chemistry
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i loved the night skiing after the goasstall (beers and jaegermeister!!).......great fun, but don't tell the sandal wearers!
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I've been to Saalbach/Hinterglemm twice in recent years, and I picked it because almost all of the resort is available on blue's and easy reds so you're not stuck on the same runs all week. There's plenty of routes round, but the easier one is anti-clockwise if I recall.
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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.
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Thanks all! Will start checking this all out on the piste map...please keep the suggestions, hints and tips coming!
chemistry
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chemistry, The map on the link 8 posts above is out of date although the general piste layout remains the same.
The lifts on the left side of the valley in Hinterglemm have changed - most notably the Unterschwartzachbahn gondola (usually called the U-Bahn) has replaced the drag lift between lifts 36 and 38A. However, this is still a short lift and does not take you over onto the Saalbach circuit as Ousekjarr suggests - for that you need to take the Westgipfelbahn gondola (50). Your hotel is located between lifts 36 and 37.
In Saalbach, the old 3-man Bernkogel lift (11) is now a 8-pers heated gondola and the old drag lift at the top of Bernkogel (on the link from Hinterglemm) is now a 6-pers chair (16). On the Reiterkogel side of Hinterglemm, there is a new 6-pers chair from just next to the Rosswaldhutte, replacing the old steep drag lift (49).
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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quinton,
Perfect, thanks!
chemistry
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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.
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chemistry,
Quote: |
PM him and ask for his guide to Saalbach-Hinterglemm
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Send me your e-mail address and I'll be happy to oblige. I've also started on a compendium of recommended itineraries, so far only two, but I'm hoping to add more of the kind you have in mind when I next have time to kill (e.g. bad weather days in the coming season). For shorter circuits, I agree with snowball, 's comment above. The piste map can also be downloaded from saalbach.com
See also the 2012/13 Saalbach-Hinterglemm general thread, from which you may pick up some useful information.
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One month to go! Yay!
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