 Poster: A snowHead
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It snowed overnight here in Fieberbrunn, about 6 cm, and the lifts opened for the season, so I went to check it out with John Barr. And I had only skied about 50 metres down by the Maiskopf T-bar when I did exactly that, with a head over heels face plant...
I can confirm that the snow is in good condition! More exactly, there isn't any great depth of snow in many places, with the pistes becoming scraped here and there, but what there is, is good. The skiing wasn't very easy, for mist made the visibility poor at times. And, surprisingly I thought, there didn't seem to have been any effort to piste bash the runs. That made life interesting and we skied the Lärchfilzen area for a while. Then we went up the Reckmoos Nord gondola and had a couple of runs on the Hochhörndl. Here's a view from the top of the Reckmoos Nord lift, with the clouds down below...
Really only the Reckmoos Nord, Hochhörndl and Lärchfilzen runs were open. Though plenty people were skiing it, the piste on the Doischberg was officially closed but, as it was the only way back down to base (apart from the lift), we skied down too. It was soon evident why the piste was closed, for we found that large piles of artificial snow were blocking bits. However, it was still easy enough to get down...
In the afternoon my skiing was improving, I thought. Probably that was just because the weather improved, with even the sun putting in an appearance...
A strenuous day but interesting skiing.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Thanks for that. Im coming out on Thursday for a couple of days and Im up for a day somewhere on Friday. Im over in Kirchberg but ill have a car so can be flexible
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Hello, moonshine. You'll find plenty great skiing in Kirchberg and Kitzbühel, e.g. the Maierl piste in Kirchberg (piste 26) or the Asten run down to Kitzbühel (piste 20, for the Einsiedelei restaurant), amongst many others. For a comprehensive overview have a look at John Barr's Kitzbühel Alps Ski Guide, which you can either download from here or you can buy the printed version from Amazon. This contains loads of information about the area, both on and off the slopes.
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Thank you for the update. Will be spending christmas in Lofer and skiing in Lofer and Waidring.
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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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Nice one Eric keep them coming - see you in Jan.
Ross
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looking lovely eric!! stay safe and have a great season.....
sean
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Skied today with friends on the home pastures in Fieberbrunn. The weather remains as stable as ever, blue skies and virtually no wind (until late afternoon). The pistes were very hard, especially early on, but good to ski on. Humidity is very low and that's what I attributed the dry mouth and throat I had in the afternoons to, both yesterday and today. And maybe it's why the colours are so bright in this early morning shot looking up to the Hochhörndl from beside the top stations of the two Reckmoos gondolas (it's not Photoshopped - the "pin" is actually there)...
Looking the other way from the top of the Hochhörndl you can see the Saalbach-Hinterglemm area (about the middle of this photo)...
And here's a closer view, taken from the Reckmoos Süd piste, showing the ridge where it is planned to build the connecting lift to Hinterglemm in a few year's time. The roof of the bottom station of the Reckmoos Süd gondola just shows on the left and you might be able to make out the top station of the Reiterkogel Ost lift on the ridge to the right and in the middle is the Bernkogel with the top of the Wetterkreuz chairlift (and the Bernkogel T-bars)...
There is still very little depth to the snow - here the proof with the measuring station on the Reckmood Nord showing only 30 cm...
Nothing very attractive off-piste, hard and rutted, but the runs are in good shape (virtually everything was open) and still quiet, although busier than recent weekdays. Here's a final view from the Doischberg piste, looking over Fieberbrunn and with the Wilder Kaiser mountains in the background...
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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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reminds me of very fond memories of my first ever ski trip. I liked fieberbrun and st johan very much will be sure to go back one day!! 
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Today I skied on the Loferer Alm and as I started out (downwards) from car park P3 above the village (with the church bells ringing, very alpine), there seemed to be about as many people skinning up as skiing down to the gondola...
The Loferer Alm isn't actually one of the Schneewinkel group of ski areas but it isn't far from the Steinplatte (Waidring). There has been occasional talk of linking the two areas but I think environmental concerns will stop any such development. The panorama below, taken from the top of the Schwarzeck chairlift, looks over the Loferer Alm to the Loferer Steinberge on the left and shows the Steinplatte ski area to the right...
The morning started out sunny but with a good deal more wind than on previous days. About midday it clouded over but the sun returned for a while in the afternoon. The photo below was taken early on from the Schwarzeck chairlift and shows the beginners' area with part of piste 4 behind that...
The Grubhörndl T-bar wasn't running (the area only opens full-time next Thursday), so the upper area of the slopes wasn't accessible (except for the tourers). However, the pistes on the Alm were good to ski. As elsewhere, snow is still quite scarce but all the main pistes were well prepared (there was a notice on piste 9, the one that goes "round the back", saying that there might be stones and the piste wasn't completely prepared but I found it fine). A new snowfall before the Christmas crowds arrive would be good, though. The photo below, taken from the Family Express chairlift, shows that away from the pistes quite a bit of grass is showing through, wind-blown, but on the pistes there were were only very occasional tufts or barer bits...
But, even as it is, the wild and adventurous could find more testing routes, here just under the Family Express, beside piste 4a (just below where the previous photo was taken)...
The valley run was skiable and, indeed, with the slopes still being relatively quiet wasn't the race track it sometimes feels like. I did see on the way down that the beginners' tow at Faistau has been removed. Here is a final photo taken near Loderbichl, the middle station of the gondola, looking towards the Saalach valley and Lofer...
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Poster: A snowHead
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Wonderful report on lofer thank you. Looking forward to our arrival in Lofer on Friday.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Enjoy your holiday
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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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espri, looks great! Lofer's a really nice little town. I've only skied there for one day (about 10 years ago now!), but I had a great weekend kayaking there this summer - the Toeffelsschlucht on the Saalach was even more spicy than usual as the gorge was littered with bits of bridge and footpath after the floods!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| clarky999 wrote: |
| ... as the gorge was littered with bits of bridge and footpath after the floods! |
Sounds interesting 
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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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2waterford, told you not to worry! 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Can I just engage smug mode towards all those naysayers on 2waterford's thread who flamed me when I said 'there will be snow'... 
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Lofer is a "schneeloch" literal translation = "Snow hole". Meaning = a magnet for snow, a place that often gets snow when other resorts (including higher resorts) don't or typically receives much more snow than other surrounding resorts. Probably down to their geographical location in relation to local weather patterns. Tauplitz is another example of a Schneeloch. If Manchester experienced colder temps in winter it would most likely be a Schneeloch.
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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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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I skied on the Buchensteinwand today, a small area also known as the Pillersee Lifts. The photo above shows the view looking north from the top of the Buchensteinwand, with -right to left- in the background the Leoganger Steinberge, in the foreground the site of the new St. James' Cross (Jakobskreuz - a cross with viewing platforms and rooms, being built mainly as an additional summer attraction - see below for an artist's impression of how it will look), then the Loferer Steinberge in the middle with on their left the coral reef cliffs of the Steinplatte ski area (at Waidring).
As elsewhere the snow was mostly hard-packed. The only exception was the south-facing section of the run down to Hochfilzen, piste nine (shown in the photo below), which was soft and spring-like...
With the weather still warm, not everybody was skiing. The Easter Bunny was there but I'm not sure whether that was because of the sunny weather or whether she spends her winter there, enjoying the sledge run down from the Hoametzl hut to Hochfilzen, as others were doing (the slope behind the hut is not part of the ski area, though it is usually covered with snow)...
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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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Christmas Greetings from the Steinplatte at Waidring, where John Barr and I skied today. And it started out as a stormy Christmas Day, with the temperature +12°C in the valley and strong winds higher up, so strong that not only the upper lifts on the Steinplatte but also the Kapellenbahn chairlift on the central piste were closed to start with. However, this did provide dramatic skies as the Föhn brought contrasting dark clouds and blue skies...
To start with, when we could only ski lower down, the snow was soft and quite sticky. The storm had added the odd Christmas tree to the runs. That didn't improve the look of the pistes (here at the top of the Scheiblberg chairlift over in Germany at the Winklmoos side of the ski area) but hardly affected the skiing...
And here is a photo taken on our way back from the Winklmoos, looking over the Steinplatte to the Plattenkogel...
By midday, however, the winds had dropped and all the lifts opened up. There was a bit of a rush to reach the upper slopes to start with -the first queue of the season- but the snow was much firmer and more pleasant to ski up top (and the queues disappeared again in the afternoon)...
Although the pistes were quite skiable and, indeed, maybe better than we might have expected, the occasional bare patch was showing and the area does need more snow. Let's see what the next days bring.
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Skied in Lofer today and there has been a handy dollop of snow over night on the higher slopes and everything was in good condition.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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How's it looking at the moment espri?
I'm coming over in mid Feb to St Johann.
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Poster: A snowHead
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There is still a lack of snow, generally, but the pistes are in remarkably good condition, especially early on in the day. I haven't skied in St. Johann since before Christmas, so I can't say much about conditions there. I believe that the Eichenhof area was closed for a few days in the last week or so but, when I drove past the bottom T-bar yesterday it was running again, so it seems the little snow we have had this week has helped out. Here's a photo from 23rd December, taken near the top of the Penzing chairlift with the Wilder Kaiser mountains at the back...
In the Schneewinkel I have skied Fieberbrunn twice and the Steinplatte/Waidring in the past week. The skiing on virtually empty pistes was mostly excellent. Only the lower part of the (south facing) Reckmoos Süd run in Fieberbrunn was soft and chopped up on Thursday and didn't appeal to my friends. Here's a view looking up the Hochhörndl piste from beside the top stations of the two Reckmoos gondolas in Fieberbrunn, taken on Saturday, 11th January...
On Tuesday, 14th January, we skied on the Steinplatte, where conditions were made more difficult by a band of cloud which hung around the middle of the mountain at first, rising to the top of the Plattenkogel in the afternoon. Above or below the cloud visibility wasn't a problem and the snow was pretty good in general, even over on the Winklmoosalm in Germany. Here's a view taken as we went up through the cloud on the Bäreck lift...
Maybe I can also mention, for any bridge playing skiers, that we visited the Kitzbühel Bridge Club in the evening. It meets at the Kitzbühel Country Club in Reith (between Kitzbühel and Kirchberg) on Tuesdays at 18:45 (tournament bridge) and Sundays at 15:45 (rubber, I think).
We made an excursion to Leogang-Saalbach-Hinterglemm on Wednesday, where we did find some icy sections lower down on north facing slopes, e.g. the long Jausern run, piste 2b, and below the middle station at Leogang, piste 90. Otherwise the skiing was fine and, as everywhere else except at the weekend, very quiet.
We returned to Fieberbrunn on Thursday for the last day of my friends' visit. For a little variety we tried piste 6 from the Lärchfilzkogel over to Zillstatt. Although technically a piste, it isn't being prepared presently though a good many people had skied it before us. It is mostly rather a track - here is the starting point ...
And coming down that run, the closest we got to off piste, we were able to confirm that Rudolph and friends were enjoying a well-earned rest after Christmas exertions at the enclosure beside the Gasthof Wildalpgatterl...
So, to sum up, we had a good week's skiing (we had also had days in Kirchberg/Kitzbühel and the Hochkönig area). The pistes were mostly in good condition, though hard-packed, but only occasionally soft or hard and icy.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Update on the bridge club. The Tuesday and Sunday sessions are both pairs. There is often (low stakes) rubber bridge in the afternoon - if you are interested please PM me.
Update on the snow. It is true to say that the snow is limited, but the skiing is great. The lift companies are doing a fantastic job at preparing the pistes, and while they are relatively empty the conditions do not deteriorate during the day. If we had these conditions over the Christmas period it would be another story.
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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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We are back in 6 weeks for a few days, start of March, may not be much left after the February mid term crowds. Really hope they will have a serious dump by then.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Thank you both.
Fingers crossed, the forecast for next weekend is colder with some light snow. Hopefully they can get a bit more artificial snow down as well.
I'll be there half term week (4 weeks away), so I expect daily wear will be more of a problem.
It will be the kids first ski holiday. It would be nice if there was a bit of white stuff at village height.
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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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I am really looking forward to visiting Fieberbrunn for a week, starting on 16th Feb. I will be there with my 4 yr old and wife. I will (hopefully) be doing mornings off-piste stuff with guides, and then be with the family. If anybody has any tips or suggestions that would be good. I am praying for some storms! Strange weather this year.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Download the Kitzbuhel Alps Ski Guide (free from www.austriaskiguide.com) and check out the description of pistes and skiing in Fieberbrunn. You can pick up a free copy of the book from tourist information in Fieberbrunn.
Any more questions - just ask!
We have lots of cloud today, and it is cold, but no snow yet 
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Looking like winter has arrived in your neck of the woods.
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While a 10cm snowfall is not yet the big dump we've been hoping for, it's a good start. More snow is forecast, and temperatures will drop below freezing at valley level for the first time in a while.
I skied for a couple of hours at St Johann this morning. The top slopes were lovely, firm pistes under a cover of fresh powder - perfect for carving lazy Ss. Lower down the snow was wet, but wet snow is better than grass.
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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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