Kitzbuhel Jan 2015

A snowHead

HI,

Trying to get ahead of the game and book our ski trip to Kitzbuhel for Jan 2015 early. I was hoping we may get a good deal by booking early but can only really find deals through Crystal at the moment. Is there anyone regular visitors to Kitzbuhel that could guide me in the right direction? There will be 6-8 of us travelling from Manchester/Liverpool on the 24th Jan. Looking for a reasonably central location although not worried if it's not ski in/out. A pool would be a bonus if we opt for half board basis on a hotel but was also wondering if there are any chalets in the resort or private apartments that people let for a week? may consider doing it all myself although using a TO in the past we always seem to get a decent deal without the hassle of having to do it all ourselves. Could be persuaded otherwise though. Budget will be around £700.00pp for the accommodation and travel.

Thanks Puzzled

A snowHead

That is smack bang in the middle of the World Cup week in Kitzbühel. You will be lucky to get anything remotely like a good deal. If you can book through Crystal and it is a good package snap it up while you can. Otherwise I'd look elsewhere to be honest.

St Johann in Tirol is just along the road as is Fieberbrunn, both of which give you the option to ski in Kitz. Alternatively enjoy Saalbach-Hinterglemm which should be relatively quiet that particular week.

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

Really, didn't realise, may just take the deal with Crystal then. Either that or change the date by a week or two. Thanks for the info.

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I tried to send you a pm but it got rejected

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[
St Johann in Tirol is just along the road as is Fieberbrunn, both of which give you the option to ski in Kitz.

Not actually true. Those areas are NOT covered on the Kitzbuhel ski pass.

You'll need to Register first of course.

jafa, because the OP is down a crevasse - he doesn't have a valid email address on the forum

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

so he doesn't exist? Its a spam?

After all it is free

jafa, close enough and in the race week there are shuttle buses from St Johann. Fieberbrunn is further out and offers good skiing with few crowds! I did not read anything about the OP having a Kitz lift pass already, so the options are open for them to choose which pass they want to use.

jafa, no it jut means he needs to have his email address validated - it happens

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mushywill, I would go that week for the world cup. It's amazing. Went this year and the partying was non stop. Saw all the Alpine downhill skiers past and present. Not to be missed

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We are a group of 12 that have booked to go to Kitzbuhel January 17th 2015. A few of us had concerns on 2 fronts.
1) We are aware that the World Cup ski races start on the 21st with the big ones happening the weekend we leave. We would expect their support teams and circus to arrive before the 21st, so will alot of the ski areas be restricted causing queuing on the mountain.
2) We are staying in town and by all accounts have got a decent price, some of us skiied there many years ago and it was a pain getting up the mountain from Town due to bottle neck. Has this been remedied and will it be made even worse because of the WC races starting.
Once up the mountain I know its a great ski area.

snow reports

If Kitz town is too busy try Kirchberg, you get in to the other side of the Kitz area without having to use the main town access. I don't know if the Gaisberg is used that week, but it does not use the same lifts as the main access so shouldn't be a problem

Get an Allstar pass (about €20 more than a kitz pass for 6 days I think) and you can also ski Skiwelt via Brixen or Westendorf, St Johann iT and several others (free trains anywhere between St Johann and Westendorf) might give some more options if Kitz is madly crowded.

Scarlet Fez, You're right, the teams will start arriving on Monday 19th, presuming the Wengen races the weekend before all go to schedule. The downhillers on the Tuesday in advance of the first training on the Wednesday. The actual racing doesn't start until Friday 23rd with the Super G. Up until then the town and the area around the Hahnenkamm base and the Streif course will be busier but that is the focus of it. AFAIK this is all the restriction there is on the mountain and the main Streif itself is closed several weeks before anyway, primarily for preparation but also as us mere mortals would kill ourselves if we went on it. I believe you can ski down the sides and cut arounds of the courses all week, even on the race days.

Although neither I nor anyone I know has actually stayed in Kitz itself in race week what I've been told by people who have skied there that week is that because a huge proportion of the beds in town are occupied by the WC circus the rest of the ski area is actually relatively quiet. Ive been to the races a few times now and the Friday will be mobbed and the Saturday simply packed solid with people. I would presume that the tour ops must have some special procedure for the Saturday in terms of getting the holiday makers in and out because you simply cannot move. I would reckon there will be a fair risk of you having a very early start on the Saturday morning?

As for access Ive never heard of any problem any more than any other resort, lots of other access points to the ski area on the bus as well.

If you want more specific advice maybe PM the snowHead

Espri or Samerberg Sue they are a good source of knowledge on the area.

You know it makes sense.

Scarlet Fez, we've been that week previously. It was only really the Streif and the slalom course that was closed for racing. The Hahnenkamm gondola does a decent enough job moving the crowds now and if not, it's easy enough to jump on the bus and access the skiing from elsewhere. Although some of the bus stops are moved to accommodate the races. Numbers on the mountain skiing we've found normai, even a bit less due to people avoiding the perceived crowds. There is a great atmosphere in town and a party friday night in the pedestrian area with open air bars with patio heaters!

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

HutToHut, Interesting, I have often been tempted to go that week myself. Was there any downside in your experience? What about getting out of town on the Saturday, presuming you were in a hotel in the central area that is, were you up in the middle of the night to avoid the crowds?

A snowHead

robboj, IIRC (been a few years since stayed in Kitz) no real problems leaving on the saturday. I think most of the crowds come by train so that helps. Perhaps an hour earlier than normal and once we had an afternoon flight so didn't leave town till 1pm, which meant we caught the start of the downhill. We stayed right in the middle of the pedestrian area, Vorderstadt. Only downside was that some our group had their ski boots stolen from the hotel, replaced by the hotel's insurance the same day after acquiring a police report. Depending on your point of view the open air bars, crowds and tower speakers playing europop may be a downside. If you want to go the only feasible way of doing it is with a TO as everything gets booked up for years in advance. Enquired at one hotel (for a DIY trip) and had a nice reply that ORF stay there every year.

A snowHead

I will admit a slight bias here obviously, but the best place to be is in Kirchberg. Away from the hustle, bustle but on race day there are free trains taking you directly into resort. And also free to get back home again. Stay in Kitzbuhel itself after the race to enjoy the atmosphere then just jump on the regular trains back home again. The hahnenkamm Gondola is the only one out of Kitzbuhel other than the one taking you to the Horn. I have watched the race in previous years skiing down the Horn, but its not the same. The Hahnenkamm gondola can get busy in the days leading up to the race. Whereas if you base yourself in Kirchberg, the Flek gondola takes you to the Maeirl where they also do training.
HTH is correct, most of the visitors do arrive by train. Those new guests arriving in Kitzbuhel on the day of the race usually miss the race itself as that's at 11-30 but the firework display at 7/7-30 is usually quite spectacular.
You are better sourcing your own accommodation rather than a TO as they generally will stick to the Sat/Sat change over, whereas we are more flexable.

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

I can recommend Pension Schmidinger close to the centre, 10 mins walk to old centre, 10-15 mins walk to Hahnenkamm gondola. Stayed there for the Jan 2012 race, had to book two weeks covering the race period. It has parking and very comfortable. I booked about May year before, about 9 months prior. We used it also as a base for the Schladming Night Race which follows the Tuesday after Hahenkamm weekend. I had found it impossible to get accommodation other than for blocks of weeks Sat-Sat. It was second visit to a race weekend and highly recommend it for lively atmosphere, unfortunately poor weather can diminish spectacle of downhill race, 2012 had lower start and heavy weather, thus reducing spectacle. In 1999, sunshine and blue skies, fantastic race day. You take your chance with the weather. Despite 2012 poor weather town bursting with ski fans, Austrian, French and Swiss, who renamed the place "Cuchebuehel"! Don't miss the race draw nights and the Sunday night firework finale.
Pistes down Streif re-routed during race and weeks leading up. Otherwise, skiing not affected. Didn't have any issues with queuing either in 99 or 2012.

Help!!

Kitzbuhel Jan 2015

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