 Poster: A snowHead
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Looking at a couple of holidays for Christmas and narrowed it down to St Anton or Saalbach. Which would you recommend?
We're intermediate piste bashers capable of skiing most terrain, although tend to give moguls a miss. Currently we're erring towards St Anton as I've seen a favourable holiday for Saalbach at Easter, so could possibly do both in a season.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Never been to Saalbach but I've enjoyed Christmas and New Year weeks in the Arlberg. St Anton is a very lively town and there's loads of pistes to play on. Go for it.
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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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I'm also thinking of Saalbach for christmas. Intermediate heaven, apparently. I'm put off St Anton by some reviews/articles saying it's a bit more for experts, but if you're capable on most terrain then I'm guessing it would be OK.
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Saalbach at Easter - bit risky. We went 1st week in March this year and it was dire.
I've skied both and if you're intermediates - Saalbach hands down. St Anton is awesome - but save it for when its a bit quieter and you can enjoy progressing a bit more.
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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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As Nadenoodlee points out, Saalbach is a great ski area for cruising reds, you can ski a circuit including Hinterglemm. There is a black on Schattberg, whilst it is good long run, gets the legs and lungs working, it is more a serious red than black. Having skied both Saalbach and St. Anton, I would think Saalbach, being lower and less snow sure than St. A, is a better bet early winter rather than Easter. St. A is better at off-piste and trickier stuff. Go there certainly, but it's not really for piste bashers, you can ski nearby Lech (by bus) for cruising runs or maybe the Rendl at St. Anton, but it's limited there.
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@Nadenoodlee, we were also there in March this year and the conditions were pretty bad - however last year they were amazing!
LOVED Saalbach though and I'm sure I'll go again.
Don't be put off by St Anton supposedly being for experts, the tough terrain is pretty much all off-piste. The normal pisted runs are well within any decent intermediate's capabilities, and Rendl mountain is lovely and cruisey.
If I had the choice of either resort to revisit, I'd choose Saalbach - but I certainly wouldn't complain about returning to St Anton!
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@HoneyBunny,
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Don't be put off by St Anton supposedly being for experts, the tough terrain is pretty much all off-piste. The normal pisted runs are well within any decent intermediate's capabilities, and Rendl mountain is lovely and cruisey
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Agreed Rendl OK, plus there's Osthang and the St Christoph run #8 , but beyond that its pretty limited unless comfortable on steeps and narrow red/ blacks.@hammerite, Might be worth looking at Kitzbuhel too. St Anton is a magic place at Christmas (peed off we'll not be there this year.......again!), it's pretty technical though and I'd hate anyone to go at it thinking its a cruisy place, it isn't. There's nowhere better IMO if you want to push hard and challenge the terrain, but to get the best out of it I'd suggest an odd schlep into the slack terrain etc.
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Hi, Ive skied both at Christmas. Going back to Saalbach this Christmas for the 5th time. St Anton was great but I am an intermediate skier and found that I could enjoy my skiing more in Saalbach, the ski circus is great, I skied more miles at Saalbach because I was more confident on the slopes there. Saalbach has fantastic après ski, lovely village and lifts are well place. Also skied Saalbach at Feb and snow was good then. Stayed in some cracking hotels in Saalbach and one to avoid.
Good luck
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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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| Jenniper wrote: |
| I'm also thinking of Saalbach for christmas. Intermediate heaven, apparently. I'm put off St Anton by some reviews/articles saying it's a bit more for experts, but if you're capable on most terrain then I'm guessing it would be OK. |
In my view, the pistes at Saalbach Hinterglemm feel 'safer' than those of St Anton, not because they are less challenging, but because there are fewer numpties on them. Making the most of the off-piste potential takes much more imagination though. 
And it's a 'jolly' place at Christmas. There are a few pics in this thread from our trip 2 years ago ... http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=94479&start=80
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If you like piste skiing and don't like moguls, Saalbach is 100% the better bet. Also the Arlberg is more reliable than Saalbach late season.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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we were also there in March this year and the conditions were pretty bad - however last year they were amazing!
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Last season was eccentric and erratic in the north-eastern Austrian Alps. Great skiing in mid-December and late March, and even fresh powder at Easter (3rd week of April!). The best skiing of the entire season was in the last week of March. The fairly comprehensive snow-making, and heavy dumps in early December, late January, mid-February and late March ensured that the pistes had adequate cover throughout the season, but for the most part there was a snow-drought (some say the worst in living memory), and it was sunny and Spring-like for weeks on end. Saalbach was better off than many resorts in the region; they were bussing people in from surrounding resorts like Zell am See, Lofer and Maria Alm. Maybe it will be Italy or France's turn next season. Hansi is predicting that it will be back to business as usual in Saalbach 
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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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@hammerite,
If you would like a copy of our comprehensive guide to Saalbach-Hinterglemm and also a couple of recommended itineraries, send me a personal message with your e-mail address.
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Not been to St Anton but from your criteria i would whole heartedly say Saalbach ticks all your boxes.
Also agree about Easter as it is late next year.
Have visited Saalbach at various points of the winter but never at Christmas.
That is...........until eight weeks time!
Seems like there could be enough for a Saalbach Snowheads get together.
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You know it makes sense.
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Also agree about Easter as it is late next year.
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Actually it's relatively early next year, Easter Sunday being on April 5th, compared with April 20th this year. In 2016 however it's really early, being on March 27th.
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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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Thanks all. I will report back to the OH.
Tatman's Tours thank you for the offer of the guide, you sent me a copy last season after I expressed an interest in going (it's been on my long list of places I want to ski! As has St A).
Markymark29 We've been to Kitzbuhel and really enjoyed it. We wouldn't say no to going back, but there are lots of other places we want to ski too.
Interestingly given the "Saalbach is risky at Easter" type comments, we went to Kitz at Easter*, then the following year stayed at Flangesax's place at the same time of year. The conditions both years were pretty good. We could ski down to the base stations both times. The only Easter in the past 6 years we've been away where we couldn't ski back was when we stayed in Les Arcs - the highest of all the Easter resorts we've visited.
*when I say Easter I mean the school holiday, not necessarily the religious holiday.
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Poster: A snowHead
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TT, i stand corrected, i was thinking it was later (probably confused with this years).
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| hammerite wrote: |
Thanks all. I will report back to the OH.
Tatman's Tours thank you for the offer of the guide, you sent me a copy last season after I expressed an interest in going (it's been on my long list of places I want to ski! As has St A).
Markymark29 We've been to Kitzbuhel and really enjoyed it. We wouldn't say no to going back, but there are lots of other places we want to ski too.
Interestingly given the "Saalbach is risky at Easter" type comments, we went to Kitz at Easter*, then the following year stayed at Flangesax's place at the same time of year. The conditions both years were pretty good. We could ski down to the base stations both times. The only Easter in the past 6 years we've been away where we couldn't ski back was when we stayed in Les Arcs - the highest of all the Easter resorts we've visited.
*when I say Easter I mean the school holiday, not necessarily the religious holiday. |
Altitude has little to do with it; the problem is that so much of Saalbach is south-facing.
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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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Interestingly given the "Saalbach is risky at Easter" type comments, we went to Kitz at Easter*, then the following year stayed at Flangesax's place at the same time of year. The conditions both years were pretty good. We could ski down to the base stations both times. The only Easter in the past 6 years we've been away where we couldn't ski back was when we stayed in Les Arcs - the highest of all the Easter resorts we've visited.
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Which perfectly illustrates the point that Easter can be good or not so good, depending on the year and which area of the Alps has pleased the snow gods! We've had both good and awful conditions at Easter in high, so-called "safe" French resorts.
Saalbach's lift company works hard to keep the resort going and the pistes adequately covered until after Easter, and most years it will be okay - but obviously not guaranteed, as, just like the weather in the UK, much depends on the timing of the onset of Spring. Having said that we've never been unable to ski back to the village, even on the south-facing slopes, in early April, although some people - a minority in my experience - might prefer to take the lift down from the mid-station, rather than slog through mushy snow. Obviously some thought needs to be given to the orientation of the slopes in the late season. The north-facing runs in Saalbach and Hinterglemm, the Westgipfel run down from Schattberg to Hinterglemm, and some of the runs on the Zwoelferkogel, as well as most of the Leogang runs tend to attract savvy, non-sun-worshipping skiers in the afternoons.
Typically Spring conditions in Saalbach (and generally across the Alps) mean freezing temperatures overnight, and long, warm, sunny days, so that the skiing will be good early in the day and not so good (unless you enjoy slush skiing, as some people like Clarky999 do )  after lunch. Sometimes we have been rewarded with gratifyingly low temperatures and snowfalls in early April - in fact some friends came out to visit us for Easter in 2012 (the first week of April) - their first time in Saalbach - and enjoyed their week so much that they have since bought an apartment there. Admittedly their visit coincided with a heavy dump of snow. In the first week of April 2013 we again had cold temperatures and great skiing on empty pistes - even in the afternoons - although the temperatures and the quality of the pistes deteriorated during the second week of April. Our last guest of the season arrived on 6th April and the snow was fine for the first few days but then became sticky under the hot sun. As previously mentioned, this year was a weird season, but the snow bucketed down in late March, and we were told that colder temperatures and more snowfalls in April meant good skiing even at Easter (which was the third week of April).
As has frequently been stated, the snow conditions, especially at the extremities of the ski season, are a lottery, but don't necessarily be deterred by anyone who has been to a particular resort on a particular week when the weather was warm and the snow conditions were consequently poor. They might have gone to the same resort the same week the following season - or even the same resort in a subsequent week - and had cold weather and good snow.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Markymark29 wrote: |
| I'd hate anyone to go at it thinking its a cruisy place, it isn't |
Well no, and I wasn't trying to suggest it is - but I thought it was worth mentioning that the Rendl sector is more gentle.
I'm a decent intermediate (on a good day) and I very much enjoyed St Anton, our whole group did, so by the same turn it would be a shame that someone's put off because they think you have to be a gnarly expert to ski there.
I would say it's really not the best for beginners and nervous or early intermediates, but anyone else would enjoy it. Especially the apres 
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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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@clarky999,
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Altitude has little to do with it; the problem is that so much of Saalbach is south-facing.
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True, but with sensible itinerary-planning, taking account of the weather and orientation of slopes, it's usually possible to find pistes in reasonable condition, even in early April. We tend to ski the south-facing side until late morning (and it's usually fine early on) and then think more carefully about where we want to go (if anywhere) after lunch. Pistes 1 and 14 are particularly worth doing in the afternoons (and they are two of the best!)
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Awww TT! Yes there are a few bits which aren't great, Happy Valley being one of them. But knowing there's a rocking bar at the end helps. Cannot believe you missed the Mooserwirt, tsk. It's as much fun as the Hinterhag! Preferred it to the KK.
Thanks for your kind words but moguls are not my friend if they're any steeper than those ones we were playing around on haha.
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FAQ
) I must have chosen a bad time, or the wrong company - or both. But then, I've seen you in the moguls (i.e. making light of them)!! I enjoyed the white circle (Stuben-Lech-Zurs), but didn't like the preponderance of chopped-up, ungroomed, mogully pistes, and I positively hated 'Happy Valley' which seemed to be everyone's only route home. I didn't even discover the Mooserwirt! The highlight of the trip was buying a staff jacket from the KK (which subsequently had to be thrown away because Mrs TT washed it and the colours ran).