 Poster: A snowHead
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Just a couple of quick paragraphs about my trip with friends over NY week.
Travel
Left Derby at 2-30pm on Boxing day and arrived in resort at 12-30pm on the 27th! (22hrs door to door)
Weather was terrible all the way from Calais, through Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany and only stopped snowing when we arrived at Munich.
It was quite scary at times even though we were prepared, quite glad the bulk of the driving was during night time hours so less cars on the road. Munich was bad traffic wise we passed the Munich area at approximately 8-30am and didnt get to the Austrian border till 11-30am so progress was slow, but we were very lucky compared to France!
Arrived back from Zell am See at 10-30pm on Saturday after leaving resort at 4-30am (18hrs). Roads were mostly clear and managed to make good time even with a 2 hour wait to check in at Calais for the Eurotunnel.
Skiing
It snowed at Zell almost non-stop from arrival on Saturday till Tuesday, even though mostly light snow the slopes at that point were in pretty good condition. Snow cannons were on for 6 days straight (day and night) and were only turned off on Thursday afternoon when it warmed up a bit.
For the first 5 days it was absolutely freezing which at times, combined with high-ish winds up top made things a little unpleasant, but as long you were wrapped up the skiing was pretty good. The pistes at Zell were hardly bashed at all Sunday, Monday and Tuesday which made things quite fun, not so much for beginners.
Wednesday after a heavy night on the sauce at Greens XL and Crazy Daisy's, I had the morning off and went for lunch and afternoons skiing up the Kitzsteinhorn, best decision ever, food was fantastic at the Grillhutte and the skiing really good top to bottom finished off with 30 mins in the bar next to the Grillhutte before getting a late lift down and the last ski bus back to Zell.
Decided on the Kitz again for Thursday as it was forecast to be a bluebird and it was again brilliant - even though the NY hordes had arrived.
Friday was spent back at Zell as all the runs were now open and the skiing was the best of the week pretty much (bar piste 10 to Schuttdorf- bit slushy) the sheltered village runs especially black 11 were epic and I lapped them for most of the morning.
Food and Nightlife
Really liked the food in Zell, the restaurant choice is pretty good with it being a large Alpine town and we loved the variety. Our favourite was Kupferkessel, as the food was really good quality at ridiculously good prices - was very busy both nights we went so definitely call ahead and book a table the day before, as we did the second time we went 
Drinking and partying was was OK, apres is not as prominent here for me with only a few bars good for the 4-7 time slot. For an after meal drink things are better with Greens, Crazy Daisy's and A bit of Irish all worth a visit plus the bars on the street opposite Greens. Zell is no where near as hectic or lively as Ischgl, Saalbach or St Anton but you can definitely have a good time if you look in the right places.
EDIT - New Year itself was good - Happy 2-hour cocktails at Greens, great fireworks, both the organised lake display and the crazy amateurs firing off rockets from everywhere (be aware). Great Belgian waffle with cranberry jam from outside Crazy Daisy's then a reasonably early night awaiting the forecast Bluebird the next day!
As we were a group of friends we stayed in on a couple of nights and had a few drinks whilst playing cards which is definitely underrated and I had forgotten how good a game or 10 of "Cheat" (card game) and a few Stiegl's was.
Overall
We had a really good time in Zell and I would definitely recommend it, it may not be the highest altitude, or have the biggest ski area, or the liveliest apres scene but it does everything pretty well and is a really good all round resort.
A couple of side notes - my girlfriend and her sister went Paragliding with Adler-Air on the Friday and loved it - and I can also recommend the Tauern Spa, really good value and a nice thing to do to relax.
Will try and add some pictures later!
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 6-01-15 15:50; edited 4 times in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@AthersT, Super report.
Zell was one of those places that surprised me - Much more skiing than you think and as you say those blacks above the village are fantastic.
Nice atmosphere in town too - fun but not yobbish or rowdy
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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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| red 27 wrote: |
@AthersT, Super report.
Zell was one of those places that surprised me - Much more skiing than you think and as you say those blacks above the village are fantastic.
Nice atmosphere in town too - fun but not yobbish or rowdy |
Thanks, and this was pretty much my experience - no loud yobs all week, just people having fun at a really friendly place.
Black 11 and 13 were my two faves at Zell and pistes 2, 3 a&b and 5 a&b on the Kitz. X1 was also epic but very tracked out with how busy it was on NY's day. Black Mamba was mainly a sheet of Ice mostly down to the amount of people side-slipping down it which is unfortunate.
I would go to either place again but it's the age old thing in Austria - there is so much choice! Almost every village we passed is another resort, I said to my other half its such a waste that we have to drive past - could of stayed for months if budget allowed or we had a job there!
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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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@AthersT , Thanks for the great report.
We are arriving on Sat 10th Jan. Cannot wait!
Was wondering what the best 'off the slope' 4-7 Apre bars are, or is it pretty obvious when you finish up? We will be mostly ending our days at the Citixpress as we have lockers there.
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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've just remembered - when I was there they covered the main pedestrianised street with man-made snow and had a slalom race down it - that's something you don't every day!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| owend1981 wrote: |
@AthersT , Thanks for the great report.
We are arriving on Sat 10th Jan. Cannot wait!
Was wondering what the best 'off the slope' 4-7 Apre bars are, or is it pretty obvious when you finish up? We will be mostly ending our days at the Citixpress as we have lockers there. |
At the bottom of the CityXpress there is a piste side bar that was OK.
Then the choice within the vicinity is limited - East Orange Bar adjacent to Outdo Ski school seems OK. Then the rest are a short walk away in the town.
There is a bar at the top of the mountain that seemed quite busy at the end of the day but you will have to ski down from there if you miss the last lift or use the Schmittenhohebahn down to the Schmittental but this is some distance from the CityXpress lockers.
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| red 27 wrote: |
| I've just remembered - when I was there they covered the main pedestrianised street with man-made snow and had a slalom race down it - that's something you don't every day! |
They have done it for a while now, this is the 7th year believe. The date for the race this year is 28/01/14 from around 1600.
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