 Poster: A snowHead
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Just back from 8 days skiing in the Bregenzerwald area of Austria. We had an absolutely brilliant time and can recommend the area very highly. Slopes were very quiet, the snow was generally excellent (three big falls in the week) and, despite plenty of fast lifts, the area feels quite uncommercialised and off the beaten track. We heard one British voice all week and hardly anyone in hotels, bars etc spoke English. All very unspoiled. Stunning scenery too. Prices were excellent - eg €3.10 for a large beer and €8 for spaghetti Bolognese on the mountain.
Quick holiday summary below.
Flew to Memmingen, Germany with Ryanair and hired a car. The airport is tiny so bags waiting on landing and away in double quick time. Only 100km to our base in the sleepy, picturesque village of Bezau. We bought the 3 Taeler ('3 Valleys') pass that covers 21 resorts (from very small to 100+ km of piste) and had a brilliant time skiing five of them:
Mellau (Linked with Damuels) - Great, extensive area, with lots of fast lifts. No valley runs open back to Mellau but great skiing down to the lovely little village of Damuels, which is at 1400m. Our second day at the area was a snowing-all-day powder day. Only criticism of the area was that the connecting lift back to the Mellau slopes was closed without notice or warning (we could have been told, or there could have been some kind of notice, on the previous lift), meaning we had to bus back after skiing. That involved a change of bus, a journey of over an hour and a 20 min walk in ski boots/lugging skis. Having said all that, it was a spectacular ride back down the valley from Damuels - a winter wonderland.
Diedamskopf - Only 40km of piste, no valley runs open but great skiing, empty pistes and fantastic scenery. Some good black runs too. Really loved the area - had a powder day (in poor visibility) and a bluebird packed-powder day.
Warth - Brilliant, extensive area with great snow (inc some powder) a lovely village and excellent scenery. An interesting drive on a snowy mountain road up to a pass - quite unusual for Austria. The area is linked to Lech and Zuers, with the link costing an extra €20 a day for holders of the 3 Taeler Pass. We made do with Warth on our first day and had planned on visiting Lech and Zuers on our second day. However, we didn't extend our passes in the end as we were advised that the link could be closed due to the stormy winds that we had all week. Still had a great time skiing just Warth.
Faschina - Skied the last hour of the day (after driving from Diedamskopf)at the tiny resort of Faschina, which is a few km from Damuels. Got stuck on a slow chairlift for 25 mins in a storm-force wind - terrifying! The empty chairs in front were being almost blown off the cable. Despite that, we enjoyed the ski area - some nice cruising runs.
Balderschwang - This area is covered on the lift pass and is in Bavaria. We skied there on our last day as it was on the way back to Memmingen Airport. The area is low (1000 - 1500m) and small (about 40km of piste) but it dumped snow all day. We skied knee-deep powder on tree-lined runs for most of the day and had a brilliant time. Saw no views but the village was gorgeous.
And here are some pics:
Bezau
Diedamskopf:
Warth:
Mellau/Damuels:
Faschina:
Balderschwang:
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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That looks right up my strasse.
Thanks.
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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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Great review @mountainaddict, I used to live very close to Memmingen and spent many weekends visiting those resorts. In fact your report has made me want to go back now. A much more authentic experience then the purpose built French mega-resorts.
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Reminds me of my time living near Munich and doing random daytrips/ weekends to meadowland ski areas/ resorts like these. A rosy feeling of Gemuetlichkeit  Tree skiing on empty pistes, down the Kneipe in the evening for beers and Leberkase. Thank you for the memories.
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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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Some very reasonable airbnb rates too.
Would you say renting a car is a necessity? How much was rental?
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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! I'm glad to to report on the trip and share a few snaps.
Frankeh: We didn't check out the public transport transfer options from Memmingen - though previous experience elsewhere has shown German/Austrian public transport to be excellent.
Once in the main Bregenzerwald valley (ie the one with Alberschwende, Egg, Bezau, Mellau, Diedamskopf and Warth, plus a few more ski areas I can't remember) there is a ski bus that is free with your lift pass.
So I would say a car is not essential but does provide more flexibility. From our base in Bezau,
Mellau was 5 mins drive; Diedamskopf 15; Damuels/Faschina 30; Warth 35-40; and Balderschwang 30. Obviously the bus commutes would take longer.
Our hire car was a Corsa that cost about £170 from Autoeurope (online). Fine for 2 of us with skis and luggage. That price included snowtyres - which can cost an arm and a leg extra and which are, for all intents and purposes, obligatory in winter.
We self catered - fantastic standard (big vs French shoe boxes) apartment for 2 with fantastic mountain views. Just over £300 for the week. Spent our last night near the airport in Mindelheim - a really lovely old town. Happy days  .
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I had a great time in Warth a few years ago. Would love to do more in the area.
Great TR.
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A 5 year bump, but better than a new thread! I've got some meetings in Heidelberg mid December. Of course my immediate thought was were to ski after the meetings
Looks like I could get to Mellau in around 4hrs 30 mins. Clearly I'd wait and see what happens snow wise, but I'm assuming if Mellnau/Damuels had reasonable snow then it'd be a good option for 2-3 days solo skiing?
I've got obvious options of Warth or St Anton (5 hour drive I reckon) but keen to try some smaller local resorts. I guess height is the biggest thing is it's been warm/not much snow beforehand? Damuels tops out at 2000m, whereas I could get up to 2800m.
I see Damuels claims the worlds snowiest village, but does anyone have a view on how it does pre-Xmas historically? do they have many artificial snow cannons??
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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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@kitenski, it's a crazy snowy corner of the Alps, but obviously no-one can say how it will be this Christmas - at this point you have an equal chance of choking on powder in the forests as you do checking drive times to a glacier.
There is no generally, but if you had to book in advance you have better chances of getting good (ie not scrapey artificial pistes) December skiing in that zone than 85% of the rest of the Alps. I wouldn't worry about numbers of snow cannons. Winter will either be on in that zone or it won't, in which case it would be better to invest another hour drive to get to a glacier than scratch about snowcannon crap.
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@clarky999, yeah cheers for that! Can't see there being an issue with accom either so I reckon it's there or Solden which is about 5hr 30mins from Heidelberg. Will leave it until the week before to decide I reckon. Have you skiied Damnuels???
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@kitenski, nope, but nearby. Diedamskopf is supposed to be really nice on a powder day too 
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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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@kitenski, Ischgl is usually a good option for December, I would guess slightly less far than Sölden, I have been skiing there when no other non glacial spot is open. The advantage is that they usually open as much of the resort as possible whilst many places have a fairly restricted lift operation even if the snow is good (not enough paying customers). The disadvantage is the village itself but perhaps that's just a personal bugbear . Damüls is often quoted as the snowiest spot in the Alps but other places, such as Warth, seem to claim that too.
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@munich_irish, cheers looks like 5 hours but driving past St Anton, so may as well stop there!! In fact Stuben only looks like a 4 hour drive.
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You know it makes sense.
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@kitenski, we stayed in Egg last year, 21-27 December. Booked very last minute as they’d just had a dump then by the time we got there it was pissing down, with rain to fairly high altitude. However that quickly changed and by the 25th we’d had another great dump - leaving rather nice (if not super deep) powder - here’s a photo of Damüls (on 25 Dec).
Of course it won’t be the same again this year but as Clarky says, you’ve as good a chance of snow there as anywhere. Loads of great touring too, it’s a beautiful valley.
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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 for resurrecting my thread kitenski - and also resurrecting some very happy memories of a brilliant holiday in a fantastic corner of the Alps. I'd forgotten those photos!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Another resurrection, for the upcoming season. Looking at New Year's week, or Easter week. Thoughts?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Freshtracks do holidays to Damuels and I went with them in 2013 and again in 2019. I'd agree with all the positive comments above. It's a gem of a resort.
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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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if you can afford it go for Warth or Schröcken. Damüls during the last years is always full, especially in the holidays
Or if you have a car, you could find accomodation down in the valley and drive till Salober Pass for visiting Warth
Usually we do so als one day skiing excursion and was always perfect.
Definitely not so full during the Easter week
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@boardiac, new year week tends to be very busy especially with Dutch families. Easter I’d say better places to ski which are higher, many south facing slopes in Warth that don’t hold the snow conditions particularly well and tend to brown early.
We are staying in Steeg mid- end January, can’t wait!
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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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Warth has enough north Face slopes but the questions is what you are looking for.
You can not compare warth with tignes or val thorens
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