 Poster: A snowHead
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Hello
Ive been working hard last 5 years and now decided to have a rest and spent the season in the Alps. Im know there are people who did same in the forum, so any advice will be much appreciated (beer or vine from me in the Aps  )
From economical perspective its better to stick to one area and enjoy the benefits of the season ski pass. Im looking at Slazburg Super Ski pass currently, which is 610 EUR for a season.
The next question where to live? Ive never been to Austria unfortunatelly, what is best position to the area, I guess somewhere near biggest resort. How you find the place to live for 3 months?
ps
Im driving from UK, so will be able to explore different places. I think I need to pay the road tax, can I buy the sticker for one year?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@ed48, There are lots of places you can choose from to be honest.
To answer your last question first, yes there is an annual Vignette (Jahres-Vignette) and it goes on sale on December 1st, costs around 86 euro. You can buy it at any of the border crossings as well as at some of the service areas on the approach.
The Salzburger SuperSki season pass becomes a bargain (as do most season tickets) when you are going to do more than 3 weeks skiing. The best bet is to find somewhere fairly central as a base and use your vehicle as the means to try out different areas on your pass. The main axes for the SSS pass are the A10 and the B320, B311 and the B164. find accommodation you can afford in one of the towns central to those axes and you will be able to explore most of the areas on offer. You will pay a premium for being based slope-side anywhere.
There is also the Tirol Snow Card, which offers you most of the Tirol (St Anton is excluded though). Again find a furnished apartment in one of the towns fairly central that you can afford and base yourself there then explore to your hearts content.
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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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Thanks!
I think the question shifts to Tirol snowcard then.
We don't want to drive a lot each day, I think we will spent only few days each week to explore something else. Would be nice to have a Base close the Glacier resort, and normal one near by with forest runs. Also nice to have spa nearby. Stubaier Glacier looks good, but it's kinda isolated.
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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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@ed48, Take a look at the following places for finding season long rentals:
Salzburg - Altenmarkt-Radstadt, St Johann im Pongau, Bischopshofen, Werfen, Saalfelden, Taxenbach (for Zell am See and the Europa pass part of the SSS) or Eben in Pongau.
Tirol - bit more difficult as it is rather elongated but suggest places like Wörgl, Hofgarten, Kufstein (all towards the eastern end so good for Kitzbühel, Ski Welt, Ski Juwel, Zillertal) For the central area Innsbruck is the ideal location to be honest, but also look at Hall in Tirol, Schwaz, Zirl. For the western end, maybe Imst and Landeck give you a good jumping off location. With so many skiable glaciers you are able to get to several quite quickly wherever you are.
Don't think of a province wide ski pass in the same way as you do a week's pass for a particular resort region. All the resorts are set up for day travellers with masses of free parking close to the lifts. The vast majority of Austrian resorts rely on people coming into the area as much if not more than multi-day residents. Access to the slopes is important so the roads are kept clear and hold ups are quickly removed if they occur.
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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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| ed48 wrote: |
Thanks!
I think the question shifts to Tirol snowcard then.
We don't want to drive a lot each day, I think we will spent only few days each week to explore something else. Would be nice to have a Base close the Glacier resort, and normal one near by with forest runs. Also nice to have spa nearby. Stubaier Glacier looks good, but it's kinda isolated. |
Tbh I wouldn't want to be based up at any of the glaciers, as they tend to be at the end of valleys and so it takes a long time to anywhere else. You only really benefit from the extra snow security really early and late season (as in September/October and May/June).
However, you could look at somewhere like Ötz. It has it's own small ski area - which looks really fun on powder days - and has the glacier at Sölden just up the road, and even further up the road you have Obergurgl which is also v high and snow sure (opened last Thursday, closes late May I think). Kuhtai too. You also then have plenty of other options nearby - 30-40 mins drive to Innsbruck and all the resorts around there, or in the other direction Ischgl, Serfaus/Fiss, Arlberg, etc. And the Aquadome spa is incredible, and just up the road from Ötz.
Innsbruck gives access to Stubai, Sölden, Hintertux, Kaunertal and Pitztal glaciers in roughly 1-1.5 hours drive, and a gazillion other resorts (St Anton, Ischgl, the others mentioned above in Ötztal, Mayrhofen, SkiWelt, Kitzbühel etc etc) in similar timeframes either by car, bus or train. Lifts to Nordkette from the city centre, and Patscherköfel is a 15-20 min bus ride from the centre.
However, if it were me and it was a 'once in a lifetime' sort of thing, I'd want to based in an actual ski resort so you can easily do lazy days and walk to the lift 5 minutes away at 2pm etc. Innsbruck is a great place to live (maybe the best place), but it doesn't really have a 'resort/seasonnaire' vibe - it's just a rad city with rad skiing. Hopefully you understand the difference I'm trying to communicate?!
I'd just pick one big resort you like the look of in either Salzburg or Tirol and buy the relevant pass. Pretty much everywhere is close enough to everything else to have lots of day trip potential in >1 hour drive/bus/train.
So the most pertinent question becomes: what sort of skiing do you like and want to do?
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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 for valuable info. I think we are looking for the Zillertal Valley, because if wide variety of landscape, nice forest and skitour routes, also Hintertux is near. I think it will be hard to find long stay accommodation in the Mayrhofen or Zell am Ziller, how realistic to find accommodation in the smaller villages like Fügen or Gerlos ?
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Most of the time will be working on technique on piste. Once or twice per week doing easy skitour routes. Hiding in the forest during stormtime and ofcource on those rare powderdays we won't be sitting at home, may be driving for some less crowded places for a powder.
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@ed48, I don't know much about Zillertal (I've only been there kayaking in summer), but I'd start by emailing the tourist office for a list of places available for long term lets. I would be surprised if you can't find anywhere in places like Mayrhofen and Zell, but obviously they'll cost more.
If lots of piste miles on your doorstep are important, I'd definitely rule Innsbruck out then to be honest.
Apparently there's good touring the Achensee region, just the other side of the Inn valley from Zillertal: http://www.tourenwelt.at/skitour/77-rofanspitze.html
Friends tell me it's also good on powder days:
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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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@ed48, note (as you may well already have done) that the Salzburg Super Ski Card and the Kitzbühel AllStar Card prices are cheaper up till the 3rd December. The Snow Card Tirol doesn't seem to offer any reduced price for early buyers (a friend told me that it is offered at a reduced price, announced locally at short notice but I've never heard of that). It is also more expensive than the others, €737 as opposed to €610/€615 (at the reduced prices). I think you can buy all the cards online (the Salzburg one strangely only till 3rd December).
I used to be an AllStar card user but, since I moved to Fieberbrunn, I've started using the Salzburg Super Ski Card, largely because I enjoy the Hochkönig area (and I find the Loferer Alm a good warm up day for visiting friends). Fieberbrunn lies rather at the west end of the area covered by the card, though that does make it easier to reach Kitzbühel, for example. A base in somewhere like St. Johann in Pongau would make it easier to reach places like Schladming or Obertauern further east.
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@ed48, A lot of accommodation around Fügen is rented as holiday lets (a week at a time) or on a long term contract (3 years). It's not impossible to find somewhere for a season but it's not super easy. Ask the tourist offices - each area of Zillertal has it's own local office http://www.zillertal.at/en/ (Fügen-Kaltenbach, Zell-Gerlos, Mayrhofen-Hippach, Tux-Finkenberg) Personally, I'd look for somewhere between Stumm and Zell - far enough into Zillertal for easy access to good skiing, close enough to the entrance to Zillertal to escape on the days you feel like you have to leave the valley.
You could also ask the estate agents (Immobilien). What they show on their websites isn't necessarily everything that is available, it's more like a suggestion. They usually have more properties on their books if you ask for something specific.
Heimatstimme http://heimatstimme.at/ advertise accommodation too, click on Stellenanzeigen and scroll down to Immobilien. It looks like there are a few possibilities at the moment.
If your budget would cope then you could book holiday accommodation for a week or two and ask around once you were here, especially if you were looking for somewhere that would be available after New Year. A lot of 3 month accommodation isn't advertised and is found/rented by word of mouth.
I hope that helps.
Good luck with your search!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Thank you very much for your comments! Im slowly coming into realization, that any resort will provide kind of discounted season tickets and on-resort accommodation cost is approx same for most resorts in the Alps. So my plans are coming into the following:
1. We will spent January in one of small french resorts, on the resort, for about £1K for 4 people. The offer we couldn’t refuse is 50% discount on season pass, which is 280 eur for 5 small resorts Most of the times we will be catching up on the technique on the piste.
2. I think, to switch to Salzburgerland in February. The main activity will be chasing powder. So we wont stay on the resort and also its high season, it will be expensive. we are beginners, so we are looking for beginner routes, not more than 30 degree, with easy trees for stormdays. We are looking into SkiAmade area, I think there must be lots of places suitable for our goals. As for Tirol, we have contacted the tourist offices, and helpful people there included us in the database and provided a list of phone numbers for long-term accommodation. I think we need to do same for skiamade area.
3. The ultimate plan is to explore something different in March, thinking of moving into Livingo, typically they get good snow in March there and lots of easy freeride slopes.
That’s the plan, we are doing this first time, so any advice will be helpful.
Thanks for all your comments again.
Ed
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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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@ed48, you say you are beginners...Do you mean proper never skied before beginners? That would put a slightly different complexion on things and the advice could be better tailored
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We are beginners in terms of freeride offpiste. Also we are doing this few years, read few weeks per year, and been on several courses and guided tours, also I did some really steep stuff, but we just don't want to mess up with this, so we are looking for easy terrain for freeride.
The onslope level, is intermediate I would say.
Regards
Ed
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You know it makes sense.
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@ed48, ah ok
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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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Finally, we have settled in Zillertal valley, close to Fugen, for whole 3 months starting from January. I think Zillertaler Superskipass will be enought for me. Thanks for your help, hope to see ya on the slopes
Yours,
"the most hated man in the world"
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Poster: A snowHead
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@ed48, When you ski in Hochfügen come and say hi!
I'm a ski instructor for SkiCheck (black suits). If you're looking for information about off piste routes and ski touring, call into the SkiCheck shop next to the 8er Jet gondola station (in Hochfügen), there's usually someone around who can give advice. Also, every Saturday from January onwards there is the "SkiFriends" service. This is free ski guiding around the area, with emphasis on safety and technique depending on the group and snow/weather conditions.
Personally, I would buy the Tirol Snowcard anyway. The difference in price between the Zillertal card and the Tirol card is about €50. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of skiing in Zillertal with lots of variety, but an extra €50 gives you access to loads of options.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Hey Sara, thanks for the invite, I will be definetelly there. SkiFriends is very nice idea, count me in, hope I will find a ski buddy for those powder days.
Yes, I think the Tirol snowcard is good idea, I could not find where to get it from, I suppose it could be purchaised at any ski office? do you need to bring photo?
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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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@ed48, You can buy the Tirol Snowcard at any lift pass office that is included in the Snowcard's area. They'll take a photo of you at the office.
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FAQ
