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Westendorf Report

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I've written a report for a recent trip to Westendorf:

Westendorf
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Would you recommend a visit to Westendorf from Kitzbuhel, via the new link?
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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?
richmond, definitely! But then I'm a big fan of Westendorf - the area is gentler than the Pengelstein side of Kitzbuhel and on a windy day Westendorf seems to catch it less than the Kitzbuhel side, there are also less people around. We were in Kitzbuhel at 11:30am and back in Westendorf at 2:30pm, with a 30 minute break for lunch.
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Is it possible to ski down from Pengelstein directly to, or across the road from, the Westendorf link lift, or do we ski down and take a bus to the link?
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
richmond, you have to take the bus link - the Pengelstein and KiWest valley stations are a couple of miles apart. I didn't see any evidence of off piste routes that allow you to emerge opposite the lift stations.
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Thanks Ian Hopkinson. I'll try and give it a whirl (we're in Kitzbuhel from 11.02).
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Ian Hopkinson, what's the story ith lift passes? Presumably the Kitzbuhel pass doesn't cover the Westendorf area.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
richmond, I didn't try it from the Kitzbuhel end. From the Westendorf end a 6 day Westendorf/SkiWelt pass could be upgraded to a Westendorf/SkiWelt/Kitzbuhel pass for £16 (or something like that). You could get a Westendorf day pass at the bottom of the KiWest lift for ~£20.
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Ian Hopkinson, thanks. It looks as if all 4 of us (2 adults, 2 kids) can buy a 7 day pass for the whole Kitzbuhel-Alpen area (seems to be most of Austria), including Kitzbuhel and Westendorf, for an extra €30 over the Kitzbuhel only price, so that seems to be the shrewd move.

Do you think it's feasible to go by ski (maybe with a bit of public transport) from Kitzbuhel to SkiWelt? And back?

Sorry for all the questions.
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richmond, no worries! As for ski-ing from Kitzbuhel to SkiWelt, Mrs H and I skied pretty non-stop to get from Westendorf to Kitzbuhel in 2.5 hours.

The skibus from the gondola station at Westendorf to Brixen-im-thale gondola station takes about 10 minutes but I suspect the frequency is a bit poor 11am-2:30pm i.e. could be as infrequent as 30min or 1hr, so you are probably looking at 3hrs+ for the one way trip to get to the edge of SkiWelt on skis.

If you really want to ski in SkiWelt, rather than wanting to say you skied from Kitzbuhel to SkiWelt, then I'd catch a skibus from Kitzbuhel to one of the SkiWelt resorts.
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Ian Hopkinson, thanks.
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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.
The post bus leaves Kitzbuhel Griesgasse at 8.47am on a weekday (final destination Worgl) and takes you to Brixen-im-Thale gondola, returning at about 2.30, 4.30 or 5.30pm (destination Kitzbuhel). It's about 1/2 hr each way and is included in the lift pass. There is a bus timetable at the stop in Griesgasse.

Brixen is a good entry point to Ski Welt, head left for Soll, Itter, Hohe Salve and Hopfgarten, right for Ellmau and Sheffau.

Griesgasse is the 2nd bus stop after the Kitzbuheler horn on the ringbus. To get there from the centre take the BAWAG lift down from the pedestrian area and turn left, about 50m.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Ian Hopkinson, we took a day to visit Westendorf during our time in Kitzbuhel last week. It was 12 ish by the time we got to the top of Ki West gondola, due to our usual late start and the bloody useless Kitzbuhel bus service. We had a very pleasant few hours there, although we'd skied pretty much everything (but not everything) by the end of it. It was very pretty, and quiet, and a relaxing time was had by one and all (apart from a brief interlude when the old lady went off on one about some defect of mine, but what can you do?).

The old lady and I surprised a couple of boarder dudes in the hut on the fun park by turning up and demanding beers while our kids jumped off things. It was very jolly sitting there in the sun with a beer, watching boarders fall over and listening to young people's music. The atmos reminded me of Canada more than of Europe.

We enjoyed the blue run back down towards Kitzbuhel, but by the time we did it, the sun was well down and the light was not great, and I thought that I wouldn't like to have been taking a tired beginner back down it. There's always the gondola, of course. The red under the Alpenrosenbahn in Westendorf was also a bit tricky for beginners (there's one bit by a restaurant and some other buildings where it narrows dramatically at the bottom of a steepish pitch into a kind of alley, loads of people hanging about on the piste waiting for mates, which would be really daunting for a beginner), but again there's the gondola.

A great resort for beginners and low intermediates, I'd say, but perhaps not the ideal base for anyone above that standard.

Thanks for putting the idea into our minds.


Last edited by So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much on Sun 8-02-09 17:58; edited 1 time in total
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
richmond, glad to hear you enjoyed your day trip to Westendorf! snowHead

The last part of the red run under Alpenrosenbahn II is a bit hairy - this year is the first time we've skied it as a matter of course - previously our ski instructors have tended to take as down to the middlestation in the gondola. However, when we were there this year we watched a blind bloke going down it Shocked he was following a woman with an audible pinger, who shouted "hup" every time she made a turn...

We found watching the snowboarders in the boarderpark rather relaxing, I didn't realise you could get a beer in the hut at the bottom, I noticed that the skiers were better at landing stuff in the park than the boarders wink
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
"The last part of the red run under Alpenrosenbahn II is a bit hairy"

This is why I always go to the Sonalm, right at the bottom before the Mittelstation. Sit in the sun, grab a beer or Jagertee and watch people struggling coming down. Good fun. But seriously, that piste can be challenging esp. when icy. There are people coming down there that should be in classes over at the training grounds...

I've been going to Westendorf for the last 10 years or close enough, each time a week. The Westendorf area is not really big, but it is really pretty, has really good food/drinks on piste (those really nice little austrian huts, check out the pink colored one on the blue slopes down from the middle station), and good enough night life. Combine it with a few trips to the close by Brixem, or others and it makes for a really good holiday!

Situated quite low, I have never ever not being able to ski!
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
ojilles, welcome to snowHeads! snowHead

It looks like there will be a piste and lift connecting Choralpe to Brixen next season... (see here)
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
It's a shame that the link with Kitzbuhel is such rubbish; why put the KiWest gondola and accompanying piste exactly where it doesn't meet a Kitzbuhel piste/lift?


Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Sun 8-02-09 17:59; edited 1 time in total
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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?
richmond, I guessed that was something to do with the terrain or getting permission from the appropriate landowner. I think "rubbish" is a bit harsh, the bus between the two talstations is one of the more civilised in the area - although I'd agree that the quality/availability of spaces on the ski buses is one of the big drawbacks of the Ski Welt area.
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On the one occasion when we went from Kitzbuhel to Westendorf and back, a very pleasant day, we wasted a lot of time waiting for buses. As soon as you have to rely on a bus, however good (and my experience of buses in Kitzbuhel is that they are too infrequent), the convenience drops enormously. I'm sure that there were good reasons for not making the link more convenient, but it's a shame. It occurs to me that the reason may have been to prevent Westendorf becoming an alternative resort for people wishing to ski in Kitzbuhel every day; the link is OK for the occasional trip but not for a daily commute between the two areas.

Were you back in W'dorf this year or did you go elsewhere? The new link with Brixen should make Westendorf a lot more attractive.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
richmond, we've been to the Sella Ronda area the last couple of years. Partly for the reason you allude to, if you want to access the wider Ski Welt area you're stuck with buses which aren't too good. Westendorf-Kitzbuhel is much better than Westendorf-Brixen buswise! We'd certainly consider going back to try out the link to Brixen, although reading the text on the website it sounds like in at least one direction some sort of road vehicle will be involved, although to be honest it isn't very clear:

Ski Welt Homepage wrote:

To make sure all snow lovers make it to the valley lift station comfortably, a shuttle service will be arranged from the end of the slope to the Hochbrixen valley station.

As of 2008/2009, a conveyor belt and a drag lift will transport skiers from the end of the slope in the area of the Brixen bathing lake directly to the new valley lift station.
This will be built on the opposite side of the street from the existing funicular station situated on the sunny side. A bridge over the Brixental main road will connect the two buildings.


I do have a fondness for Westendorf - it's where we learnt to ski.
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Just thought I'd add a brief report on our trip to Kitzbuhel last week, particularly with respect to the link with Westendorf and the Ski Welt (copied over from the Kitz thread).

This was our third trip and we were finally lucky with the snow and were able to ski all the valley runs that hadn't been open on previous visits. But after 3 days we were a bit bored of the slopes and decided to take advantage of the Kitzbuheler Alpen Pass - when we bought our lift pass at the start of the week we had opted to pay 17 Euros more for the week and get the Alpen lift pass which basically covers all the resorts that you could wish to ski in the area, from Saalbach, Zell am See, Ski Welt etc.

So, the 8.35 bus from the Hahnenkammbahn saw us at the Ki-West gondola for 9.05 and up the top ready to ski by 9.15. The next bus left at 9.25. The ski bus system is very erratic but does stick to the published timetable - get hold of a timetable as soon as you can. And we did the same for the next 2 days.

We really liked the slopes at Westendorf, the snow was great and getting up to the far side of the slopes that are normally quieter anyway so early meant they were lovely and empty. I found the gradings of runs to be pretty accurate - the reds were true reds and even the long blue down to the bottom of the Ki-West gondola had some steepish sections made more difficult in the afternoon soft snow/slush. There's a great short red from the top of the Fleiding lift down to the Talkaser that looks like a really steep roller-coaster - but is good fun to ski!

We skied down the new run linking to Brixen - I found it to be quite a tough red although the OH sickeningly seems to just float down effortlessly. The gondola can always be taken down if needbe. And then a travelator and tow rope to the gondola from Brixen up to the slopes above Scheffau, Soll etc.

The second day we did this we explored all the runs on Westendorf, really enjoyed it. There seemed like a good snow park there. And then the third day we were at Zinsberg above Scheffau by 11 am, skied down to Scheffau and the slopes along the top and then got the bus straight back to Kitzbuhel from Brixen - 30 mins bus ride.

I would say this is really a great bonus to be able to ski these slopes for just another 17 Euros more for the week. The buses are effortless but you do need to either get a timetable or check the times out beforehand or you could be in for a long wait. One annoying thing was the piste map had all the lifts numbered but not the runs, although the runs do have numbers - there was quite a lot of trial and error!
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Westendorf roller-coaster:
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Early morning empty slopes (I'm a little green dot if you look hard Toofy Grin )
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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.
cathy, looks good. I shan't make it to Kitzbuhel this year, first year for some time. Glad to hear you finally got some snow.


Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Sun 8-02-09 19:10; edited 1 time in total
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We're off again to Westendorf in 2010 to try out the new stuff, when we were there last we took the bus from the bottom of the Pengelstein(?) gondola to the KiWest gondola - which isn't very far. The buses around Westendorf were generally a bit crowded/erratic, so it'll be a relief to be able to pretty much avoid them.

I remember the roller-coaster from my earlier days learning to ski Shocked
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Hoppo wrote:
I remember the roller-coaster from my earlier days learning to ski Shocked

I bet that was 'interesting'! Very Happy

richmond - traitor! Although I don't think we'll be going back to Kitzbuhel again, just got a bit tired of the slopes. Spent a day around the main Pengelstein/Hahnenkamm area, a day over at Pass Thurn, a day on the Horn (all other lifts were shut due to high winds). And didn't really feel like skiing there any more - our extended lift pass saved us I think Very Happy
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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.
Our kids got a bit bored with Kitzbuhel after a couple of years, and I can understand why, although I like it a lot. I usually manage to have to make a work trip to Munich in the ski season and nip down to Kitzbuhel for along weekend. Not this year, unfortunately.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
richmond, yes, I think a long weekend would be better for Kitzbuhel once you know the slopes
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