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Quiet Austrian resort for mid-February?

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Unfortunately despite not having kids ourselves we've ended up with the only week we can ski being Feb 17-24, which I believe is one of the two English half-term weeks, as well as being half-term for at least half the Dutch schools as well. We're going with others and are looking at Austria. So, any recommendations for quiet Austrian resorts where we're most likely to be able to avoid lift queues and crowded slopes? I'm a boring old f@rt and have zero interest in lively apres ski, and would actively prefer somewhere which didn't have it, which must help! Ideally the resort or resorts should have a decent mix of piste and off-piste opportunities. Maria Alm is one place I'm looking at - please someone correct me if this doesn't fit the bill. I'd also consider Warth and Stuben.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Alpbach. Beautiful.
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Don't worry, be happy: you're not in the Fasching/Carnaval week (one week earlier)
Warth indeed would be a good choice. The Warth-Lech-Oberlech area is never very busy. You might even consider Lech.
Stuben less good, since it sits in the middle of the Arlberg, and since last winter is a major hub for skiers from St.Anton going to Zürs.
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Filzmoos.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Look at Rauris, tiny but beautifully formed. Adjacent valley is the Gastein with huge variety.
Dienten is a village along the area from Maria Alm which you mention, an extremely underrated area!
With a car this location gives access to a mind blowing volume of skiing.
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I would also suggest Alpbach, with the caveat that I've never been in half term!
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Alpbach and Wildschönau is a major destination for Brits and Dutch, and is the busiest period for them!
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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!
Plenty of possibilities in areas like Bad Gastein, Carinthia (Nassfeld or with a car do several smaller resorts all close together), Alpbach, Wildschonau generally..........
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How about Heiligenblut? Virtually unvisited by us Brits. Bit remote but so worth the effort. Shhh, don't tell everyone. Madeye-Smiley
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Damuuls.
But if you want to avoid apres ski .. why not go somewhere like La Thuile in Italy
Or Hemel in Hertforshire.
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After spending 6 weeks out in Austria back in 2016, it was noticable how certain ski areas (i'll avoid calling them resorts, as a lot of them will involve a drive or a bus ride to get to them) attracted certain nationalities.

A lot of the Zillertal e.g Fugen & Mayrhofen were full of Dutch and UK, Sölden & Obergurgl were a lot of UK and German, Ishgl was hard to work out, but I didn't like the lift system there anyway.. it seemed to funnel everyone into the same area and cause large queues.

A couple that spring to mind that might tick boxes in terms of being quiet and decent on & off piste opportunities are Axamer Lizum & Kuhtai.. the former not really having much in the way of accommodation on site, so would be a bus ride or drive (not sure how you're getting there? parking is free though), there is a fair bit of accommodation in Kuhtai, but rarely appears on package deals, could maybe go DIY?

Neither are huge areas, but if that doesn't bother you, it might be worth investigating Schlick 2000 too, plenty of fun to be had there if you look for it Madeye-Smiley
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Zurs might suit, excellent skiing and definitely quiet at night.
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Maria Alm will be rammed in those weeks, I would give that a miss, but thats just my opinion.

Filzmoos is a good suggestion, although the off piste is not very extensive. Will you have a car?
You would ski Filzmoos out in a day or two but could travel on to the surrounding areas. Forstau for example is a real hidden gem, (only antiquated chairlifts and t bars though but its always really quiet there) Dachstein West is also pretty good.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Wow, loads of suggestions, thanks! Group seem to be settling on Maria Alm, so I was a little concerned to see your warning there, Kooky. I had got the impression it was a quiet area.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
@J2R, You'll have missed the busiest week, and February is always busy but Maria Alm is a comparatively quiet resort.

For a good mix of piste and off-piste I think you'll be better served by Fieberbrunn or Leogang. Both are smaller and quieter than the 'big' resorts in the area, but you're directly linked into the Ski Circus.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
wib, Heiligenblut looks great! Didn't know about that at all. More of a problem to get to, though, which rules it out for this trip (keen to fly from Stansted and minimise transfer time). Worth considering for another time, though.
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Ski Amade resorts are close to Salzburg but not popular with UK TOs for some reason. I haven't been that week but Flachau/Wagrain does not seem to be on any UK TO radar lots of weekenders from Salzburg and Bavaria but might be quieter mid week.
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@Col the Yeti, flachau will be rammed
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@J2R, its probably me being spoilt as I am used to having the resorts to myself and get annoyed if I have to queue longer than 5 minutes rolling eyes
Maria Alm is a lovely place to ski but I actually think Quintons suggestion of Leogang is a good one. The whole ski circus is now so vast although it gets a lot of visitors they all seem to spread about.
Flachau is no fun at all in peak weeks, it gets really busy.
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Thanks, Kooky, all information from those in the know is valuable. Just as a benchmark, where would you put Zauchensee in the quietness league? I was there a couple of years ago (and liked it).
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@J2R, Its pretty quiet actually. I don't think I have ever had to queue longer than about 5 mins in the busiest of days, but I have a strict order of how I ski it in peak weeks!
The World Cup run can be utter carnage at midday so we usually do that first thing, then head over to Flachauwinkl/Kleinarl with a stop for lunch at Frauenalm (still best value meals I have found on the mountain) and a late afternoon play on the black 10 with a few beers at the Sonnalm.

The off piste is really very good there too, and over on the Flachauwinkl side there is a great area called the Stash which is fun to play in, so it would fit your bill, and there is zero apres ski!
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Yes, Kooky, I think we skied the Stash last time. There was no new snow when were there but I was definitely tempted by the off-piste possibilities for another time.
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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!
After all that, the group did in fact settle on Maria Alm in the end. I'll keep some of the other ideas in mind for next time, though - thanks for everybody's contributions.
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We will be In Maria Alm the week before you and it will be even busier I reckon. We go every year and even though it's very busy the lift queues are pretty quick
There is one bottleneck when going up Aberg ( the mountain at Maria Alm), after the cable car the 4 man chair to the top of Aberg can be busy, especially if there are a lot of ski schools. You need to get to the top of Aberg to open up the rest of the valley to do the Kings Tour to Muhlbach . What we tend to do unless we are really early is stay on the bus(or drive) to Hintermoos and catch the cable car up Gabuhel. You miss Blue 10 and Red 19 down to Hintermoos but there is so much skiing to do after that it's not really a problem

I can't remember if you said you had a car or not but if you do I would highly recommend that you get the Salzburgerland Super ski card. It's only 15 euros more than the local Hochkonig one and gives you access to another 20 something areas
We will take a day trip to Leogang/Saalbach one day and Zell am Zee another as they are only 15-20 drive away

If you are a small group you have to lunch at the Wastlalm(Red 23) on Aberg one day (there's not much seating inside) and lunch at the Scheppal Alm (bottom of Blue 1a) in Muhlbach when doing the Kingstour
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Good tips, there - thanks.
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Nauders was great half term week, not too busy and you get access to 2 Italian areas on the ski pass.
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@J2R, Quiet mid February isn't going to happen in Austria - i'd suggest Montafon or Bregenzerwald regions, snow sure with excellent lift infrastructure, albeit all Tirol/ Vorarlberg is sorted. Ski Amade small resorts good but its been a while and i'm not sure how the lift systems compare, if you like hopping from valley to valley and high mileage then its good I'm sure.
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The suggestions above of Ski Circus villages for someone looking for a quiet Austrian resort in peak season may seem counterintuitive , and certainly made me raise my eyebrows for a moment. However, when one thinks about it, there are good reasons why it makes sense. The Ski Circus has the highest number of gondola cable cars of any resort in the world, as well as the highest proportion of fast lifts. This, and the fact that there are so many settlements, hamlets and access points, quite apart from the four main villages, helps to disperse people around the area and minimise queues.
To the suggestions of Leogang and Fieberbrunn, I would add Hochalm, Vorderglemm (and even Viehhofen if you will have a car to get you up the road to the Schoenleitenbahn gondola). All these satellite villages are quiet, and what apres-ski there may be is likely to be confined to a solitary, and even quite charming, bar or restaurant (e.g. the Hecherhuette at Viehhofen, which I would challenge anyone to dislike)
Even in the main villages of Saalbach and Hinterglemm there are quiet, peaceful areas to stay, and besides, I have a cunning plan for avoiding any apres-ski revelry - just stay out of the relatively few busy and lively apres-ski bars (you’d hate the Goassstall and the Hinterhag Alm - just ask Kooky Very Happy ), and either (a) stick to the many other bars and restaurants that are quiet; (b) wait in one of the many mountain top bars and restaurants (there are about 60) for the mountains to clear of people and then enjoy having the slopes to yourself as you ski down; (c) ski down, ignoring any apres-ski goings-on and spend a leisurely evening watching television or whatever in your accommodation; (d) ski down and book into a hotel wellness suite, where, after a swim and sauna, you can listen to bird song while you relax on a lounger.


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 Mon 13-11-17 0:03; edited 1 time in total
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Quote:

Don't worry, be happy: you're not in the Fasching/Carnaval week (one week earlier)

@Langerzug, This is earlier in February, yes?
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
I went to https://www.silvretta-montafon.at/de this January. Perfect ski area and very quiet, lots of retired people at that time. I have no idea about the nightlife, stayed in St Gallenkirch, heard some music around the town centre, saw some young people going for apres drinks, but didn't bother to go myself.
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 Poster: A snowHead
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tatmanstours wrote:
(c) ski down, ignoring any apres-ski goings-on and spend a leisurely evening watching television or whatever in your accommodation


Very Happy Of course, I asked for this! I should explain that I'm not actually averse to having a beer or two after skiing. What I prefer to avoid is the pounding music which, for me, rather spoils the sense of peace in the mountains, and the late-night party scene. Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed stopping off at end of each day at the Nederhütte in Obergurgl a couple of years ago, so maybe there's hope for the old curmudgeon yet.
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@J2R, Understood, and we have plenty of guests who share your outlook. However for every noisy apres-ski venue there are dozens of peaceful ones, both on the mountain and in the village. I don’t think you need to avoid any particular resort in order not to be subjected to apres-ski.

I should also perhaps add that, in this neck of the woods at least, any late night revelry (live musicians, etc.) tends to take place in subterranean bars that are surprisingly well sound-proofed. You could walk past practically all of the bars that I can think of without knowing that there is anyone in there.

Moreover you may find that, at the time you are planning to go, the late evening apres-ski scene will be a little quieter than you might expect, owing to the fact that it is peak family holiday time, when a sizable proportion of the visitors will be ensconced in their apartments or hotel rooms with their children. Last season we noticed that February seemed to be quieter in the late evenings than say late January or early March, no doubt for that reason.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I'd go for Heiligenblut as well, I'm visibly not the only one! Then, if you want the calmest experience you can find, it could be pleasant to rent a house or an apartment there, this way you won't be bothered by loud parties or drunk people coming back at 3 a.m.... if you're into luxury holidays, you can try with companies such as https://tranio.com/rent/austria/, but if you prefer thrifty travel, I'm pretty sure that a basic knowledge of German and google.at can yield results... that's what I often did some years ago Laughing
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francium. wrote:
Nauders was great half term week, not too busy and you get access to 2 Italian areas on the ski pass.


I'd second this - had a great half term there last year, to a big resort but some lovely runs.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Dachstein West, (Gosau or Russbach, notably) could be worth a look. About 160km of pistes, some decent off-piste and not particularly lively on the apres front. Traditional mountain towns that cater to the skiing in Winter.

The season has started superbly with excellent conditions.

Majority of the skiing is through larch and pine forests, the mountain alms/huts provide decent offerings at very reasonable prices IME.
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