Possibly Saalbach-Hinterglemm , March , with kids .

A snowHead

Hello , firstly thanks to all the posters on this site as I’ve used a lot of the really great advice over the past few seasons .
We have flights booked to Salzburg and have an offer for hotel Johann in hinterglemm that appeals as it has a kids club if our youngest , who will only have just turned 4 has enough of skiing half way through the week ! Hopefully that won’t be a problem but a good , very easy to reach ski school is important.
I like the pool in case the weather is unfriendly ( I’m thinking the dreaded rain as we go March 10th possibly , hopefully not .
My daughter is a third week skier so nice blues for her would be good as she can ski greens ( France) and easy blues . she will happily join ski school and meet us after ) .I suffer from ‘ the fear ‘ at times although I’ve skied for years . I’ve heard mixed reports about the blues being tricky in the Saalbach area . Himself is a ski demon and loved the traveling of the 3 valleys so the ski circus idea appeals . Are the home runs very difficult ?
We also had a look at Zauchensee . The hotel I looked is full but they all look fairly centralized and looks like nice resorts to visit close by which would require ski bus so hotel with kids club be handy on occasion as the bambini lessons are only 2 hours .
Obertauern I looked at due to it being higher and more snow sure .
Has anyone been in any of the above resorts with young kids and have a preference? Any advice or opinions on Saalbach-Hinterglemm or the other two resorts we considered would be welcome !
Many thanks for reading if you made it this far !

A snowHead

We've been to the Johan 5 times - 3 with our daughter who was 4 on the last visit. She loves it and is disappointed we're not going to 'our hotel' this year. My partner wanted a break from s/h so we've booked to go to montafon, though he's now booked a boys week in..... s/h (not that bored of it then!)
The Johan is great - we've been with and without kids and can't imagine a better ski hotel (and we're going to try it in the summer this year). The childcare and ski school works a treat- you drop them for ski school (last year it was across the road, year before on the slope near the hotel) then collect them from the nursery at the end of the day. Last year they had lessons in the big learner area in hinterglemm - when they are ready they seem to take them up the zwolfer ad there are some nice wide pistes to play on. Food, pool, spa and bar great - the family are very welcoming. The Johan rooms aren't fancy but great value - we had a family room with bunk beds last year and it worked really well even though the shower room was a little snug. If the hotel isn't full, you tend to eat in the theresia (pack a couple of smarter tops just in case), if not it'll be the Johan which is a bit less formal. We tend to feed our daughter as soon as they open (6.30) then put her to bed and go to eat ourselves with the phone baby monitor on. Some parents seem to drag their little kids to dinner at 8 and make them sit through a 2 hour dinner but it just doesn't work for us.
March has been great for the last few years - if you're lucky you'll get lovely sun and snow.
In terms of the mountains there are other s/h's who live there and will chip in with advice (I think Tatman is almost the local mayor in terms of knowledge and will send his guide if you ask). Just make sure you fit in leogang and the chicken man.
We're snowboarders so can't comment on the home runs for a skier but we've always visited with mixed groups (even skiers!) and there is something for everybody. Don't let home runs (or rumours) put you off - the ones on the north that get you back near the Johan should be good for skiers as they are on shallower side. The 36a (from memory) back to the hotel can get a bit sketchy but only the last little bit is steep. If it's open and you're happy to take it slow, it's worth it to arrive in the hotel car park and you get a view of the outdoor pool to encourage you to keep going.
You've made a good choice and if you don't like it, you can try zauchensee or Obertauern next year.
Have fun!

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

TatmansTours will surely be along shortly to give you advice for Saalbach/Hinterglem. I skied there last March and found it a bit of a struggle to be honest. The blues were definitely steeper than anywhere else I have skied. The warm conditions certainly didnt help either. Most steeper sections just seemed to be chopped up by mid morning and you end up having to ski through piles of snow. If conditions were better then I may have had a different view. However Tatmanstours will give you the best advice as hes there Permanently throughout winter and has been for many years.

I cant advise specifically about Zauchensee but I have been to Wagrain which is connected to Zauchansee via Flachau and Flachauwinkel. You should be able to ski from Zauchansee down to Flachauwinkel. Then up and ski down to Kleinarl or get a tractor train from bottom of Flachauwinkel to Flachau. From Flachau you can then access the other side to Wagrain and Alpendorf. A lot of slopes at Flachau/Wagrain are red but quite a few could be classifed as harder blues. They were certainly less steeper than some of the blues in Saalbach. The snow conditions were far better in Flachau/Wagrain but this was due to it being colder and having several top ups during the week we were there (also in March but a few years go). I didnt specifically ski at Zauchensee but I believe it's higher than nearby areas and has the best snow conditions.

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Thanks Jimmybog and Jj72 !
Plenty for me to think over there . The Johann does sound like a great set up beside the ski school . We would have to eat early with our kids too as they have been shattered by 730 on previous ski trips in France . When they are a little older we can go back to our old holiday style of pensions and eating out but for now I like the idea of Shedding ski gear , eating and off to bed for them . The pool would bridge a gap if needed too .
I’ll have a think and a look at the resort map .
I’m keen on Zauchensee too as it looks like it has plenty easy slopes . I’ll look up the ski school there too . My daughter is 7 with no sense of direction so a smaller ski class would put my mind at ease . We chose carefully out ski schools in La Tania and pds previously and she has enjoyed it so far so want to keep that up !
Anyway thanks so much , off to research some more .

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Keep checking back here Bearo, the resort experts will eventually reply to give you some more useful advise. There are several snowheads who live or frequent the SKI amade (Zauchansee, Flachau, Wagrain etc) region on a regular basis and they will better advise you on Zauchensee.

You may want to have a look at some of the Saalbach/Hinterglem runs on youtube and see what they are like yourself. Most of the runs are covered on there and on a lot of videos the slope conditions look far better than when I was there. I'm not trying to put you off re the steep blue runs, but if you do choose Saalbach/Hinterglem, I would defintely advise doing your homework and geting advise on the runs. Tatman will be able to give you some excellent advice on the best slopes for your ability.

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We went to Hinterglemm in 2015 years ago, staying at the Ellmauhof, which is not a million miles from where I see the Johan is. Our chidren were 3 and 4 at the time so they had lessons as part of kids club for that hotel in the garden (it had a magic carpet).

There are some easy blues in Hinterglemm. Tatman's Tours advised me to visit the area above the Hochalm and he was spot on. You can access from either the Reiterkogelbahn in the centre of Hinterglemm or Hochalmbahn further up the valley. The route over from the top of the Hasenauer chairlift (at top of Reiterkogel) is easy and you can repeat the gentle slope by the Rosswaldbahn if you like. The further right (looking down the mountain) the easier the runs are so right of the Spieleck t-bar (also accessible with a little poling from the chairlift) is easiest. Going down to the road at Hochalm is also gentle.

The blues up the Zwolfer are a bit tougher but the blues on the other side of the road to go into Hinterglemm should be OK. The Ellmauhof is before you reach the lift opposite your hotel so I never went that far but I managed to get the wife and children up and down the next one, the Bergfried lift. From there you could ski & pole across to the bottom of the Zwolferkogelbahn (even though it doesn't look like it from the piste map). If you ski to the base and take the Unterschwarzbahn up it drops you onto the busy red piste coming down from Westgipfelbahn. It's only a short section before it flattens off but easy to get flustered here. Much easier for a beginner to ski into the village below the base of the gondola/park/beginner tows and walk across to Reiterkogel. After Hochalm, you can ski to Saalbach all on blue runs.

Alternatively, if you feel like a longer trip go up the Westgipfelbahn. You can ski on blues all the way down to the bottom of the Schonleitenbahn then up and across Saalbach. There are lots of blues, none seemed tricky but TT will know exactly. The easiest Blue is under the new Bernkogel chairlift but there a short red is required to get back to Hinterglemm from there (or a bus/taxi from Saalbach).

We were there in late March. It was slushy low down but didn't rain. The lower south facing Saalbach slopes and the lower reaches of 2 (Jausern) were very slushy and heavy in the afternoons. Mr TT is a font of knowledge on the area.

We also stayed with snowhead Flangesax in 2016. Their guest house is about 15mins drive from Zauchensee but I only managed to ski Radstadt-Altenmarkt, Flachau-Wagrain and Flachauwinkl-Kleinarl on that trip. We did consider Forstau-Fageralm and Zauchensee after a couple of warm days saw lots of slush low down at Radstadt and Flachau, but then it started snowing heavily so we stayed local snowHead

. I have looked at staying in Zauchensee (with Ski Hillwood) but decided on an alternative. Seemed like a good set up for beginners though. It's high for that area (village is 1350m, Radstadt is 860m and Flachau is 920m, they are all within 15kms). Having been on lavish and frugal ski holidays I'm happy to make compromises. Obertauern isn't far from there either. I haven't been but Mrs Flangesax didn't exactly rave about it (always cloudy and the lift system is pants was the gist IIRC) but I'm sure she can explain herself!

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@Bearo, If you would like a copy of my comprehensive guide to Saalbach-Hinterglemm, PM me your email address. I don't think you'll be disappointed in this area, although I can't comment on the other resorts you have in mind. The Ski Circus is so big and varied that you are bound to find something that suits you. It's also generally considered to be an intermediate skier's paradise, and it sounds as though you qualify as intermediates. We've had many guests who have come here as total beginners and been skiing the whole valley by their fourth day. You can even do a full circuit of the main valley, in the anti-clockwise direction, entirely on blue runs. Inevitably you will find some blues easier than others, and some may have short sections that are more challenging than others, but that's how you progress. I wouldn't worry about rainy weather, which, in my experience, is no more likely during the w/c 10th March than earlier in the season. At 1,000m, Saalbach is higher than many other successful, Austrian resorts. The resort closes this year on 8th April, which is actually earlier than usual (our final guests of last season left on 15th April, and they seemed to have had an enjoyable week, bombing around the Schattberg and Zwoelferkogel sectors, and also over to Leogang). The w/c 10th March is a good choice of week - just after the end of high season and therefore quieter, with a good chance of long, sunny days (as well as new snow).

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Thanks for all your advice ! In danger of overthinking all the possibilities I just went ahead and booked the Johann ! I have no doubt we will find plenty to suit us within the area . Such a long wait until March but I’ll enjoy the research !
Thank you very much tatmanstours I will pm you for information on the area !

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Possibly Saalbach-Hinterglemm , March , with kids .

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