 Poster: A snowHead
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Hello
I'm a new member to Snowheads !
My husband, myself & 2 daughters (aged 13 & 10) just had our first Ski holiday at Hemesdal, Norway at Xmas 2018 and we are now hooked (we also skied in Lapland 2017 for two days).
I would say we are classed as top end/advanced beginners, we’ve learnt stem turns & will be booking lessons to learn to parallel throughout the year. My husband is a snowboarder.
We fancy going to Switzerland or Austria & have been looking at:-
- Arosa - good for beginners, but, apparently the lifts are very old
- Saalbach - looks like a great resort, but the blue runs appear to be quite steep
- Kitzbuhel – seems to be good for beginners
We don’t want to stay on the base/valley runs as this will obviously get boring (in Hemesdal we took the chair lift up the mountain). We want to be able to go up the mountain, but, with nice gentle slopes, not too steep.
Can anyone give me some recommendations in which areas offer this ? Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Thank you very much in advance. 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Both Saalbach and Kitzbühel would work well as would nearby Skiwelt. Another nearby similar area to look at is Ski Amade. Possibly important is when you plan your trip, mid March onwards can mean poor snow in a number of places (though with the amount of snow that has fallen recently there should be enough snow to get to Easter practically everywhere).
Another area in Austria more to the west and higher (so likely to be better towards the end of the season) would be Serfaus / Fiss.
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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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Wengen would suit you well, 5 minutes up to the wide open pistes at Männlichen on the (new this year) cable car. Lots of easy, cruisy skiing.
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Welcome to snowheads! -have a look at Obertauern, some very good hotels with apartments attached, most with a pool. Skiing from at least 50% of all hotels is literally in/out. A lot of easy runs, and getting to the top should be well within everyones capabilities during the week. You can ski round the resort either clockwise or anticlockwise and view the village from almost all slopes. Very re-assuring with a family.
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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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Welcome to snowheads @Mummytwo,
Of interest maybe Grimentz, enchanting village in valley of the same. Main lift to high plateu with exemplary progressing area to build skills etc. There's some superb wide open piste plus café alongside to spend the day up there.
More extreme return to village, but the option of a long blue or just as easily coming back down by the gondola lift return to village. It's really a great place to experience the higher mountain runs without feeling trapped or nervous of your skills to get back home.
Worth a look at pictures via g ooo gling to appreciate just how nice it is.
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Take a look at Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis, quite large modern area with lots of variety for improvers and children. All the skiing starts from various mid-station plateaus and. I am told their ski school is the gold standard in Europe.
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@Mummytwo,
Hi and welcome!
I'm not sure why you think the lifts in Arosa are old. We were there in 2015 and I can't remember any particularly old lifts. The area in Arosa is great for your level. We all enjoyed it. The village is quaint, but goes completely to sleep when the lifts close. Another plus for us was that kids attend skiing lessons completely for free. (Being Switzerland, it's fairly expensive otherwise, obviously)
Saalbach is quaint and has some really nice skiing. I can't comment on the steep blues.
Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis is certainly a nice option, especially for a family. We've been to Serfaus before and this winter we're going to Fiss.
You could consider Sölden, if staying close to the Giggijochbahn. There are plenty of relaxing blues on top of Giggijoch, and you can go back to the village using the gondola. (To avoid the red/black.)
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| SkiingDad wrote: |
@Mummytwo,
Hi and welcome!
I'm not sure why you think the lifts in Arosa are old. We were there in 2015 and I can't remember any particularly old lifts. The area in Arosa is great for your level. We all enjoyed it. The village is quaint, but goes completely to sleep when the lifts close. Another plus for us was that kids attend skiing lessons completely for free. (Being Switzerland, it's fairly expensive otherwise, obviously) |
Agree with this. There is one chair to the top of the bruggerhorn which is a bit of a slow 2 seater, but the rest are fast modern chairs or gondolas for the big lift with a few t bars on the gentle slopes around tshugggen.
Quite a large area of gentle blues around Tshuggen, and down to Pratchli so you feel like you are properly up the mountain, and also a couple of blue runs from the very top of the mountain.
CH isn’t cheap though.
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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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@Mummytwo, as others have said. Very much depends WHEN you are looking to go? A second trip this season at Easter for example, of looking to go Christmas next season?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Mummytwo, Since you mention that Saalbach is under consideration, you may find my comprehensive guide to the resort helpful. If you PM me your email address I’ll send it to you.
With regard to your worry that some of the blue runs are steep, bear in mind that 140km of the 270km total consists of blue runs. Obviously some will involve a little more challenge than others, but none will be impossible for skiers at your stage. In the course of a week’s holiday, I would fully expect you to progress from the easier blue runs (and there are plenty at the easier end of the spectrum) to those that are bordering on red.
One of the big attractions of the Ski Circus is that you can do a complete circuit of the main valley, entirely on blue runs and without doing the same run twice - a very satisfying and confidence-building day’s skiing for an early intermediate skier . If at any stage you decide you’ve had enough, it’s easy to ski down (or take a gondola down) to the bottom and catch one of the regular ski buses back to your base.
The fact that the resort has the fastest lift system and the highest number of gondola cable cars in the world is also a positive benefit, not only in dispersing crowds and avoiding queues and bottle-necks in high season, but also in enabling you to travel easily, quickly and comfortably around the ski area.
Last season I took a very nervous, early intermediate skier from Saalbach to Fieberbrunn for a day’s skiing. It was easily achieved by utilising the gondolas to quickly bypass the more challenging red runs, and once over there my companion thoroughly enjoyed the many beautiful blue runs.
It might be worth mentioning that children up to age 15/16 get free ski passes after the middle of March. Don’t worry about conditions in late season. The resort always has enough snow to last until April, and we and our guests always enjoy that time of the season, with its long, sunny days and mountain-top parties (google “White Pearl Mountain Days”). As in any ski resort, the lower, south-facing slopes become soft in the afternoons, when the weather is warm, so an early start is advisable, and also some thought to the orientation of pistes when planning itineraries. The fact that all sectors of the ski area are served by fast gondolas means that it’s easy to download by lift if that seems preferable to skiing down - although in practice none of our large circle of skiing friends and family seem to find it necessary, except on rare occasions - and they are not all good skiers.
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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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@Mummytwo, in a lot of Austria the easiest runs are at the top of the mountain once you graduate from the learner slopes in the valley, as the profile of the mountains is typically flat or gently rounded on top, then increasing in steepness as you go down. As an example, our kids learned in Hinterglemm, and the first progression after the ski school learning area was to the top of the Zwolferkogel to ski down to the midstation. Only when they were significantly better did they go any further, as it gets steeper below that point.
Other areas which would be good include the SkiWelt - lots of blue runs but enough progression to allow you to challenge yourselves if you improve fast enough, plus there are top to bottom blue runs in Ellmau, Scheffau and Soll rather than coming back down in the gondola. Ellmau or Schaffau would probably be ideal - lots of access to blue runs from the top of Hartkaiser or Brandstadl, but Soll requires using red runs to link into the wider area so that's probably not such a great idea for you at the moment. See http://skimap.skiwelt.at/?Lang=en for a map - easy access from Salzburg or Munich airports, including by train.
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| tatmanstours wrote: |
| It might be worth mentioning that children up to age 15/16 get free ski passes after the middle of March. |
I didnt know about this. Any restrictions other than I guess you get it one for one with a full paying adult. Is this still the case over the Easter weeks?
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You know it makes sense.
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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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@ster, The conditions are available (in English) on the resort website, but the “Easter bonus”, as it is called always runs from the middle of March (this year 16th) until the end of the season around mid-April. Children (this year born in 2003 or later) get a free lift pass, and I don’t believe that it is limited to one child pass per full adult pass. My understanding that one adult buying an adult pass for at least four days could claim free passes for any accompanying children.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Mummytwo,
I haven't been to the resorts you mention, in all honesty though an awful lot of resorts would probably suit your profile of skiing.
One thing that is important is when you go, you have not said in your post when this trip is planned , if you are going late in the season to enjoy good snow you will benefit from having a reasonable amount of high ish North facing slopes. Slopes that get a lot of sun will often alternate between being rock hard if it has frozen over night to being very slushy and difficult to ski. Although if there is enough snow there will usually be a transition between the two with good skiing, in late season when the sun is strong this can be rather a short time.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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I would second the Obertauern suggestion.
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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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@tatmanstours, found it , thanks. Good to know. We dont mind going at Easter and this certainly is a decent plus for Saalbach.
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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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Have a look at the EoSB, the main snowHeads bash, in Val Thorens at Easter. If you are after lessons, the instructors are the best!
There are other young people going of the same age as your daughters.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
Because of the huge amount of snow Austria has had recently then as munich_irish said there should be enough snow to get to Easter practically everywhere.
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It's surprising how fast it disappears - mostly by sublimation. But even if there's more, and still good depths at the end of the season, it might not make a big difference. a few years ago there was a great depth of snow in Les Saisies (base 1600m) at the end of season in late April. I thought we'd have great conditions but things got just as "springlike" (icy in the morning, very slushy moguls in the afternoon, depending on aspect and weather) as usual. I came to realise that we only ski on the very top bit!
Late season can be a great time to ski, and I know that some people love slushy moguls, but they can be hard on the knees.... 
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And icy frozen ruts aren't much fun either. @Mummytwo, it'll be important that you keep going with your ski lessons on your next holiday, even if you've managed to make progress in the meantime. Giving up lessons too soon can be a mistake!
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Late last season at the Spring Family Bash in Val thorens on paper it was a good snow depth and there had been some good fresh snow, but then the wind came in and scoured the snow off the runs leaving very hard icy areas. You really can’t know what it is going to be like.
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FAQ
( we will visit The Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead or even Snowworld Zoetermeer for a long weekend maybe over Easter !
