 Poster: A snowHead
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BACKGROUND: Mrs EWW and I came to Kuhtai on a last minute deal back in 2009, was only my 3rd week skiing but hotel (Mooshaus) was great and we really enjoyed everything the resort offered.
Skip forward a few years and 'The Jump' took over the town, bringing upgrades but pushing prices, and it never worked out a deal.
Now 'The Jump' is gone, it feels like the rates are coming down, we now have children as do our friends.
Found Hotel Moritz (separate post to follow) offering Family Weeks with drinks, food, pool & wellness ski lessons for U7s and kids club all included in the rate. Booked for our family and friend's 1 week about a year ago, then all of a sudden here we are...!!
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 5-04-22 12:40; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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TRAVEL:
We booked flights wuth Jet2 from Bristol to Innsbruck: came in around £800 depending what iptions you took. Bear in mind it was booked 'at risk' during lockdown, but BA London flights were £2k+
Flight time was changed once, but to a more civilised time so no biggie. Got a text the night before saying security was going to be busy, but in the end really quick and easy through check in and security. Flight wasnt full so quickly boarded and took off / landed on time.
We prebooked a taxi from Innsbruck (BTW no on checked in AUT about vax status!!), annoyingly drivers card machine wasnt working but otherwise straight up the valley hill in 45mins. I think its usually quicker but there were lots of roadworks.
Long day but good journey, everything went to plan and 8hrs door to door is pretty good going.
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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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CONDITIONS: it is WARM!!! Scorchio in town, I was skiing yesterday in a Tshirt and only felt cold at the very top, at the very end of the day.
Compared to our 1st trip, there is so much more rock than snow on the peaks around us, but the bashers are doing a great job if keeping the pistes alive.
Trick in Kuhtai (like a lot of places, I guess): ski the south facing runs in the morning. Higher up was pretty good until 11.30, the bottom 10% was Slush Puppy-esque from mid morning.
The northern aspect slopes faired better, for longer. Still slush where they catch the sun, icy where it gets blown / pushed off but on the whole good conditions for the temps.
Recommendation: always pack shorts and crocs for kids if there's a chance its going to be warm!
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Thu 7-04-22 13:29; edited 2 times in total
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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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@EarthWindandWater, fab, I've contemplated Kuthai since watching The Jump so great to hear more about it! Interesting that the prices may have gone down since they stopped to murder celebs there. 
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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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Once skied a day in Kuhtai when we were staying near Landeck.
It's a very pleasant village with (it being at 2000m) a great snow record. One thing that did surprise me though was that - for the Alps - the vertical drop is quite limited. Biggest vertical is about 500 metres but, on most runs is only around 300 - 400 metres. We'd skied places like Ischgl and See on the same trip, so the runs at Kuhtai felt short in comparison. We still really enjoyed it though, as conditions were excellent.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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CONDITIONS UPDATE:
Thursday it was cloudy, then Friday Saturday dumped it down. Visibility not that great, but the snow was perfect and topped all the pistes up nicely.
Whoever's there this week is in for a treat!
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ACCOMMODATION: My Hotel AVA (previously Hotel Moritz)
For photos, see my TripAdvisor review here
We had no idea what to expect here... trip advisor reviews from a few years back were glowing, but a few more recent ones not so much, and due to a recent (December 2021) rebrand and fit-out the website was "minimalist" and although we'd asked, pictures of the rooms weren't available. However communication from the office was prompt whenever we had questions, and with a bit of hunting on other booking sites there were some promising pictures of the new décor.
So to get this over and done with: this hotel is brilliant for families! My boys loved it, there are so many nice touches and well thought out arrangements, and the staff are just perfect at making you feel welcome.
We arrived before we could check-in (between 3 and 4pm usually) and had missed lunch (included on the first day of your stay) but were able to leave our bags by the boot room and grab a free (yes: all drinks are free, 07.30 - 2300) drink whilst sitting on the sun deck which overlooks piste 6 (see also "ski in ski out...)
Room:
When we could get in the room (AVA) we were so impressed by the space... I've been in some broom cupboards in ski hotels before, but this had so much room for all 4 of us and plenty of shelves for our kit.
The finish was quality with some nice touches like automatic light on the shaving mirror (although not being able to turn off the automatic light in the toilet was a little annoying as it's right by the boys bunk beds... ours are old enough to sleep through, mind). There were plenty of socket points, including by the bedside tables for the double bed with reading lights, and also a reading light and socket in each of the bunks.
Tip: if your children need them, take a night light each so you can draw the bunk curtains all the way, meaning any lights don't wake them up.
The shower had a rainfall head, as well as a smaller one, and our room had double washbasins, one set lower for the littl'uns.
There was an L-shaped sofa by the huge window, and a door leading onto a shared balcony. The balcony wasn't great for much, but as we were next to our friends' room was useful to pop next door.
Food:
Breakfast is served from 07.30, lunch from 12.30, afternoon tea from 3.30 and dinner from 18.30. COVID restrictions still in place, we were assigned the same table for our stay, but that helped us to get to know our neighbours, as you saw the same people each mealtime. There was a great selection of (mainly german / austrian) fare but sufficiently "anglicised" options for our boys when they weren't feeling adventurous. The real orange juice and ice-cream machines and the chocolate fountain were well received! Fruit, cheese and bread was in plentiful supply.
Overall, there was never not enough choice, and we usually came away feeling too full!
Bar:
There were two hot drinks machines for coffee, hot chocolate, warm milk, etc. and a hot tap for teas (no 'English'; but a large selection of herbals to spoon into individual tea bags (supplied)). They had red, white and fizzy wines on tap with lager and weissbier. Soft drinks through the post-mix were all 'usual' flavours, plus fruit juices, schiwasser and tonic to go with the Gin / Vodka on the optics stand, alongside Aperol, Baileys and few others. We certainly didn't lack for lubrication!
Wellness:
Unusually, the photo's of the pool didn't do it justice: there was a larger, deeper pool, a slide into a shallower splash pool and a separate baby slide as well.
Separately there was a family wellness area with recliners, an outdoor hot-tub next to the kiddie ski-garden and a small sauna.
On the top floor was the adults wellness area with recliners and saunas (although I didn't make it there, so can't comment, but Mrs EWW said it was nice!
Ski facilities:
There was a large boot room with benches and a separate ski locker room on the way out, so plenty of room for everyone even at peak times (although to be fair, the hotel wasn't full, so might have gotten worse if it was really busy.
Location:
It's a 50m downhill walk to the beginners' startbahn chair and blue run, alternatively you can walk 20m past the next hotel (VAYA) straight onto the red piste 6 and get going straight away, so easy.
The Follow-Me schi schule meeting point and office is at the bottom of the hill so only 1 min walk even for little ones in boots, and the Sport 2000 Seppl is the same. I'll not do separate posts on these; only to say both are highly recommended.
Summary:
A superb hotel with all the features to keep grown ups and kiddies happy on and off the slopes. If you can get on the "Family Week" with little ones the free lessons are a bonus, but even without this is a great place to base yourself in the resort (post to follow...!)
Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Thu 7-04-22 13:31; edited 1 time in total
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RESORT:
From their website:
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47.26 km of total ski runs, total ski run area 113.6 ha, 91.7 ha of which are snowed in (80.72 %) – over four fifths of the ski run area! 3 km of illuminated slopes.
9.25 km of easy slopes
26.77 km medium difficulty descents
8.08 km of difficult descents
3.16 km freestyle |
Certainly a few tricky runs, although I think these were in the main closed due conditions during our stay.
As mountainaddict has already commented, not the longest runs, nor the greatest vertical: I think the longest top to bottom I did in 6 minutes with a couple of piccy stops. However for the purpose of this trip - kids to learn - this was perfect, as you were never more than 15 minutes from the resort, even if you'd just got on to a lift.
The blues are fun and the reds flattering: my eldest was down most of the reds by the end of his 1st week proper, although number 1 gets narrow and slushy as the day goes on, be warned! The blacks are there because someone ran out of red paint, I think! Certainly, number 9 was wide, flat and fast, could just do that over and over. 9a and 9b slightly trickier but still fun.
The lift pass also covers Hochoetz, a 20 minute ride down the valley in the free, hourly bus. However we never made it as the temperature / snow didn't warrant the trip. In the week I was there, I pretty much skiied each run by day 5. If I went back I'd probably make the journey, but not if it was as warm as this week just gone!
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FAQ
