Saalbach - best time

A snowHead

Looking to book Saalbach for either January or March.
What would you guys recommend for snow reliability and overall best time to visit?

Bunch of lads going so sometimes our ski day doesn’t start til after 10am with a bad hangover and heard slopes can get slushy around 1/2pm in March? But then also heard January can sometimes be a white out with no blue days? I guess nothing is guaranteed but just interested in everyones opinion.

Only been to Austria once in Ischgl late March which was amazing but I know the skiing is at a higher altitude.

Thanks all.

A snowHead

@nba2005uk,there is no right answer, if you were keen skiers ie in the queue for the first lift every day then I would definitely say January but if the apres bit is a key part then March. Yes there is a much higher possibility of slush or poor snow on the south facing slopes (basically the whole of the north side of the valley) but if the sun is shining it is much better for the apres. Nothing better than standing around for a beer or five in the spring sunshine after a day on the slopes. There will still be plenty of snow to have good time skiing too.

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@nba2005uk, I live in Saalbach throughout every ski season. Based on the last few years, my favourite times to ski in the Ski Circus have been the middle of December, the middle of January, the middle of March, and early April. Relatively uncrowded pistes means they tend to remain in reasonable condition. Obviously cold snaps and warmer spells alternate throughout the season, (and that’s always in the lap of the gods when booking in advance), but the times I’ve mentioned provide a reasonable expectation of decent skiing and a good time. Obviously not December or April if après-ski is important, as in both cases it’s quiet.

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January & March covers over 60 days - about 1/2 the ski season.
Do you have a week for each month in mind?

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

January. Later the better if you can afford it

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@tatmanstours, I'm heading there peak season middle of Feb as I have kids in tow, how bad should I expect the lift queues to be at this time?

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

I was there the 3rd week of Jan and second week of March 2020, snow and apri were great for both, COVID not so good. rolling eyes

After all it is free

last week of jan for me

@pctaylor, During February, the various half term holidays are spread out during the month: Vienna, Salzburg, Bavaria, Netherlands, etc. So much depends on whether the U.K. half term week happens to clash with one of those.
You can check on one of those websites that tells you the European school holidays/term dates.
But generally Saalbach is pretty good - assisted by the fact that it has the largest number of gondolas of any resort in the world, and they tend to disperse skiers throughout the area. I don’t tend to go up at peak times, so I’m always surprised to encounter a queue.
There are a couple of bottlenecks at the Schönleitenbahn bottom and mid-stations, and the Reiter Ost lift, where I have sometimes encountered queues, but to my recollection during New Year and Fasching weeks. And not horrendous queues. It’s a relatively queue-free resort.

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The only place we came across bad queues (maybe 4 or 5 mins) was this lift here between say 9.30 and 10.30.

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@pctaylor, we visited at UK half term with kids for 10 years. Queues exist at peak times when ski schools are going from their meeting places onto the hill. That means on the Ubahn and Reiterkogel in Hinterglemm and on the Schonleitenbahn, Bernkogel and of course Turmweise in Saalbach, it will be busy between about 0925 and 1000 while those groups move through.

Other than that, queues of 5 minutes at pinch points on the hill were occasional rather than regular, and that was typically because of a pile-up on the exit ramp which caused the lift to be closed for a couple of minutes and resulted in a queue building up.

Basically, get out before 9am if you can. If you are dropping kids at ski school, drop them off at 0915 and leave rather than waiting for them to start their day and fighting your way through the lift queue while you watch them get priority access ahead of you.

The alms will be busy from 1230 to 1330 - it pays to have a coffee stop around 11 and then continue to 1330, or stop early for lunch, or decide for the day where you will be stopping and then reserve a table in advance.

snow reports

[quote="nba2005uk"]Looking to book Saalbach for either January or March.
What would you guys recommend for snow reliability and overall best time to visit?

Bunch of lads going so sometimes our ski day doesn’t start til after 10am with a bad hangover and heard slopes can get slushy around 1/2pm in March? But then also heard January can sometimes be a white out with no blue days? I guess nothing is guaranteed but just interested in everyones op

in answer to your opening post ,Its been a while since I would call myself one of the lads but if you are of a mind to listen to the voice of an ageing bin there seen it done it and still does albeit a bit steadier chap
its got to be march ,longer days i.e daylight generally warm enough to start to party outside without getting frozen towards the end of your short day . Due to your late start time you could plan your day for the home run later or even stop off at a mountain hut that welcomes the 4pm onwards brigade to enjoy a tincture or two on the way down to the serious apres of whichever sort you like as its not yet sunset , never seen the point or to be fair not that much interested (nowadays) in stopping out all night every night so recommend a latish meal in covivial company then bed sleep with the window open a tad ( in my experience fresh air removes the chance of a hangover) dont shut the curtains so you wake up with the sun and repeat. weve been going to saalbach in march this last few years (other than covid ) usually within the first half and have had a ball ski wise, party wise the austrian hosts in saalbach have a word for it in fact two lassig and gemutchkilite ( forgive the spelling) , have fun hope you get sorted

You know it makes sense.

ha not a hundred yet, but well on the way to 70. I aint going to spend my time rocking in a chair unless its attached to an overhead cable .Shouldnt be wishing time away but looking forward to 11days to saalbach in march, the only slight concern I have is wether the hinterhag will be in full swing it did open outside last year when we went so time will tell

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@ski for fun, it’s already open. Was in there last night. On the positive news front, there’s been a bit of refurbishment and maintenance work, and Evi has had her blonde locks chopped in favour of a far more fitting grey bob. On the negative side, she’s still trying to sing.

A snowHead

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Saalbach - best time

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