Skiwelt?

A snowHead

Hi.....Is anybody out in the Skiwelt at the moment? How is it holding up? I'm out for the weekend on the 13th

Cheers Gaz

A snowHead

I'm in Kirchberg and skied there on Monday. was great, north facing slopes were firm the rest spring like.really enjoyed it

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@Mother hucker, that's good to know, thanks!. I'll have a car so can travel if need be... also looks like the temps are dropping too

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Had a great day in Hopfgarten, Brixen and Westerndorf. The skiing was far better than expected and quiet for a Sunday. Yes there is the odd stone and skiing on ribbons of white across green meadows is unusual. But the above freezing temps made the snow nice and soft and plenty of bumps in the afternoon which is perfect for all mountain skis Very Happy

. Rain turning to snow at the mid station as the lifts were closing. Spotted a few places with enough base for some mild off piste adventures if we get enough snow.

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About 4” at the top of Westerndorf. Enough to spend the morning lapping some gentle off piste in bright sunshine. One of the joys of Skiwelt is that no one ventures off the runs. The freezing temperatures have made the lower runs very icy. Snow machines running and more snow forecast.

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The snow machines and piste bashers have worked their magic. Most of the runs in Hopfgarten and Brixen were skiing nicely in the sunshine. Snow forecast tonight.

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4” last night and about 1”-2” this afternoon + snowmaking and the pistes are pretty good. Just about freezing in the valley this afternoon. There is very little base for off piste adventures though possible to make a few turns here and there.

After all it is free

-11 and snowing at Choralpe this afternoon. Snow cannons topping up some of the pistes. Had 2 fun days skiing boot top powder in the meadows. Snowy and cold for the next three days. If you’re coming out there’s going to be lots of great skiing. Roads round Kitzbuhel are going to be busy this weekend.

Anyone in the skiwelt have a take on current conditions? Webcams seemed to show a pretty big dump yesterday (as per the forecast), but the skiwelt website states only 10cm of fresh with no change to the previous snow depths? Heading out there next Friday. Cheers

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It was snowing heavy here all day yesterday. But it was wet heavy snow. It was forecast for 56 cms. And Bergfex are saying only 5 cms of fresh snow. Its been so hot today down in the valley that theres less snow now than there was two days ago, even after at least 24 hours of continual snow falling.

The forecast for heavy snowfall has also changed dramatically to literally 3/4 cms every day for the next three or four. But the good news is that the temp up the mountain is going to remain pretty negative, so will keep whats there in reasonably good condition.

The end of next week is beginning to say blue sky days, and low temps, so I wouldnt be worried at this stage.

Just to emphasise this is on the Brixen side as Im based in Kirchberg, but only two three clicks away.

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Thanks for the info Jafa. Looking at the Astberg Panomax time lapse with the use of some piste markers/fencing for scale, it looks like way more than 5-10 cm came down yesterday (certainly at 1200m.) Glad to hear the cooler conditions are coming through for the end of next week. Roll on Friday! We are staying in Going, and plan to ski a few days over in Kitzbuhel. Looking at Google maps it looks like a 15 minute drive to the Fleckalmbahn. Would you recommend this as a good entry point for the ski area, and what is the parking like? Thanks v much for you help. Cheers

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I was skiing at SkiWelt today, and there was up to 30cm of fresh snow in places. It was fairly windy yesterday, so the fresh snow cover is not that even. The best off-piste we found was under the Muldenbahn (70), and off the side down to the mid-station of the Brandstandl gondola. Below 1300m the snow was getting heavy. Piste conditions were generally very good, with just the odd wind-scraped patch.

Re driving to Fleckalmbahn, that's a good option. There's an outdoor car park and a multi(2 or 3) storey right by the lift, and when we drove past at the end of Sunday it looked like they were using the neighbouring field for overflow parking. The parking's free. Another option could be to drive to Jochberg; the main car park is fairly small and fills up quickly, but there are overflow options nearby

Thanks for this Viv. Added bonus that the parking is free! I know that it will be a busy week out there with half term and all that, but I wondered if you had any experience as to whether you think Kitzbuhel will be much busier than the skiwelt? We will be skiing Saturday to Saturday so 8 days. Thanks again.

You know it makes sense.

I think SkiWelt will be busier than Kitzbuhel over half term as Ski Welt is a popular school ski trip destination due to the very reasonably priced accommodation compared to Kitzbuhel.

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I've only skied here outside of busy times (early Jan to early Feb). My guess is that SkiWelt may be busier during the week, but Kitzbuhel may get more on the weekend (though some weekend visitors are likely to only show up if conditions are good)

A snowHead

@lemoncake, The Fleckalmbahn car park does fill up at weekends (with folk like me Smile

) but should be OK weekdays a bit more than a 15 minute drive from Going though. It is certainly a good spot to access the Kitzbühel ski area. The lift was replaced a couple of years back and is now faster and more reliable (it used to be very vulnerable to wind closures). Austrian areas are not much affected by UK half term. Busiest week is likely to be Fasching week which is week beginning 20.02. Biggest groups of visitors to SkiWelt are Germans (especially Bavarians) and Dutch so those half terms would have the biggest impact. You might find that a day in St Johann or the Kitzbühler Horn areas is worthwhile (and easy to drive to from Going)

A snowHead

Thanks all. @munich Irish.....looks like we are good in avoiding fasching and the Dutch half terms Very Happy

. I am struggling to get my head around the super ski card lift pass. We might well consider a day (or even a half day) in St Johann if it is included in the ski pass. Do you know if it is included or us it just the skiwelt and Kitzbuhel? Many thanks as ever.

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@lemoncake, yes the Super Ski Card covers St Johann as well plus many many others it’s a great ski pass.

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With thanks to @munich_irish on my other thread, daughter and I will be staying in Westendorf during fasching week (her half term) for our first time skiing Austria, so pleased to hear the white stuff is building up! I saw low visibility on the Webcams yesterday; not sure how much that translates to fresh cms on the ground but I do see that the roofs seem to have 3 inches on top whereas Andorra roofs (my local) often go down to bare if it hasn’t snowed for a while. Maybe they have worse insulation!

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One question, if fasching is the busy week, should I book a couple of private lessons in advance? I am so used to turning up and getting someone for next day; is that risky or they can always find someone? I think there are 2-3 schools in Westendorf, some of which hire out kit as well, and I haven’t yet priced up if there is much advantage in getting a kit/lessons package.

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If you want private lessons in Fasching week you need to book ahead or risk not getting any. I think the kit and lesson packages are usually if you're doing lessons for the week. If it's for your daughter you may find group lessons are much more enjoyable and is you want to have time skiing with her too she can always just do 3 days of ski school.

After all it is free

Many thanks. She’d love to learn in a group for the social aspect but by now she’s quite advanced (10-12 weeks, always lessons; age 17) and I don’t think ski school groups go up to that level. She was asking about race school… I didn’t see those on the usual websites.
And she’s now technically better AND more confident than me, and was a bit reluctant to come “because I’ll just always be waiting for you Dad” Sad

Private lessons booked Smile

Webcams suggest nearly always sunshine, I haven't watched every day for a week, but the valley floor still seems to be white and there looks to still be a thick layer on hut roofs, so it all seems to be holding up so far Smile

Wonder if it needs a top up before the hordes (including me) descend in a week's time!

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Conditions today were fantastic. The cold air is making the pistes perfect. And even coming back at half three, not as many moguls as usual for that time of the day

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Thanks to @Alicat and @Orange200 for the info about fasching week. We're planning on trying Ski Welt for the first time next Feb half term ('24) which I think is also a fasching. Can anyone let us know how crowded we can expect Ski Welt to be that week based on previous experience? It seems such a large ski area I assume there are quiet quarters and bad bottlenecks but really we have no idea. We are used to smaller French resorts for Feb HT. Any views or advice greatly welcomed.

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Hi Pooter, We skied Fasching week pre COVID. There were a few pinch points, notably in the Scheffau bowl.....but it really wasn't too bad at all. We are currently staying in Going. It's busy right now, but certainly not giving us any grief. Even on the busiest lifts we've only queued for 2-3 mins tops. Thanks to the advise of some of the other Snowheads further up the thread, we went for the Superski card, and have spent the last couple of days skiing in Kitzbuhel which has been magnificent. I would say that right now Kitzbuhel is the quieter of the two areas. Considering the warm temps the snow has been holding up very well indeed, and the pistes are in great shape. The Fleckalmbahn entry point is only a 15 minute drive from Going, so if you fancy taking on both areas then it is an excellent base.

You know it makes sense.

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

@red 27,

It will be busier than Kitzbuhel at the same time in my experience.
I know this because when I stayed in St Johann for 3 months (Jan Feb Mar) I could go to lots of places nearby using my Super Ski card and Ski Welt was probably the busiest area over those February weeks. Westendorf gondola being at the far end is one of the worst queues. It was the only time I had to queue at the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuhel too to get on, for about 30 mins whereas usually you would walk straight on pretty much.

A snowHead

@Pooter could just be selective with where they go as some places are quieter than others (provided they have the SuperSki card). Ski Welt will be busier I think because of its popularity with the Dutch, Germans and British tour operators/school trips going to Soll and Westendorf, the smaller resorts like St Johann in Tirol, Steinplatte/Waidring, St Jakob in Haus where there are bigger resorts nearby like Kitzbuhel and Saalbach/Fieberbrunn won’t be as busy in my experience. Much smaller yes but still some very nice skiing! Still busier than usual of course like anywhere at half term but it doesn’t have to be a dreadful experience by any stretch of the imagination.

A snowHead

Thanks for the advice everyone, might just just leave skiwelt and the jaeger crew for another year. Now we're thinking of la crusaz instead.

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@Pooter, check your half term dates - Fasching is 13th Feb in 2024, while the half term dates for us in Cambs are 19-23, so there is no clash.

We're on our way back from Söll after a good week where the numbers were surprisingly low - not quiet by any means, but no lift queues to speak of, alms were busy but a table could be found within a few minutes, and slopes were generally less busy than expected for a peak week and no more so than our previous experiences in January on 3 previous trips.

Some of that may be due to the lack of snow deterring last minute bookers and day trippers - pistes were great at the start of the week, OK at the end though with bumps in the afternoon and slushy conditions low down due to the +12 temperature. At the start of the week the off piste areas were concrete and tracked out - at the end they were brown in places, as were the worst of the pistes

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Thanks @ousekjarr that's good to know and glad you had a good time. Still really keen on trying Austria instead of France. We are the 11th Feb half term next year unfortunately but hey, there's a long way to go before we decide. I just can't help planning ahead...

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Skiwelt?

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