 Poster: A snowHead
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Just a few observations from this two week trip just concluded. Mostly on piste due to conditions and me flying solo.
Kitzbühel has the Hahnnenkahm, but is also the Restroom King. In some of the lift talstations and bergstations, which I don't recall ever seeing anywhere. In the hütte, often on the entry level, not down the stairs. One just right inside the front door. Definitely not the problem that Hintertux alerts you to with their clever sign, appreciated!
Had a great 2BR/2BA apartment in Jochberg (Künstlhaüsl), quiet and convenient if you have a car. The owner's Mom runs it, a delightful 75-ish gal who doesn't ski anymore. But she does walk halfway up the mountain 4 days a week and took up mountain biking 3 years ago. What a stud. Conversations with people like her are why we travel, eh?
I've learned that Kitz doesn't need much snow to be skiable, and so it was. But it is low, and it was too low for the snow to be of good quality.
Ikon pass was nice except the part about having to get intimate with each and every scanner to get the pass read got old for me and whomever was behind me!
On to Dolomiti. I'm going to San Cascian; the sat nav says go over Brenner. Don't! The route via Lienz takes you past Dri Zinnen National Park, a beautiful & relaxing drive that took maybe 40 minutes longer.
Third time here; I stay at Hotel Steinrösl in San Cascian. They know me now, I've met other repeat guests (two of whom pitied me after watching me eat alone for a week my first visit, and now I eat with them every day). Another "why we travel".
Wanted to ski Sasslong which from San Cascian basically means doing the Sella Ronda, and I am SO done with SR. The worst slope conditions and most people = sayonara! There's plenty of fun everywhere else. Definitely try it once, but then...you can do better.
I nominate Crëp de Munt as the best ütia not named Scotoni. Photo is of carrot soup with shrimp, and that bread was terrific. Returned the next day and had it again. Fun looking poma lift gets you there (if you don't come from above), goes over two bridges.
Ikon Pass worked perfectly for 3 days then quit, so I am seeking reimbursement for two days...who thinks I'll succeed? Me neither.
Then as is my custom, getaway day starts at Kronplatz, my candidate for most underrated ski area in the Dolomites and really beyond. It has the best, most, and least-populated long blacks; so much vert that it was 4" new on top third, corn on bottom 2/3, with a gondo mid station perfectly positioned to take advantage after the new on top got sketchy. Two interesting museums at the top...where else has that?
On to Zillertal for the first time, via Brenner, me and the trucks. I make my reservations well in advance, so having taken some low-elevation/snow risk with Kitz and Dolo, this was "insurance". Indeed.
Lucky to have sun first day, so I could see that of the five glacier areas I've skied, Hintertux is easily the best. 17 runs that day. This includes two trips down the valley run, a really fun run as opposed to the usual road filled with disasters. Next day was a whiteout at all the areas so I went back up to Tux thinking at least I had one day's experience there to help me find my way. They shut Gletcherbus 3 after I got off, meaning I had been the only one on it (=dumb tourist?). They wouldn't let me ride it down either, so I did my best Stevie Wonder. 2 runs that day. "You got to know when to hold 'em,.....
Then to Eggalm and Rastkogel for my last two days. When I have a car I'm not a fan of riding busses but my hotelier (Tuxertal in Tux-Lanersbach, worthy) is also the mayor of Gemeinde Tux and shamed me into using their new electric busses, and it couldn't have been easier. Had Eggalm to myself for a couple hours to start each day in ideal conditions. The star was Eggalm Nord, a bubble chair (my favorite type of lift by far) 656 m vertical and some nice reds with character. The valley run down to Rastkogel is another fun one, with a good little hütte tucked along the way.
Not surprisingly, the higher elevation meant snow quality was vastly superior to the prior two destinations. Winter snow on Hintertux, and longer-lasting spring surfaces at Egg and Rast. I bet down valley in Mayrhofen it was slush, dunno.
While I have you, here are a few tips from someone who focuses on spring skiing:
Be early, leave early. Get out of bed and get the goods you came for, and let the others flail in the whitecaps at 2pm while you party (you) or nap (me), serene in your superiority!  For what to wear, look past your ski clothes. A base layer under those "technical" pants, ya know with all the zipper pockets that are handy as hell, worked great. Used a thin-ish street down coat, with a hood that doesn't fit over a helmet. Got cold; found it fits under the helmet just fine, and made the huge difference you'd expect, so you can skip the balaclava. XC gloves are warm enough and not too warm. At big areas with multiple aspects and elevations, check the webcams first thing in the morning; when there's weather, you can sometimes find the place that locals know has the best chance at vis, or avoiding wind etc. Pay attention to altitude and aspect. In winter you can get away with not doing so; in spring it'll wear you out. I stick a bottle of water in my pocket and hit on that until lunch, where I can refill it. Especially important if you are at high altitude, which I wasn't. You can squish the air out of the bottle as you drain it, making it smaller. As for skis, on another post I mentioned seeing nothing but slaloms. Well, my AM babies crushed it all day long; the sign omits "fabulous".
You've been hearing that Tahoe has been sucking all the snow out of the world, and it continues. I'm going to check it out in a couple weeks and will report. The Sierras in spring are unbeatable. The question is: will spring have arrived?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Many thanks! Already searched up Kronplatz 
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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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@Scooter in Seattle, Kitzbühel has some good skiing but is usually at its best in January (often around the time of the Hahnenkamm race). Like all of the lower spots in the Tirol many of the runs get slushy from mid February onwards. Even a big snowfall doesnt tend to change things much. In general the ski buses work well in Austria and are easier than a car if you are staying in one of the villages (means you can have apres beer too!).
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@munich_irish, yeah I shoot for mid/late March hoping for good vis, with the obvious trade-off on snow quality. This year, 13 of my 15 days had good vis or better, I'd take that every year.
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