 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi All,
EDIT: Plans changed to use the Fimba A3 lift instead of the A1 lift on advice of multiple people.
I'm staying with my 11 year old son for a week from 15-22 Feb in Ischgl. We'll arrive at about 16:30 on the Saturday and ski on the following Saturday before leaving at about 18:30.
My son is an early intermediate although he is surprisingly comfortable on bumps and side piste. I'm a much more experienced skier and will have no problem keeping up with him in all conditions.
This is my son's treat holiday so it will be very focused on his enjoyment and I won't be putting him into lessons. He'll have another trip at easter where lessons will be the focus. That said I'm open to booking a private lesson or two if he starts having problems (not very likely but possible).
We will be skiing together the whole time and I don't expect to let him off on his own at all. I will probably let him take a few breaks in a piste restaurant while I loop a run.
We are staying in budget accommodation on Angerli close to (but not in) the Alpinstyle Hotel.
We tend to get out early and ski until the last lift. This means we are pretty chilled in the evenings, unlike everyone else in Ischgl I'd expect 
My plan is to take the A1 lift down from Idalp at the end of the day or ski down the number 1 run. I'd then want to drop the skis and boots off at a depot and go to the MPREIS (or a takeaway) to get supper before we crash back in our room.
Our accommodation is bed and breakfast. We will be eating lunch in a mountain restaurant and takeaway for supper each day.
For lunch I will want a self service salad bar and my son will want half a roast chicken & chips (probably every day). I'm open to other lunch and dinner options if there are really great alternatives people can suggest.
I won't be partying very much at all but I might have a beer after skiing, either before downloading form Idalp or at the bottom of the A1 lift after dropping off the skis. For this I'd like recommendations as to anywhere more suitable for my son. He would like it lively but obviously there will be plenty of places in Ischgl that are not ok for him.
I'm looking for recommendations for:
- Ski Hire
- Ski depot
- On piste dining
- Takeaways
- Apres places suitable for an 11yo Idalp or close to bottom of the A1 lift.
- Ski runs, particularly blues and easy reds with safe (and hopefully interesting) side piste
- Ski runs to avoid
- Ski runs where I can loop and he can sit in a piste restaurant having a break
- Private ski lessons (not essential so no problem if it's all likely to be pre booked)
Thanks
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 14-01-25 13:52; 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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| Henwc wrote: |
I'm looking for recommendations for:
- Ski Hire |
Not a lot in it really. Ischgl's still very much owned and run by one extended family that were there long before skiing came to town. This has benefits - no 'valley sprawl', lots of investment in the town, and a lift company set up where all profits must be re-invested in the resort so possibly the best lift system anywhere (on the Austrian side at least). It also has drawbacks, like little competition on price for things like ski hire - but equally as everyone's making money on every pair of skis hired no skimping on servicing/keeping kit in service for decades, we've always had top quality kit regardless of blue/red/black price point.
The only place to go if you want to save a few pennies is ski2rent.com.
If your accomodation doesn't have a ski room (everywhere we've ever stayed has) there's certainly one 'under' the Fimbabahn gondola bottom station.
| Henwc wrote: |
| - On piste dining |
Don't think I've had what I'd call a bad meal on the mountain in Ischgl, though down in Samnaun town (Smugglers Run) is expensive.
Have a feeling your son will love Alp Bella for lunch as great rotisserie chicken. You I think will struggle though. Most Austrian salad bars just seem to be there for show - and one of our friends once took two trips to the salad bar, coming back empty handed both times. He actually __wanted__ veg. but everything looks so unappetizing he gave up each time:)
Can't remember seeing many but then we've always gone to restaurants. Certainly there's a Burger King in the middle of town and two Kabap places, one just off the main drag on the 'main' side of town/the other on the route between the Pardatschgratbahn and Fimbabahn gondolas.
There's a also a number of restaurants that do pizzas and things and I'd guess many of those would offer take away.
| Henwc wrote: |
| - Apres places suitable for an 11yo Idalp or close to bottom of the A1 lift. |
I'd ignore the A1 lift if I were you, both for up/down lift and also apres - though any of the 3 opposit that start with the Kuhstall are friendly enough. A1, the Silvrettabahn is the 'obvious' gondola for half the resort so tends to get half the resort trying to use it in the morning. At the other end of town you have A2, the Pardatchgratbahn which I think's still the newest gondola and directly connected to the car park so also attracts a lot of people in the morning. That leaves A3, the Fimbahbahn which most people ignore...meaning little or no queue in the morning and only fractionally slower than the other 2. And no, this isn't setting you up with a 15 minute hike in the morning - loop around from your hotel onto Dorfstr. and you'll be about 60 seconds from the end of the Dorftunnel entrance, where travelators will whisk you right to the Fimbahbahn gondola!
Outside Schatzi would work, while watching the chaos on the end of the 1a home run (a little creepy inside with the Dirndl girls standing on the bar).
Kitzloch a good option if you want to go inside, just can be rammed but people will normally make space for smaller children.
I'd specifically avoid FreeRide though, which goes waaaay past just "creepy"!
| Henwc wrote: |
| - Ski runs, particularly blues and easy reds with safe (and hopefully interesting) side piste |
Ischgl's usual crowd are out-and-out blue/red piste skiers so that's what the resort offers and means there isn't a huge amount of nice, accessible side piste. Run 42 off the E5 (Piz Val) gondola's your best bet for side piste - but generally for blue/red pistes you're spoilt for choice.
| Henwc wrote: |
| - Ski runs to avoid |
Depending on conditions/how busy the resort is that week the home runs can be a pain at the end of the day - but not an issue if you gondola down. They are actually nice runs though so give them a go earlier in the day when you'll probably have them to yourselves.
The only other ones to think twice about are the runs into Samnaun. The runs TO Samnaun are fine, but from 80 it's then a loge skate/pole to get to the gondola or from 60 a wait for a bus.
| Henwc wrote: |
| - Ski runs where I can loop and he can sit in a piste restaurant having a break |
I thought this trip was for him...? 
Obvious ones that come to mind are the Hollboden restaurant/runs off of C2 and Alp Bella/run off of M1.
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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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Use the A3 Fimbabahn, which is easily accessible from your accommodation through the Dorftunnel.
This lift has fewer queues than the busy A1 or A2 lifts. You can ski down to the bottom of it via piste 1A. There is also a ski depot at the valley station of that lift
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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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@Mjit, Thanks mega helpful!
Shame about the salad, in the main Rosshutte self service in Seefeld it was lovely especially smothered in the Styrian pumpkin seed oil. I'll check out the various places and I remember Alp Bella having decent soup so I'll be fine with that.
I have certainly settled on the A3 Fimbahbahn as "our lift", I have pre booked the ski depot there and I'll also book ski hire from the same location. I have previously stayed in the Hotel Sonne in Ischgl and this was the lift we used to get up.
Sounds like we'll be mainly on piste, run 42 is an absolute favourite of mine but might be a bit too much of challenge for my son because it's quite a long way out if he struggles, I'll tread carefully.
My excuse on lapping a lift is that he actually wants a break and a bit of down time, hopefully he'll want to ski the whole time though
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Skiwi222, Thanks, I actually commented on the first thread haha
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Used to ski there regularly when the kids were at school in the Feb half term. From memory the Pardorama self service may well have had a salad bar. It was certainly a good place to find a seat easily at a reasonable price on the mountain.
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There is a restaurant at the top and bottom of lift C2, the top one being fairly small with good food (though I haven't found any poor food in an Ischgl mountain restaurant). That "valley" is also good to ski with blue/red and black runs served off a few lifts close the top restaurant, all looping back to the start point.
The Smugglers Run (Piste 60) is a nice ski down, but will involve a short walk to a bus stop to get the double decker gondola back up, after drink in a cafe/bar at the bottom.
If your son is a good intermediate level skier there isn't much he couldn't ski
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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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For lively apres for your son, without being seedy, the answer is Kushtall. Something that must be seen at some point in every skiers life.
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Thanks all for the recommendations.
A followup question, would you recommend taking the A3 lift down at the and of the day or skiing down on the a1 run?
We would enjoy bumpy/messy snow but would want to avoid a very busy run with high speed drunken skiers. i.e. I would not take my son down the runs to La Daille or the Henri run in Tignes/Val D at the end of the day because of the carnage caused by the Folie Douce crowd.
I was thinking that the Ischgl A1 run would possibly get quieter right at the very end of the day?
There is no great problem downloading on the lift though.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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The bottom of Piste 1a can be carnage - that part is quite steep; I'd generally avoid.
When I've stayed in Ischgl I was nearer the bottom of Piste 1 - the bottom half of this is much better.
Top of 1 can also be very busy as it's obviously the main route from the centre of the ski area - there are ways of avoiding this
The later you go down to bottom of A2/A3, the more I'd say download.
Generally when skiing Ischgl, try to move to the edges of the map - to the "right" towards Piz Val Gronda, to the left especially the area to the left of Alp Trida (my favourite area), or to the bottom - run 7
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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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Stay away from the valley runs after 14:30, guaranteed carnage on both of them...
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We would often have a drink in the Pardorama and ski down at closing time by which time most of the carnage has passed, the upper runs are delightfully empty and the lower ones much quieter.
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You know it makes sense.
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Drunk/speeding skiers aren't much of an issue on the Ischgl home runs in my experience - there isn't much of a drunking 'up the hill' culture being much more 'ski down and straight into a bar'. What is an issue though are 'blue', and tired 'easy red' skiers trying to ski the sometimes challenging red runs home.
The main problem areas are:
1. The couple of steeper pitches higher up (above middle station). None of these are __that__ steep, are massively wide, and don't tend to get icy...but do tend to get moguled up and trip up a lot of people, covering the piste in bodies. And the 'easy' cat track options tend to become icy half pipes so no easier and likewise full of bodies.
2. Icy down near town (below middle station). The lower parts of the runs, especially south facing tend do go through freeze/thaw cycles during warmer spells meaning patches of ice during colder ones. Icy patches covered in bodies.
I'd say play it by ear based on conditions/numbers.
- You can do the very top section and abort onto F2 back up/A2 down to town if you don't like it.
- Or if you're still happy carry on down and abort at either the A1 or A3 middle stations.
- Or carry on all the way home.
Oh, while the main 1 vs. 1a junction is really clearly signed the lower junctions on 1 always used to just appear so you need to keep your eyes open or could end up with a bit of a walk back through town (though usually a mistake you only make once ).
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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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| Mjit wrote: |
Drunk/speeding skiers aren't much of an issue on the Ischgl home runs in my experience - there isn't much of a drunking 'up the hill' culture being much more 'ski down and straight into a bar'. What is an issue though are 'blue', and tired 'easy red' skiers trying to ski the sometimes challenging red runs home.
The main problem areas are:
1. The couple of steeper pitches higher up (above middle station). None of these are __that__ steep, are massively wide, and don't tend to get icy...but do tend to get moguled up and trip up a lot of people, covering the piste in bodies. And the 'easy' cat track options tend to become icy half pipes so no easier and likewise full of bodies.
2. Icy down near town (below middle station). The lower parts of the runs, especially south facing tend do go through freeze/thaw cycles during warmer spells meaning patches of ice during colder ones. Icy patches covered in bodies.
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Spot on. Though 1 below the mid station is mostly just straight and flat and conveniently splits 4 ways to get back close to a lot of hotels. The one closest to the centre of town isn't that far from the bottom of 1a/A3 lift and you can get there via a lift at the middle of the underground travellator. In other words you can ski back via 1 most of the way to the area near the A3 lift with a little bit of walking/a lift/travellator. Stayed near the bottom of that branch in Covid week 2020 and used to take A2 or A3 up in the mornings rather than the very busy A1
1a's problem is the last bit
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Poster: A snowHead
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| buchanan101 wrote: |
| Spot on. Though 1 below the mid station is mostly just straight and flat and conveniently splits 4 ways to get back close to a lot of hotels. The one closest to the centre of town isn't that far from the bottom of 1a/A3 lift and you can get there via a lift at the middle of the underground travellator.... |
Yea, but when you're staying at the Val Sinestra, which is right next to the second turn and you, unlike your friends staying in the same hotel, have taken the first turn it's an embarrasing little walk back up the road and an evening of mocking... Worse would be missing both (as second you can normally ski right down to Dorfstrase right by the Dorftunnel entrance) as that would put you by the Trofana Alm or beyond.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Mjit wrote: |
| buchanan101 wrote: |
| Spot on. Though 1 below the mid station is mostly just straight and flat and conveniently splits 4 ways to get back close to a lot of hotels. The one closest to the centre of town isn't that far from the bottom of 1a/A3 lift and you can get there via a lift at the middle of the underground travellator.... |
Yea, but when you're staying at the Val Sinestra, which is right next to the second turn and you, unlike your friends staying in the same hotel, have taken the first turn it's an embarrasing little walk back up the road and an evening of mocking... Worse would be missing both (as second you can normally ski right down to Dorfstrase right by the Dorftunnel entrance) as that would put you by the Trofana Alm or beyond. |
Oh yes, you have to know which arm to take...
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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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Thanks all, sounds like downloading on the A3 from the mid station is a good option depending on how things are going.
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If you've got to mid station, the rest of 1 is fine - take the correct branch (the right most on the way down, sharp right turn), very short walk(50m on googlemaps)/lift/tunnel and it gets you to the bottom of A3
1 from mid is basically the Fimbaweg - where a bus goes up in the summer - so it's a road!
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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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@buchanan101, Thanks, so we could go down on run 37 through the valley and then join 1 at the mid station and stay right?
And from the mid station run 1 is the equivalent of a French green run?
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If we are looking for lifts to lap with plenty of quick vertical am I right that C5, E2, E3 and E4 are good chairs? And F2 is a good gondola?
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Run 1 below middle station can be many different things, depending on conditions. I've had it be a nice, friendly light blue the whole way - but have also had the last 'big' drop after middle station be...unnerving (you can get people joining from 37 who are, let's call it propelled with a bit of extra confidence after a stop at Paznauner Thaya), and on other occasions all fine till just above the village where you can hit piles of Bambi's on ice or alternatively stopped across the exit you want to take waiting for friends/trying to work out where they are.
And @Henwc, while you __can__ take 37... Well how much to you and your son like skating/horizontal drag lifts along a series of slow rollers? That's your choices when you get to G2!
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@Mjit, Thanks 37 was closed when I was there before (closing concert week, missed the main concert but caught some old school germanic hair rock in Samnaun) so I'll take the advice that it's not on the fun list
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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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Lucky enough to have skied Ischgl since 1989. Inghams rep in those days of massive queues recommended Idalp, run 2 to Hollboden, lift C3, run 30 to Paznauer Thaya, lift E2, run 38, lift E4, run 40… lift E4 again then you’ve a choice of 80 to Switzerland or back to the main runs in Ischgl by which time the queues had mainly subsided. The T Bars in those days were very long, e.g. N1 from Alp Trida was one of them ! At the end of the day we used to stay in restaurant at Hollboden til it was closing then ski down run3 which was quiet but still testing, along the valley then down 1 into town. It always worked out well until one time someone stole my ski poles so it was a bit more testing getting down through that valley !
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| Henwc wrote: |
@buchanan101, Thanks, so we could go down on run 37 through the valley and then join 1 at the mid station and stay right?
And from the mid station run 1 is the equivalent of a French green run? |
37 is flat for a long part and you take a poma E5. Yes run 37 is a good way to avoid the masses at the top of 1. Red 3 is also a nice twisty little run through trees which is very unusual for Ischgl... take speed with you at the end of that
There's a little steep part right by the middle station but not if you come from 37
From mid, 1 is on a road (with a bit you can cut the corner of) so easy yes
(you can pole alongside E5 - had to in march 2020 - was going to download and saw all the gondolas halted so took 3>37>1 Other lifts shut too. People were stuck on the gondolas for 1.5hours because the resort was in a panic; Covid. Everyone was chucked out on to the one valley road. I was in a hire car stuck in a queue for 5 hours...)
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads  on Tue 21-01-25 9:59; edited 2 times in total
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Henwc wrote: |
| If we are looking for lifts to lap with plenty of quick vertical am I right that C5, E2, E3 and E4 are good chairs? And F2 is a good gondola? |
C5 serves mostly blacks. If you want quick laps on easy blues you really only have C2, B1 and C4. Over on Samnaun side N1 and N4.
E4 gives you some long reds
E3 is one of the few slow chairs in the area - serves a really nice loop but takes ages compared with all the others. E2 again serves mainly not very difficult blacks. D1 and D2 serve blacks that are reasonably steep but wide and consistent and pisted so that gives you quick vertical. I think Black 14 is the toughest?
My favourite area - quiet, nice twisty reds is the little area served by N2 out of Alp Trida. Favourite run is Red 7 as far as the first lift you meet
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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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| Rob54 wrote: |
| Lucky enough to have skied Ischgl since 1989. Inghams rep in those days of massive queues recommended Idalp, run 2 to Hollboden, lift C3, run 30 to Paznauer Thaya, lift E2, run 38, lift E4, run 40… lift E4 again then you’ve a choice of 80 to Switzerland or back to the main runs in Ischgl by which time the queues had mainly subsided. The T Bars in those days were very long, e.g. N1 from Alp Trida was one of them ! At the end of the day we used to stay in restaurant at Hollboden til it was closing then ski down run3 which was quiet but still testing, along the valley then down 1 into town. It always worked out well until one time someone stole my ski poles so it was a bit more testing getting down through that valley ! |
N1 was a T bar? Must be the longest lift in the whole area... or feels like it
Last edited by And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports. on Tue 21-01-25 10:04; edited 1 time in total
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@henwc If you really want to study the lay of runs from above go to
https://www.bergfex.com/silvretta-arena-ischgl-samnaun/ and click the "Map Show" button. Shows all runs in plan, with contour lines, and you can toggle on slope gradient which highlights slopes over 30°. Lifts shown too.
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You know it makes sense.
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T bar wasn’t quite as long as N1. It started opposite the higher of the 2 restaurants..
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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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| Rob54 wrote: |
| T bar wasn’t quite as long as N1. It started opposite the higher of the 2 restaurants.. |
Well that's alright then... 200m shorter?
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Poster: A snowHead
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Thanks all, sounds like we'll be heading over to E2/E3/E4 via C3 if things are busy and conditions are ok for my son on the reds.
Otherwise we'll head over to N2/M1/M2 for the easier runs. I'm pretty sure the 76 run past the alp Bella restaurant is a very forgiving red from memory.
I would imagine the N1 could be a cold windy experience as a drag.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Henwc wrote: |
Thanks all, sounds like we'll be heading over to E2/E3/E4 via C3 if things are busy and conditions are ok for my son on the reds.
Otherwise we'll head over to N2/M1/M2 for the easier runs. I'm pretty sure the 76 run past the alp Bella restaurant is a very forgiving red from memory.
I would imagine the N1 could be a cold windy experience as a drag. |
Yup -as I've said before - go to the edges of the map for quieter skiing - avoid the Idalp bowl when possible. Don't forget 7 in its own valley
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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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| buchanan101 wrote: |
| avoid the Idalp bowl when possible |
Well other than for an end-of-day Germknedle, something that also helps with the "Ski or gondola?" question (because you can hardly move with a Germknedle in your stomach, much less ski  )
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Mjit wrote: |
| buchanan101 wrote: |
| avoid the Idalp bowl when possible |
Well other than for an end-of-day Germknedle, something that also helps with the "Ski or gondola?" question (because you can hardly move with a Germknedle in your stomach, much less ski ) |
To be fair, B3/12/13 is quite a nice loop and avoids the most heavily worn pistes (apart from the top of 12 off the lift). Also looped C4 quite a lot as that lift is quiet and the bottom part of 2 actually has a few trees...
Main problem can be the two main 8mans out of Idalp, B2, B3 - that and C2 are the only places I've really seen any significant queues (though have only ever been in January and March).
Did you know that there's a shared pylon for B3 and C1 that has the biggest carrying capacity of any ski lift pylon anywhere
Must go back again sometime - trying somewhere which seems really easy by comparison this year - Obertauren - left knee problems make that a wise choice I think
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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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So far no bad queues this week, been walking on to the Fimba in the morning as the other gondola looked busy.
Tried the smugglers run today for the first time and only just made it to the cable car boarding. Would not have made it in soft or fresh snow.
Pistes over by Alp Bella were a bit hard packed.
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FAQ
