 Poster: A snowHead
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The Premise
Two friends meet up again to do some spring skiing, thanks to a lovely lastminute deal they found. They would be staying at Feldkirch, a 20-25 minute drive from the resort, in a 4* hotel with half-board. The resort: Sonnenkopf am Arlberg, a resort that is family orientated and boasts a pathetic 30km of pistes and is usually seen as a daytrip for those who go to St. Anton and Lech. These two would try and make a 3 day trip out of it. Would it work?
The Vehicle
This little pug would be transporting them on a daily basis. Nothing really more to say 
Day 1
0600 Hours
Mike sets off from Frankfurt, eager to hit the roads and get to Feldkirch - a good 400km away.
Dom is still asleep, the Fitzwilliam.
1030 Hours
Mike has checked in to the hotel and unpacked and is awaiting dom to get his ass there...
1300 Hours
All is set, after an expensive tuning costing mike a lovely 40 euros... ouch. With it snowing everywhere in sight conditions look to be pretty shoddy...
They take the gondola and peer back at the quiet valley in hope of prestine fun...
1445 Hours
With a lot of flat light the duo decide to take a break at the restaurant, so far the skiing they've got has been pretty decent despite the poor conditions. The pistes aren't groomed, leading to constant thigh-burning sensations! Nonetheless, they take the break after skiing quite a lot of powder on the incredible easy to access off-piste.
1630 Hours
They call it quits and head back to the hotel which is sadly filled with crazy 65+ year olds who seem to love alpine Austrian music. *shudders* They look back at some of the powder they skiied today and have already said how the money they spent for the trip was well worth it.
Day 2
0700 Hours
It's an early wakeup for these two with Mike just wanting to stay in bed... It's snowing down in Feldkirch so it's bound to be dumping up in sonnenkopf. After a quick breakfast they set off to the resort after hearing that they sometimes open the lifts early. With it snowing crazily already on the roads, things were looking good for the duo.
0830 Hours
They got to the lifts to see that sadly it wasn't going to open till apparently 9.00 as planned... Nonetheless, there were only a couple behind there waiting and it looked like they would get the powder to themselves, again. Sonnenkopf was turning to be a resort which few knew about, and one which had kms of easy accessible off-piste. They hadn't got one bit tired of the place so far.
With the valley being a bit green the day before they were pleased to see 15-20cm of fresh snow at the bottom alone.
0850 Hours
Lifts finally open and the duo already plan their best way to get the abundance of new powder as quick as possible, avalanche level was at 3.
1200 Hours
They finally decide to have a break and go for lunch, the morning was one of fresh tree skiing in 60cm powder. They also skiied off-piste on some faces but that proved a little more interesting due to the constant barage of snow hitting them second after second. As they eat their sandwiches they swiped from the hotel, they look over their mornings work... For mike at least, this was the first time he was actually tree-skiing...
1530 Hours
They decide to call it a day after an amazing morning with the only downer being the closed piste to the tal station... it was pretty much flat and at one point tensions were high as the two friends thought they had ended up quite a while away from the lifts...
1850 Hours
An interesting tale... They decide to go to eat but after already finishing their appertizers are told to go eat at the bar as they are sitting at a table which they are not allowed to, because the napkins on it say so... After calling the manager they agree to go to the bar and manage to snap up a free 0.5l beer each  Not a bad day at all.... They again decide to wake up early in hope of getting the powder.
Day 3
0700 Hours
The two wake up to blue skies. They knew that this would be the day... After quickly shovelling down their breakfast, making sure they were sat at the table with the rightly coloured napkin, they quickly checked out of the hotel and sped over to the resort.
0840 Hours
Arriving at the resort they realize that a lot of the locals have turned up, probably knowing that this quiet resort will have acres of fresh powder to pillage... Getting a bit anxious to get up there and beat all the locals with their fat skis, the adrenaline started pumping.
0850 Hours
The lift opened again a tad bit early, they end up being the second or third people up there and already decide that they would start of the day with the only black run of the resort, with a gradient of 36°, in order to get across to the other side of the mountain as quick as possible. The resort hadn't bothered to groom the black piste and so it was covered in 40+cm of fresh powder with the only tracks being from one of the lifties. With the powder being so soft that Mike's carving skis actually managed to sink straight through it, they were anticpating what was in store for them.
0930 - 1000 Hours
The one chairlift the two had raced to get to had stopped 75m before the top, it wasn't good for Mike who was always scared of that scenario. Nonetheless, the two stayed calm, perhaps a bit disgruntled that it took 15 minutes for it to start again... Throughout the long chairlift ride they could see the planned avalanches go off - an instant reminder to make sure where they should and should not go off-piste... On this bluebird day they could see the entire resort and all the off-piste potential it had.
1000-1200 Hours
The two ski as much off-piste as they can, getting fresh tracks on almost all of the runs... If not first tracks they were second or third! Sadly not stopping for photos as there was literally a race... However they did get some photos of where they had skied. All the powder was traumhaft.
The next picture is near the peak of the mountain where there was over 1m of fresh champagne powder. Mike skied to the left of the avalanche barriers, whereas dom tried skiing in between the barriers but found that the snow wasn't as fresh as the stuff Mike had skied. The gradient was quite steep and would've definately been a black were it a piste.
The view down...
Dom decides to take a break, while Mike decides to hike a bit out to nomansland where he sees numerous other skiers and boarders traversing in hope of getting his last powder run before they go to eat lunch and call it a day with the powder... On his traverse over Mike does a wonderful head over heels ejection from his bindings and lands head first into over 1.2m of powder.. His ski poles kept going in the snow! It took him a lovely 10 minutes to get the bindings on!!! But, in the end it was worth it...
1200-1500 Hours
They take the rest of the day easy after an amazing morning with perfect powder conditions. After skiing countless tree and face runs they decide to work on their switch skiing, which they finally managed to improve.
The Scenic Pictures
The Conclusion
In total the trip cost around 120-150 pounds each for 2.5 days skiing and two nights at 4* hotel in Feldkirch, and transport. The two were in unison that this was the best powder they had skied. They had gone to a resort only known for families and the odd daytrip from St. Anton and had gone away with memories of one of quietest, accessible off-piste resorts they had ever gone to. The snow was perfect throughout the trip, with conditions being perfect on their last day... One of the lifties had told them that he hadn't skied that kind of snow since five years. They went away happy.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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Haha it was an awesome trip, we met some people in the lift who had come over on the friday from st anton and they said st anton was packed as was lech and zurs...I would say go check it out if the snow is nice and you are bored of the crowds of st anton and lech for a day...has a nice charm to it...though the fun park was closed and rubbish!
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FAQ
