 Poster: A snowHead
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Off in Feb and can barely wait. We (me, wife, 18yr & 16yr) are all reasonable skiers. does
anyone have any tips for hassle free transfer between the various ski areas? Plus what's hot
and what's not. We only have 7 days and want to make the most of it. Merry Christmas everyone.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Hot: Thermal baths
Not: Plunge Pools.
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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 hat wearer,
You've made me smile. This is my last hour at work and time seems to be standing still.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Oh, should have added:
Very Hot: Sauna, Steam room (also no clothes allowed there)
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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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Simon, welcome to snowHeads 
If you hover your pointer over 'user Facilities' (under the mountain scene), you'll see a pull-down menu with a 'Search' option. (The menu can be a bit flaky with certain browsers, but if you click on the little icon to the left of the word 'search' it will work.) You'll get lots of hits for 'Gastein', but they seem to be spread around the forum - otherwise I'd have provided a direct link to the most relevant thread!
Enjoy the trip, and in the meantime, Merry Christmas!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Simon, welcome to snowHeads. You will probably find more response after Christmas now. I certainly heard Bad Gastein mentioned before. I have a feeling that I may have spent a few nights in the hospital there, but that's not the info you're after
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Hi
Can't remember too much but here it is.
Bad Gastien is set upon a hilly outgrop of rocks and is famed for it's thermal qualities. The town is spread out across this hill and I stayed at the top near the station which was very convenient for the main lift/gondola up the hill. It is a long walk up otherwise so the bus would be very important. The skiing is mostly intermediate but there are interesting tracks off the top which you will find if you are interested in that sort of thing. Both areas are good, Bad Hopstein is lower, more modern but seems like a good base. Sport Gastien is up a box cannon and worth a trip but pick a nice day as it may be a bit barren in not too good weather.
There is another area which I did not try. It appeared to be a collection of blues and reds. Some friends tried it and liked it
Another thing about the train is that the line is a major route into Italy so the Frieght traffic on it is incessant
At the time I went.. which was about 6-7 years ago the resort had only just begun to be used by UK travel ops and it was in need of some investment.
We had an excellent skiing week and it taught us a lot.
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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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Thanks for your help/advise everybody.
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Well just got back yesterday and although we went to Bad Hofgastein rather than Bad Gastein I thought I may as well add to this thread.
Bad Hofgastein is a really nice Austrian resort, typically Austrian in that we could count on one hand the number of other English voices we heard through our whole trip - bit of a bump back to reality when we got back on the transfer coach with screaming English kids etc etc 
Stayed in the Rauscher Hotel through Crystal - can highly recommend it for a 3 star, very clean, food good and the staff very helpful and friendly. Crystal on the other hand...well, I'm glad we weren't newbies to skiing. Our transfer rep didn't want to book anything for anyone (we arrived at the resort at 10.30pm), said our rep would be at the hotel, which he wasn't (we were the only ones on our flight going to BHG). And we didn't see him once during our whole stay, despite normally being in our hotel room during visit hours when he is meant to ring us...for us it didn't matter as we don't use the reps at all once we've got our lift pass and the transfer. But not a good impression.
Really liked the skiing - bit of a tip if you're staying in BHG and are on the Ski Bus Sud route (there are 2 different routes for the ski bus to pick up from hotels in BHG - Sud and Nord) - don't get off at the Schlossalmbahn where the funicular is - there was normally a long queue for that to take you to mid mountain and then an even longer queue for the cable car up to the top. Instead, stay on the ski bus for another 5 mins as it carries on to Angertal, the valley inbetween Stubnerkogel and Schlossalm. No queues anywhere there and you can have those first few empty runs before everyone comes over.
We also got the ski bus down to Dorfgastein a couple of times which I really liked but M Coins said was a bit too easy (perhaps that's why I liked it  ). The ski bus system was good staying at BHG as all the buses go from there to other places but if you're staying in Bad Gastein and want to go toDorfgastein you have to change at BHG. The buses ran to timetable so as long as you kept that (on the back of one of the editions of the piste map) you'd be fine.
I hired a stiffer pair of skis for one day whilst there, Rossignol Power Pulsions I think - what a difference to my skiing! I'll be doing a bit of research and investing in some new skis before Banff in March
And boy, did they go mad with fireworks on New Years Eve! I got quite scared at one point cos there was a massive crowd and people just letting off fireworks anywhere - put a bottle down, preferably champagne, stick a firework in, light it, maybe stand back and whoosh.....
Simon - if you have any particular questions, I'll try and help.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I'm headed to Bad Gastein for 3 days in Feb and 3 days at Schladming. Like Simon, I'm a BG virgin (and a Schladming virgin also), so any advice would be helpful. 
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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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Hi Cathy,
Screaming kids on coaches, ahhhhh, thank goodness for headphones! Many thanks for the information and tips.
Hi Johnfmh,
How do you pronounce that!
If you or someone you know can get on to the Ski Club of GB member chat forum I posted the same question.
I received 2 very long, very informative replies, I strongly suggest you read them, I'm going to use them as
the basis of our holiday.
With regard to Schladming, we went 2 seasons ago with another family staying at a hotel and indoor sport
complex a short walk from the main lift. Schladming had had a dumping of snow just before we arrived. Our
hotel was perfect, with all rooms interconnecting and our own private balcony. The snow was spot on, we never saw a cloud or had even a breeze all week. As usual in Austria everything was spotless and the mountain bars
were very difficult to leave. The trip was so good we decided there was no point in returning as a repeat could never be as good!
Concerning the resort it consists mainly of 4 mountains in a row, the main lift (gondola) being at the foot of the 2nd from the left. We tended to get up this lift early as it can get quite busy. We then would spend alternating days on the two left hand mountains and then the 2 right hand mountains. Lots of long cruising runs, which we all enjoy, plus some good steep bits too, beautiful views if the weather is kind. Lifts weren't too busy (half term) and well linked. If you are a lift spotter, this is the place, they have some veryweird/complx types.
A "must do" in the evening is the toboggan run. It's about 6km long and is hilarious fun if you all start together,
don't forget to wear long socks and tuck your trousers in + take ski goggles with you.
All the bars in the town are welcoming and friendly, especially if you have a stab at German. There is one made
entirely out of glass in the main shopping square, very good for people watching. Arnold Schwartzanegger(?)
was born here and just about every restaurant and bar claims to be his old local, with pictures to proove it.
One final tip, The main run back to Schladming finishes to the left of the gondola it is almost vertical. It's floodlit and is one of the rounds of the world slalom champs (eurosport 20/01 I think), if you fancy finishing early one day there is a bar by the road opposit the base, well worth standing there for a while with a beer watching people
crashing and falling down, if you're amused by that sort of thing like me!
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johnfmh, With regard to Schladming, I would add to Simon's comments by saying that the bus that links the four mountains is not very regular (less than one per hour I seem to recall), but they are all interlinked so far better that you ski them! To get from Planai to Hochwurzen (and vice versa) involves using a two-way chair that also (uniquely(?)) passes through a tunnel under a road.
There were some very tricky reds and I would say that there are some that should possibly have been classified black.
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