 Poster: A snowHead
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This is a feedback thread for Ski Bat's resort report:
Kitzbuhel (January 2006)
Followed by Whitegold's resort report:
Kitzbuhel (December 2007)
Feel free to add, comment, or write your own report...
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Sun 6-01-08 14:42; 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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I agree with pretty much all that Ski Bat says. Going when the Hahnenkahm isn't on is also very enjoyable, and the town restaurants are excellent (especially if you enjoy large pieces of pig with dumplings, although other stuff is availalble). There are some rather tacky night spots (such as the Londoner), but plenty of decent bars, as well as one or two rather poncy places, leftovers from Kitzbuhel's time as an upmarket resort. Some of the guests fit that description too; old boilers with their dyed blonde hair down, fur coats and a thick crust of makeup, carrying small dogs, and their overtanned, quaintly dressed husbands, but it all adds to the interest.
On the slopes, the resort lacks challenging pistes, my only reservation about it. None of the blacks is particularly demanding to decent intermediates. I believe that the off piste is surprisingly good and underused, but that's second hand information.
The lift system copes well with half term crowds. Kitzbuhel is now linked (although not brilliantly) to the Ski Welt area, which seems to be a very pretty, very gentle area.
I echo Ski Bat's exhortation; don't go there, you'll hate it.
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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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| richmond wrote: |
| There are some rather tacky night spots (such as the Londoner), |
Yes, the carpet is certainly tacky - from generations of ski-racers pouring beer & champagne over each other every last Saturday in January.
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| richmond wrote: |
| old boilers with their dyed blonde hair down, fur coats and a thick crust of makeup, carrying small dogs, and their overtanned, quaintly dressed husbands, |
Carrying their dogs and their husbands - these old Frauen are sturdily built, then.
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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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Martin Bell, there is a ',' in there, but they could probably manage it; it's the dumplings that do it.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Well just thought I'd add to this one rather than doing a fresh one.
Visited there 20-27 Jan 2007 - and as it was an extra hols we did it on the cheap, which is possible in Kitzbuhel!  Stayed in the Pension Muhlburgerhof, B & B. Through Inghams it was only £250 each for the week including flights & transfers. Nice clean B&B, looking out on to the lower slopes by the Streifalm lift. Would recommend it.
Ski bus system not that great, not very frequent buses to out of Kitzbuhel, which if the snow is lacking you need. If you need to get the bus over to the Pass Thurn area, don't get off the bus there but stay on until Breitmoos, which is the mid-point for the gondola up to Resterhohe. They have built a very nice ski centre and cafe at the bottom station of the gondola at Hollersbach, including toilets with seats which rotate and clean after use! They also show the webcam of conditions at the top which is a really good idea.
Only memorable place we ate on the mountain was the Sonnalm at the bottom of Hartkaser lift G7 in the Resterhohe area. Small restaurant, really nice food, and a heated 'chimney' where all wet gear can be dried off. Worth going to.
Eating out - again quite possible to eat out nicely and cheaply. Ate at the Huberbrau Stuberl (I think!) a few times. Good Tirolean food at cheap prices. La Fonda does a good platter of Texmex type food for about 28 Euros to share. And there's a nice Pizzeria just down from there. Coming up to the race weekend we did feel a bit annoyed that we had left behind our matching full length fur coats and little toy dog, but had to slum it in our puffa jackets.
Didn't really find anywhere great to drink. Spent a few evenings at the Londoner, ditto Flanagans, ditto Bar La Fonda. I don't think many other places would have let us in   Plus I think Chizzos (?) just outside the old walled area was good for gluhwein, with heaters.
All in all, a great time was had even though the snow conditions weren't great. Would like to go back there but so many places still to visit probably won't
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Also meant to add, we went to the Kitzsteinhorn glacier at Kaprun for the day by train. One hour and 20 mins after leaving Kitz we were standing on the glacier which I thought was pretty good. Train to Zell am See takes 50 mins and costs 20 Euros return. Ski bus from right outside the station takes you to the gondola up to the glacier. Nice empty very prompt trains. Worth thinking about if conditions are bad or you fancy a change of scenery.
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Sorry that you didn't have good (or even any) snow; you must have been delighted by the pics of it snowing like the clappers during the slalom. IIRC you've been to Kitzbuhel before; if not, you should go back when there's snow; it's a good place (for what it is).I'm lanning a sneaky weekend there in early March. My usual place is fullATM, so I might look at Pension Muhlburgerhof.
I worry about bogs with rotating seats and the like; what can go wrong will go wrong, probably with me in position.
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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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In that case, if you liked the look of the skiing, go back. It is a very jolly ski area, lots of decent restaurants. We usually use the (small) lockers at the bottom of the Hahnenkammbahn to store walking boots during the day and helmets at night.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Cathy, we're going to Kitz on March 3rd and are very worried by reports of 15cms of snow on the mountain. Was there enough to ski on or should we start to look at other resorts in Austria that have better snow? 
We could just blow our accomodation money there and go to somewhere near Innsbruk maybe? We don't have a car so have to be able to get there by train or bus.
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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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I got back on Wedensday night after a 4 day trip. Snow was poor low down but ok higher up, particularly on the Jochberg / Pass Thurn area, although temps were warm and it got slushy then icy. Had a light fall on Mon night so Tues was a little better, even if the visibility was poor, then we had a decent dump (for kitz!) on Tues night so we were skiing with 4-6 inches of powder on top of the pisted runs on Wednesday. Shame we had to leave at 2pm for our flight but it was fabulous. Kitz doesn't need too much cover as it's mainly pastureland rather than rocks underneath.
Stayed at the Pension Hinterseer which was a very nice place up the hill above the Hannenkahm Gondola. Ski down to the railway station by the gonodola from right outside the ski and boot room, then a short walk along the platform to the lift (skied this on wed morning!). Last run of the day red 21 down to the nursery then a 50 metre walk to the hotel. Great location and a nice pension run by a couple of former World Cup skiers. Great views.
If you want somewhere you can access by train which will probably have better snow than Kitz you could try Zell am See
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You know it makes sense.
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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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has anyone been to kitz when the downhill is on? was thinking about going this january, but am worried that all hotels will be booked/really expensive and the slopes would all be closed for the racers. not bothered about loads of drunken skiiers staggering about during the weekend, think i would fit in well there!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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JONR, I have been there twice when the race has been on. The atmosphere is amazing and the town really is very busy, but I wouldn't let that put you off as both times we found that:
There were no more skiers on the mountains, so no lift queues, everyone was watching.
The race routes on the Hahnenkamm are obviously closed, but it's a biggish area, and the others parts will be open.
We didn't notice the hotels being really expensive, paid slightly more than the week before, but not as much as high season in February.
You just need to factor in that some practical things might be more difficult, e.g. getting in and out of town will be impossible, carrying skis around and leaving them outside bars etc. in town will be asking for trouble (but I think in a big town like Kitz it is anyway), town will be rammed with beer-drinking tourists, but on the whole, it's lots of fun.
Happy sliding 
D
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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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Added a link to a report by Whitegold (see first post)
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Just thought I'd add a brief report on our trip last week, particularly with respect to the link with Westendorf and the Ski Welt.
This was our third trip to Kitzbuhel and we were finally lucky with the snow and were able to ski all the valley runs that hadn't been open on previous visits. But after 3 days we were a bit bored of the slopes and decided to take advantage of the Kitzbuheler Alpen Pass - when we bought our lift pass at the start of the week we had opted to pay 17 Euros more for the week and get the Alpen lift pass which basically covers all the resorts that you could wish to ski in the area, from Saalbach, Zell am See, Ski Welt etc.
So, the 8.35 bus from the Hahnenkammbahn saw us at the Ki-West gondola for 9.05 and up the top ready to ski by 9.15. The next bus left at 9.25. The ski bus system is very erratic but does stick to the published timetable - get hold of a timetable as soon as you can. And we did the same for the next 2 days.
We really liked the slopes at Westendorf, the snow was great and getting up to the far side of the slopes that are normally quieter anyway so early meant they were lovely and empty. I found the gradings of runs to be pretty accurate - the reds were true reds and even the long blue down to the bottom of the Ki-West gondola had some steepish sections made more difficult in the afternoon soft snow/slush. There's a great short red from the top of the Fleiding lift down to the Talkaser that looks like a really steep roller-coaster - but is good fun to ski!
We skied down the new run linking to Brixen - I found it to be quite a tough red although the OH sickeningly seems to just float down effortlessly. The gondola can always be taken down if needbe. And then a travelator and tow rope to the gondola from Brixen up to the slopes above Scheffau, Soll etc.
The second day we did this we explored all the runs on Westendorf, really enjoyed it. There seemed like a good snow park there. And then the third day we were at Zinsberg above Scheffau by 11 am, skied down to Scheffau and the slopes along the top and then got the bus straight back to Kitzbuhel from Brixen - 30 mins bus ride.
I would say this is really a great bonus to be able to ski these slopes for just another 17 Euros more for the week. The buses are effortless but you do need to either get a timetable or check the times out beforehand or you could be in for a long wait. One annoying thing was the piste map had all the lifts numbered but not the runs, although the runs do have numbers - there was quite a lot of trial and error!
I'll also add this to the Westendorf report thread.
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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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cathy, we went over the Ki-West link from Kitz when we were there a few weeks ago. Well worth the extra money - a pity we only did it once as we could have got a lot deeper. But even for a day it was worth it.
We went over the hill instead - Hahnenkamm gondola onto mountain and skied down to Pengelstein and caught bus there. We missed one by seconds but the next one was only 10 minutes, so maybe that is a more regular service than the main one from Kitz? That meant we were only on the bus for 5 minutes too, which made it feel even more "linked". We did the same in reverse on the way back over.
The only disappointment was that we managed to find our worst lunch stop ever at top of Brixen gongola. We also saw the most scary single seat chairlift which looked like it was from the 1960s. Oh, and there is a gondola mid-station which is only identifiable as a mid station when you get out and leave the building. We managed to get back into the very same bubble before it left for the next leg of its journey!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Lorenzo, ah yes, we did consider skiing to the bottom of the Pengelstein and then catching the bus to Ki-West for the short ride. But reckoned that would take us longer than the half hour bus ride from Kitzbuhel and it was the other areas we really wanted to ski, not Kitzbuhel. I think the shuttle bus between Pengelstein/Ki-West runs every 15 mins.
One thing to watch out for if anyone is getting the bus back to Kitzbuhel from the bottom of Ki-West, is that the bus stop isn't there! As far as I can see, they want you to take the shuttle bus to Pengelstein and then if you need it, to pick up the Kitzbuhel bus from there.
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| Hoppo wrote: |
A report by martin-6:
Kitzbuhel (March 2009)
Feel free to add, comment, or write your own report... |
| Quote: |
| Not many challenging runs for the advanced skier. |
I know you mean pistes, but the off piste is great for the advanced skier. I found the most challenging off piste very accessible, especially comparing it to Val D'Isere, where there is tons of expert off piste but harder to access (requiring hikes or long traverses). And the little gullies up by Steinbergkogel or the gladed chutes by Barenbodkogel certainly provide some very steep off piste terrain that isn't skied often.
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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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Good report. However, there is one misunderstanding or confusion.
| Quote: |
| The famous run is the blue 36 ('Hahnenkamm') but it's more family piste than racetrack |
The blue 36, although it is called Hahnenkamm on the piste maps, is not the race track. The local name for the race piste is the Streif and there is a red run 21 (Familienstreif = family Streif trail) which includes the flatter parts of the race track (the 21 continues from the end of 36). The more challenging parts of the race piste, Mausefalle, Steilhang, Alte Schneise, Hausberg, are on the "extreme ski route" 21 (mostly off to the right of the family Streif) - I find them quite stiff enough for me - here's the Steilhang ...
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Not to mention the hardest parts of the Hahnenkamm are just a huge sheet of ice and uneven big bumps. Not much fun to ski! Out of the 5 times I skied it, only once was good because of 2-3 ft of snow had fallen the night before. But still--there were many better runs to be had.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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It was kept open with artificial snow when I was in Kitz March 08. Skiing a strip of dirty white with green grass either side. Very strange experience but we had no snow, only rain, at resort level. The extreme sections were all completely bare. I only skied it once and didn't enjoy it due to the poor snow so just got the bubble lift down after that. The snow from the top of the Hahnenkamm bubble upwards was fantastic though.
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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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espri, it's easier for the racers as they just jump over the tricky bits. Where's the challenge in that?
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You know it makes sense.
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richmond, until they realize that they have to come down.
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FAQ
I though it was funny that they'd said even if the downhill was still going ahead it would have to have been cancelled cos of the visibility.
But then, they do get down it slightly faster than I do!