 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi,
I'm a novice skiier with only 3 day skiing to my name! I'm looking for a resort that has some nice wide runs and good snow record as well as good night life. Going with a group of 8 people, all at the same level as myself. We went to chamonix last year and would like to go some where like soll this year.
What do you think of soll? Would we be suited to the terrain?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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AceMan14, Not really, to be honest.
With three days skiing up to now, you will be mainly looking for blue runs, and while there are certainly some, there are rather more reds, which you might find a little steep, particularly if you are only going to have 3 days skiing again.
Soll will be better for when you have 2-3 weeks skiing under your belt IMO.
A better choice might be Mayrhofen, where most of the terrain on the Ahorn side will be suitable, with enough on the Penken side to keep you happy on your final day. And it probably has more night life than Soll as well. Innsbruck airport is only an hour away by road, or can be done by train (but need a bus from the airport to the train station first).
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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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alex_heney, thanks for the repsonse, I had a quick look at the piste map for Mayrhofen and it looks good. Thinking about the groups standard the Ahorn side will be more than enough for us.
Mayrhofen ticks all the boxes, nightlife, good beginners runs  looks like I've found a destination.
Now all I have to do is find some accomodation and book the flights.
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AceMan14, Sorry, but I have to disagree with alex_heney, Soll's reds really aren't red and, in any case, there are loads of nice cruisy runs available. Also look at Brixen, Ellmau. Mayrhofen works too and frankly so do loads of places in Austria.
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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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AceMan14, Soll would be perfect for you - lots of easy little blues, great nightlife and friendly locals and if you're skiing develops the whole of the SkiWelt area opens up...
Mayrhofen can suffer from serious queues up to the ahorn, and that area itself is very limited
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| Bode Swiller wrote: |
| AceMan14, Sorry, but I have to disagree with alex_heney, Soll's reds really aren't red and, in any case, there are loads of nice cruisy runs available. Also look at Brixen, Ellmau. Mayrhofen works too and frankly so do loads of places in Austria. |
I know the reds in the Ski Welt are not particularly hard reds, but even so, for a group who have each only done a total of three days skiing, I think they would be just a little bit much.
As I said, if they had done a couple of weeks skiing each, I think it would be ideal.
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alex_heney, Up on Hoch Soll there is a load of ideal learner terrain and even a green home run. Soll churns out more first week skiers than most places and, once skiers get mobile, there are literally endless opportunities in the region. The "reds" are all avoidable. La Grave it ain't. I reckon AceMan14 and crew will have a fine time there just like millions have before. And I'm sure they'd enjoy mayrhofen too.
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Bode Swiller, Sounds like most of the Austrian resort are fairly simmilar, so it will come down to findng suitable accomodation, good shout about Hoch soll that and alex_heney, suggestion of Ahorn sound ideal for my group.
red 27, when you say Mayrhofen can suffer from serious queues is that all the time? and how limited is the skiing up on Ahorn? Is the snow quality good up there someone mentioned that it gets can get icy at Mayrhofen.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I am with Bode Swiller on this one. I think the Soll/Ski Welt is more than suitable for learners/beginners. And Soll has a decent nightlife as well...
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AceMan14, well I have to be honest and say my last trip there was in 1988 
The issue with the Ahorn is/was that it's where all the beginners go and so they all have to be there for 9.30 ski school and so there's the mother and father of all queues from 8.30 opening time onwards. When I was there it was a cable car (they're always crap) but if they've replaced it with a gondola perhaps the problem has lessened but I queued for 30 minutes or so and then almost as bad to come back down. It put a downer on the holiday really to have to endure the Reggie Perrin style commuting. "12 minutes late for ski school Joan, Dutch boarder vomitted in the cable car"
The snow was good when I there depsite there being none at all in the valley, but the skiing is quite limited as I recall, only really suite to having lessons on. The ice was worse on the Penken when I was there
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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We had a big mixed ability group in Soll at half term this year.
If you do decide to go here's a few tips...
Aviod the cable car up to hochsoll at rush hour - from 9 to 9:45 ish. Go early or late.
Use the ski garage at the bottom of the cable car - its more like a spa resort than a ski garage.
Aviod the red home at the end of the day - bodies all over and one could be you. During the day its actually really nice if the snows ok.
Don't think twice about de-mountaining via the lift - loads of people do.
There are a lot of reds but nearly all are wide (but definteley steeper than most blues cos thats how it works!)
Most runs are shortish so if you sdont like it it will soon be over.
The bars and mountain cafes are much cheaper than France.
Have a blast
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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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ive no idea why you would consider night life on a long weekend of skiing
12pm bed - 7am rise - first lift - last lift
repeat x 3 
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You know it makes sense.
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similar story to my week away.
im a lazy guy but not when it comes to skiing....i was up not only before the other 13 guests but the chalet hosts themselves!
packed lunches to minimise down time
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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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| Skola wrote: |
similar story to my week away.
im a lazy guy but not when it comes to skiing....i was up not only before the other 13 guests but the chalet hosts themselves!
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There is no point being up before the lifts open by more than the time it takes to eat breakfast.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| red 27 wrote: |
| The issue with the Ahorn is/was that it's where all the beginners go and so they all have to be there for 9.30 ski school and so there's the mother and father of all queues from 8.30 opening time onwards. When I was there it was a cable car (they're always crap) |
The cable car up to the Ahorn is anything but crap. Largest in Austria I think. Quick too.
It's a really limited area though, unless the red off the back is open. By all acounts it usually isn't.
For the novice original poster: don't get too hung up on piste colour coding. If you can string basic turns together, even ropey stemmy ones, you'll be fine on most reds. As long as you're beyond actual snowploughing, I say go for it.
(This is based on my experience of fearfully limiting myself to blues for ages, and eventually not seeing what all the fuss was about when I strayed onto a red. Subsequently teaching sig. other to ski and getting her on reds on day 2 and her coping just fine, and more recently having the 'blues and greens only' mindset in nervous novice members of my family and badgering them to get their stupid arses on a red and them conceding that it wasn't as bad as they thought it would be).
I'm going to be shot down for all of that, and I don't care.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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alex_heney, there's no point being up any earlier than it takes to grab breakfast on the way to the lift...croissant (or in this case semmel) on the gondola is surely the way forward
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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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| alex_heney wrote: |
| Skola wrote: |
similar story to my week away.
im a lazy guy but not when it comes to skiing....i was up not only before the other 13 guests but the chalet hosts themselves!
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There is no point being up before the lifts open by more than the time it takes to eat breakfast. |
i like to go out prepared and stay out all day so theres a little more to do than just eat eg make sandwiches and cuppa soup, pack rucksack etc
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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AceMan14, the bar at the cross roads do super burgers! 
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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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i took my little brother to soll last year for his first ski hol, he had 3 hours skiing to his name and he managed it fine, had him skiing down all the reds within 2 days. soll is great, we had powder 5 days out of 7. loads of blues just off the main gondola reds near there are also very easy and very wide. soll ticks all boxes!! and when we went NEVER qued for mor than 2 mins
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I have to agree with the pro-Soll crowd.
It's a great ski area and will be fine for the group in question.
Oh - and a great village too for sampling the local hospitality off the slopes! 
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Bergmeister, Yeah, me too. Unfashionable maybe but for most snowsporters out there it ticks all the boxes. Nobody has mentioned the amazing night skiing... I reckon best there is.
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Fun resort, decent skiing for the undemanding but one of the worst snow records in the entire Alps.
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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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bad_roo, most people are undemanding though. For most it is a winter holiday, a chance to relax and have a laugh. As for the snow record... an over-worn debate, yawn.
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Debate? There's no debate about it. Soll has a lousy snow record. If you're taking a long weekend on the fly when the snow looks good, that's not such a problem but if you're booking in advance, well then there are plenty of other places I'd look first.
Resorts with easy pistes and decent bars aren't hard to come by. Why opt for one with the likelihood of dicky snow cover?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| bad_roo wrote: |
Debate? There's no debate about it. Soll has a lousy snow record. If you're taking a long weekend on the fly when the snow looks good, that's not such a problem but if you're booking in advance, well then there are plenty of other places I'd look first.
Resorts with easy pistes and decent bars aren't hard to come by. Why opt for one with the likelihood of dicky snow cover? |
Why do you believe it has a lousy snow record?
Obviously, it will not be quite as reliable as most of the really high resorts, but it has certainly been no less reliable than most resorts in recent years.
Even in January/February 2007, when a lot of Austria was very short of snow, there was still enough to ski on in Soll, even if you couldn't ski right back to resort.
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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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There's a lot more to having good skiing conditions than just precipitation bad_roo, or height alex_heney. Part of the old (yawn, yawn) debate is to do with what's under the snow... your typical high alpine terrain is rock and it needs a good deal more cover to be skiable than lush pasture. Then there's the fact that places like Soll are further north and further into the continent than higher French resorts (I'm sure you studied a bit of geography bad_roo). Fact is though, I've been going to that area for decades and can only think of one or maybe two occasions when I've not had good conditions. In other words, no different to my experience in France. It's the media that perpetuate the myths; they say things like Austria too low, Italy too south. Switzerland too boring etc
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Yes, I know the snow falls mainly on grass at Soll but it's still low, warm and relatively dry with a short season.
This should be self-evident. It sounds a bit like TVR owners arguing that their cars aren't unreliable.
It would be probably be in the top five ski resorts I'd opt for if I wanted to go for a Christmas walking holiday.
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You know it makes sense.
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bad_roo, obviously never been then! Another one who believes the fallacious arguments put out by people marketing holidays in France for punters in the UK.
I live just over the hill from Soll and can assure you that you are completely wrong. My village is at 800m, but south facing. Söll is at 620m (village level) but in a narrowish valley on the north-facing slopes - I can ski in Söll when it is impossible to ski in my village, despite the 200m height difference in our favour.
Currently no Alpine country is doing well, but the eastern Alpine environments have a better start basis to build on that when the temperatures finally start producing the white stuff. One aspect is the grass versus rock base another important one is that the weather is not as easily influenced by the temperate effects of maritime air masses. The unusual situation of a very stable blocking high pressure zone over the Mediterranean is the cause of this particularly odd situation. We have now had Föhn winds right across the Alps for the best part of 2.5 weeks now. The high pressure is gradually declining but is being very tardy about it! Get a bloody move on and let's have that Scandinavian high back please! 
Sue
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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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| bad_roo wrote: |
| It would be probably be in the top five ski resorts I'd opt for if I wanted to go for a Christmas wa*king holiday. |
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Poster: A snowHead
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| bad_roo wrote: |
Yes, I know the snow falls mainly on grass at Soll but it's still low, warm and relatively dry with a short season.
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That is a "short" season normally runnning from early December until early April. And they close then because of contractual arrangements with the farmers, rather then because they are out of snow.
Yes, it is low, but first - you have to remember that as a rough guide, any given height in Austria is equivalent to 300m higher in France/Switzerland. And second, you also have to remember that you simply don;t need as much depth of snow to have the same "skiability".
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This should be self-evident. It sounds a bit like TVR owners arguing that their cars aren't unreliable.
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It is "self evident" only to those who don't know the area.
Just look at the figures over the last few years if you don't believe us. And remember that 20cm is enough to ski on in that area.
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It would be probably be in the top five ski resorts I'd opt for if I wanted to go for a Christmas walking holiday. |
If you were hoping to walk on grass, you would only rarely get your wish at Christmas.
Everything you have posted on this seems based on looking at the height and making assumptions from there, rather than any actual knowledge.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| paulio wrote: |
| red 27 wrote: |
| The issue with the Ahorn is/was that it's where all the beginners go and so they all have to be there for 9.30 ski school and so there's the mother and father of all queues from 8.30 opening time onwards. When I was there it was a cable car (they're always crap) |
The cable car up to the Ahorn is anything but crap. Largest in Austria I think. Quick too.
It's a really limited area though, unless the red off the back is open. By all acounts it usually isn't. |
160 pax and a 7 minute travel time.
I assume the red you refer to is the Ahornabfahrt, which was open until the last day of the season last year (all the way down to 630m) albieit slushy come midmorning. There has been significant investment in snowmaking on the run - probably to get more people to use the fancy new cable car!
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Tue 24-11-09 19:23; edited 3 times in total
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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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| alex_heney wrote: |
It is "self evident" only to those who don't know the area.
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I lived nearby for a few years and yes, this thread is very funny.
Next week on Snowheads SEEFELD IS THE PLACE TO GO FOR STEEP OFF PISTE.
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