Ischgl - Closing Party

A snowHead

HI Off to ishgl the last weekend in April, any tips ideas, where to go what to do etc.... Tips for the concert and of course any tips for skiing

thanks

A snowHead

Thanks

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bostin1978, There are really only two things to do - drink and ski. Last season, although the weather was warm skiing was pretty decent until about 1PM when it got a bit spring like. If you get the first lift up at 8.30 you can get a good bit of skiing in. The slopes are also relatively quiet as most people are there for the party and are nursing hangovers during the day. As for the drinking its not just about the concert, its a weekend long party. The bars move outside setting up stalls and the streets are filled with music. In the normal course of events Ischgl is pretty manic but goes overboard on closing weekend. At the concert there was a crowd of us so we bought trays of beer and buried them in the snow to keep them cool. The best bit was the very one sided snowball fight. By the side of the arena is Idalpe restaurant, on the top floor of which sat the dignitaries. They got bombarded with thousands of snowballs and never had a chance to retaliate.

As for the skiing, its a pretty large area of predominately north facing bowl type, red runs with little tree lined skiing, other than the runs back to the resort. My favourite areas are those around Bodenalpe, Palinkopf and Greitspize on the Austrian side and Alp Bella on the Swiss. If conditions allow make sure you do the Smugglers run over to Samnaum. The runs back to the resort can be tricky, particularly 1 and 1a as they can get very busy. Alternatively, runs 5 and 7 are IMO more interesting and less busy although you cannot escape ending up on 1a as they both join it before the village.

As for bars, the East side of the village has Niki's Stadl, the Schatzi Bar and the Kitzloch as the most popular while on the other side you have the Kuhstall and the enormous Trofana Alm. They all rock. It doesn't really matter where you are staying as to where you go as you can walk from one end to the other in about 15 minutes.

For a quieter, more chilled out atmosphere, try the Kiwi bar by the church (despite its name, its owner isn't antipodean but a local named Stephan).

Anything else feel free to ask.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Corky, was there last week and would have to say that unless conditions improve a million % there will be no skiing back to resort on the last weekend. the bottom area outside hotel elizabeth was more geared towards waterskiing than snow skiing from lunch time onwards. did it once mid morning and it was okish but any later was not for the faint hearted for both snow conditions and those that think they can ski but just couldnt handle the conditions - i always had a beer at the idalp and then skiid down 40 mins after the rush had gone down at the end of the day. the idalp area was also getting a little heavy around lunch so best skiing was as high as you could get. i didnt do the smugglers run but this would also be a challenge unless there is a heavy fall in temps and lots of snow. was 13C on one of the days in the village.
having said that it is a fantastic ski area and will be going back.

heres one for the ' i dont believe you team'. i posted on here some time ago about ischgl and a certain poster from here (who will remain nameless unless he wants to volunteer!!) said he was going to ischgl the same week as me(last week). he was also in the 3V the same week in january as i was. Got to ischgl on the first saturday night and who was sat on the table next to me at the evening meal- yep it was him!! why will he remain nameless? well lets just say one of the nights his apre ski was entertaining and he offered to take us all to pacha and buy the champgne Very Happy

never did take him up on the offer.. anyway had a great morning skiing with him and his buddy later in the week

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Corky, am also planning on going for the concert weekend at the end of the month. Have been to Ischgl a few times, so know the resort etc, but never been to one of the concerts. How do they work in terms of viewing and admisssion. Am I right in thinking this lift pass includes access to the concert and you just find a space somewhere on Idalp within range of the stage?

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

smithski, As per the link, the concert is essentially free but you need a pass to get up the mountain. Last year we skied in the morning and stayed up at Idalpe for the concert. Others get the lift up just for the concert. Viewing- just try to get the best spot you can.

After all it is free

pauljames, aye, I wonder who that was? Embarassed

Sounds likea a really nice guy though!

Can't really talk about the concert, but I can give a few pointers for skiing and lunch/apres-ski.

Try and do run 1/1a first thing in the morning at least once, just to experience how good it can be. At this time of the day, it's a completely different prospect as compared to later. Deserted, perfectly groomed and great fun. Even better, as a warm up for the day, do what we did on 4 of the 6 days. Get up to the highest point (Greitspitze, lifts A3, B3 then B4), then ski the 'Eleven' run all the way back to the village. This is a marked 11km run (longest in the area), which takes in pistes 13 & 1 (black and red). Really good for getting the legs working.

My favourite runs were:

Pardatschgrat: Piste 4 (steep quiet black/red)
Piste 5 (really good, varied, quiet red)
Idalp: Piste 11 (nice wide motorway blue)
Piste 13 (short black, good steep pitch at very top)
Look out for the speed run just off red 10, current Snowheads record: 77kph!
Hollkar: Pistes 20&21 (really good, steep blacks)
Piste 14a (steepest in the area, bottom section particularly good)
Fimbatal: Piste 34 (fun black, varied all the way down)
Samnaun: Piste 70 (excellent red, really good fun)
Piste 76 (fun, quiet red at the extreme of the ski area)

Personally, I wouldn't bother with the 'Duty-free' run (piste 80). It was alright, but completely ruined by a really long flat section at the end. There's much better runs to spend your time on.

Favoutire places for lunch:
La Marmotte, Alp Trida. Best lunch of the holiday, amazing.
Pardorama (table service bit). Really nice food, and ridiculously comfortable seats!
Paznauner Thaya (table service bit). Nice food, brilliant views

Apres-ski:
Schatzi Bar, Hotel Elisabeth. Friendly service, and entertaining watching everybody 'fall' down the last part of 1a
Kitzloch. Nice outdoor seating bit, gets the sun until it sets.

Just not long put some of my photos on my Flickr page. There's some good (labelled) shots of the Hollkar and Idalp bowls showing a lot of the runs I've mentioned above, as well as some photos of different lunch/apres-ski places. Feel free to have a look:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30454354@N06/

Hope that helps!

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

shoneyman, great pics on flickr ...and the groomed piste photo looks like there should be some tattys growing in the furrows Laughing

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Just back. On Friday 15th conditions were good, temperatures had dropped, Idalp was just slushy at the end of day, higher runs were icy even in the afternoon. Runs to Samnaun were still open, and good except the last 200m or so. Runs to Ischgl were still open, but we chose mid-station and gondola. The run down from Gampenalp is closed for the season, the road is clear of snow. The stage is up and in use.

snow reports

One good piece of news we found last week - the lift pass price was reduced, it should have been about 181 euros but was 155, presumably becuase the snow wasn't so good.

Help!!

Ischgl - Closing Party

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