 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi folks
Having NEVER been to Austria, I figure that I might try to hit this place and stay away from France for a yr. I know very little about snowboarding here, and even less about the resorts etc. I can fly locally to Salzburg so thought I might try to stay in this area, as I see the Ski Amade is a pretty vast area... But I have a few Qs that hopefully someone might be able to help me out with... Here goes...
1 - Which is the best inter/adv area of Ski Amade?
2 - Can you stay in Salzburg and drive every day to ski, or should one get a base closer to the hills?
3 - Is Salzburg a nice place to stay? Thinking of Xmas/New Yr time...
4 - If not Salzburg... Where would be a good base to set up at, and then travel to different areas on a daily basis? (love idilic resorts with great scenery)
5 - Is it possible to drive to diff areas all over the Ski Amade on one trip (say 7 days), or is it best to chose just one section and stay there?
Thats about it for now folks... Sorry there are so many Qs but like I said, I really do know nothing about this area... I have been going to France for so long now, I feel it is time to venture outwards and explore...
Thx in advance
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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If you have a car there I would say it is possible to drive around quite easily. Most of the driving will be on valley roads so no scary bends.
You could stay in:
Radstadt - and drive to Schladming area, Zauchensee and Flachau/Wagrain - that should be plenty for a week, or you could buy Salzburger Ski Pass (probably 20-30E more for a week) and add Obertauern to the options, again short drive from Radstadt and very nice, more snow sure resort.
or Flachau - maybe not so convenient as Radstadt for Schaladming and Obertauern but I would choose this option as you will have more nightlife there and more skiing available without driving.
Schladming and Obertauern still doable with the car.
Lots of skiing there for intermediates but I can not comment about the advanced options.
Salzburg is around 1h drive form those places so I would not do it everyday.
Other places to check: Gastein valley or Saalbach.
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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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AlpineAddict, Depends on what is important to you to be honest. Why stay over an hour from the slopes in a city when there is a wealth of choice much closer to the slopes? Do you have a reason for doing this?
The best locations for easy access to all the Sportwelt Amade resorts are:
Bischofshofen - along side both the A10 and the B311 which will get you relatively quickly to wherever you want to go.
Altenmarkt - fairly central and within easy commuting distance of just about all the resorts
Radstadt - good base for the eastern end of the area plus Obertauern if you buy the Salzburger Superski Pass
Wagrain - smack bang in the area - bit of ordinary road driving and you access both the western AND eastern areas in less time than driving from Salzburg.
Christmas/New Year you will pay a premium in Salzburg that really does not equate if you are primarily going for a skiing holiday. You will pay a premium wherever you go at that time, but in Bischofshofen the highest prices are around the 3 days of the 4-Hills Tournament as the final hill is the natural one in the town. That said, Salzburg is a beautiful city and has a really good club scene in the evenings, but not in the Alt Stadt so much.
If partying is part of your brief then staying closer to the slopes is important as the Austrian police are quite sharp about DUI and are often found just outside the Apres areas doing spot checks on particularly locals, Germans and the Dutch. As you will have an Austrian number plate, you may well get checked whether you are doing anything wrong or not. Driving to the slopes is a big thing for locals, as is partying, hence the police know they will always catch one or two. The Germans and the Dutch are known to push the boat out too often and are also a ready source of positive tests.
Flachau is a reasonable party area but there are also good places in most of the centres.
I drive over practically every weekend and holiday as it only takes me an hour and a half to get there. I don't party much so I am safe to drive home. I see plenty who are caught each season.
There are a few people who also live in the area who can give better advice on the actually party scene in their particular part of the area. It is a huge region and you will barely scratch the surface in a week.
If you go to Saalbach-Hinterglemm-Leogang you will have a good time as the skiing is great but you are at one end of the area and getting elsewhere is a faff. Zell am See is within easy reach as is Fieberbrunn and the Kitzbühel areas, both of which are also on the SuperSki Pass this coming season. he same can be said for the Gastein valley. Good skiing and plenty of it, but a wee bit isolated in terms of the Amade region.
Sue 
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| Quote: |
or Flachau - maybe not so convenient as Radstadt for Schaladming and Obertauern but I would choose this option as you will have more nightlife there and more skiing available without driving.
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Nah... there isn't more skiing available without driving, but it is quicker to access.
Radstadt have a ski bus servcice to Radstadt/Altenmarkt, and a bus link to Zauchensee so you can ski there and access Flachau Winkl and Kleinarl.... You can then bus it to Wagrain's Graffenburg which links to Alpendorf or to Wagrain's Mozart which links to Flachau.... busy day though!
Or...(and this is the bit that makes a MASSIVE difference to Flachau) you can get a bus to the little known (and quite small but lovelly) Fagreralm, or stay on the bus to be taken to Reiteralm which ski links to Hochwurzen, Schladming and Hauser Kaibling.
You are right about the nightlife... much busier in Flachau but there have been few complaints about Radstadt as it really is what you make of it!
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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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| AlpineAddict wrote: |
Hi folks
Having NEVER been to Austria
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In that case you are in for a treat IMHO 
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| 1 - Which is the best inter/adv area of Ski Amade? |
Hard to say, maybe Zauchensee, but I;d say you should take the chance to explore a few different mountains and don't confine yourself to just one.
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| 2 - Can you stay in Salzburg and drive every day to ski, or should one get a base closer to the hills? |
It's certainly possible, but I'd say there were better options, as flangesax and Sue mention. We stayed in Radstadt and found it very handy for getting to a lot of the areas int the eastern side of the Amadé area.
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| 3 - Is Salzburg a nice place to stay? Thinking of Xmas/New Yr time... |
I imagine it would be fantastic...
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| 4 - If not Salzburg... Where would be a good base to set up at, and then travel to different areas on a daily basis? (love idilic resorts with great scenery) |
If we went back we'd probably stay in Flachau or Altenmarkt, they both looked very nice. Radstadt too is nice but very quiet.
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| 5 - Is it possible to drive to diff areas all over the Ski Amade on one trip (say 7 days), or is it best to chose just one section and stay there? |
Do the touring thing, a couple of days in Schladming, nip up to Zauchensee, see if you can spot Maier in Flachau, compare the "Riperl" (spare ribs) in as many mountain restaurants as you can:-)
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| Thats about it for now folks... Sorry there are so many Qs but like I said, I really do know nothing about this area... I have been going to France for so long now, I feel it is time to venture outwards and explore... |
Exactly my feelings last year. I'm sure you won't regret it. It is completely different to skiingin France, or even in St Anton for that matter. Very friendly, cheaper than other places, great scenery, great food. All in all we had a superb holiday. OK, there is no massive thigh burning mountain like the Valluga or Grands Montets, but there is tonnes of excellent skiing
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1 - Which is the best inter/adv area of Ski Amade?
All the main area's have enough for this level of skiing
2 - Can you stay in Salzburg and drive every day to ski, or should one get a base closer to the hills?
Conceivably one could but I wouldn't. At least 30 mins drive to closest ski lift (St Johann ?) and an hour+ to the further area's. Might make sense if you only wanted to ski 1 or 2 days but if you're looking to ski all week then definitely not.
3 - Is Salzburg a nice place to stay? Thinking of Xmas/New Yr time...
Yes but not if you want to ski all day every day.
4 - If not Salzburg... Where would be a good base to set up at, and then travel to different areas on a daily basis? (love idilic resorts with great scenery)
Plenty of choices in Ski Amade as the others have posted. Being totally biased I'd suggest Bad Gastein but being on the edge of the area it takes a while to get over to Flachau etc....
5 - Is it possible to drive to diff areas all over the Ski Amade on one trip (say 7 days), or is it best to chose just one section and stay there?
If its your first time in the area I would suggest basing yourself at one of the bigger area's, e.g. Schladming, Radstad, Flachau, Gastein and aim to ski out of there (or close by) most of the time. Then for a couple days perhaps go further afield and try out one or two of the other area's. I dont think there is much point in trying to ski everything... I've been going for about 20 days a season for about 5 years now and still haven't done it all
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Zell am See is worth a thought has good nightlife. Lake is very pretty when frozen over. Lot's of places you can reach for the day - I'd definitely include Maria Alm. Salzburg is worth spending a night in, but I wouldn't base myself there (remember the Christmas markets are there up until Chritsmas and then stop).
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AlpineAddict,
Not sure about Salzburg after Xmas? It might still be busy in New year week? Samerberg Sue or Flangesax will know.
Having been several times in summer, we went in January for a day as we fancied a day off skiing and it was really quiet and empty, is still beautiful but not much to do.
Agree with the others that driving out to resorts from there every day would be a real pain!
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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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There are quite a few passes, so it's not a stupid question. I'm not sure I figured out all the options when I was there:-) I could hazard a guess but I'll let the experts explain the differences.
Some of the areas are interlinked, e.g. the 4 main mountains in Schladming all link up. A lot of the smaller areas also have some links to nearby resorts. If you look on the website the map is fairly clear about what links to what - http://www.skiamade.com/en/winter/skiresorts/slopespanorama. However, I would say you do need a car to get the most out of the area, you'll want to drive around to try different un-linked areas. E.g. you couldn't ski from Schladming to Zauchensee, and I'd put both those at the top of my list.
When we stayed in Radstadt the furthest we drove was to the Gastein area - that took just under an hour I think. To get to the furthest area in the east (Hochkonig) would be over an hour from Radstadt I guess. I really wouldn't worry too much about trying to cover the whole area in one trip, it's so huge there's no way you could cover every decent run in every area.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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Tom W, Thx again mate for the info... The huge map, which I have been looking for for a while (I must be blind) really makes sense now...
Thx all for your help as well... 
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AlpineAddict, It is called the names game!!!!! 
There is Salzburger Sportwelt which is basically St Johann im Pongau/Alpendorf, Wagrain, Kleinarl, Flachau and Zaucehnsee (the so-called 4 Valleys). It also includes Flachau-Winkel, Radstadt Eben and Filzmoos
Then there is Ski Amade which includes all the above plus Schladming/Dachstein, Großarltal and Gasteinertal 
Then there is the Salzburger Superski are which includes amongst others all of the above plus Obertauern and the Lungau ski region, Zell am See/Kaprun, the Hochkönig (Mühlbach, Dienten and Maria Alm, Saalbach-Hinterglemm-Leogang, Kitzbüheler Alpen, etc.
In total you are looking at 2,200kms of managed slopes on ONE single pass. You have not got a snowball in hell's chance of skiing that lot in a week! 
Take a peek here to see what I mean: http://www.salzburgerland.com/ski-board/salzburg-super-ski-card.html#none
The 23 regions are all listed and a 7 day pass for next season costs 246 Euro. My season ticket will cost me 535€ if I buy before 06.12.2011 and 599€ if I buy after the 07.12!
I've been skiing this particular region for the past 20+ years and I can safely say that
a) I've still not skied all of it,
b) I've never been bored, and finally
c) I've never run out of snow
Sue
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You know it makes sense.
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Samerberg Sue,
Hi Sue.. You are a star for explaining that to me... I was getting a tad confused. Can I ask one more thing... I notice that most of the villages, if not all, are under 1000m in altitude... What is the snow cover like int his region and do the actual villages suffer with a lack of snow? Not that that really matters I suppose, but it is always nice to visit places and actually see them covered
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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Samerberg Sue, Thx again Sue... You make some valid points... Not entirely sure what you are saying about the altitude heights though. Are you saying that most maps have misprinted the village altitudes?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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AlpineAddict, yep big map is good to get the picture of the area although some distance seems closer than they really are. Specially the Gastein valley is not so close as it might appear on the map so check driving times on Google maps.
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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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AlpineAddict, no the point about altitude is that because further east it is generally colder in winter (on average about 2C cooler) the same temperature in the western Alps can be found at an altitude about 300m lower in the eastern Alps. So for example you would roughly expect the same temperature at 800m asl in Austria as you would at 1100m asl in France.
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AlpineAddict, no, not at all. I'm saying is that IF you want to compare Austrian village heights with those for places you know in France, then you are not comparing like with like. By mentally adding about 300m to the heights you read on the maps, you are then setting them at "similar" heights and can make rough comparisons. The heights given on the maps are accurate.
The snow tends to stay longer on Austrian slopes, especially the north-facing one with lower depths because most of the slopes are covered with vegetation and are not bare rock as found in under many of the French and western Alpine resorts. Once the base is frozen to the ground, we can ski on a depth of maybe as little as 5 to 10 centimetres. The widespread use of snow cannons to maintain the base and ensure it makes a good solid connection also helps get an early start to the pistes opening. Unlike France though, all the mountains are privately owned and agreements as to when skiing can start and when it ends are fixed well in advance. A lot of places close the weekend after Easter for example, even if it is dumping fit to bust.
This also means finding out from locals where you can ski off-piste and where you can't. The forests all belong to either private individuals or the state. Some allow you ski through sections, others are nasty and have barbed wire stretched across as section dividers. That is not to say that there is not much off-piste though, it is just a case of asking before you tackle something.
I've also skied France a great deal, in fact from the 60s through to the late 80s France was my main stomping ground and there are not many places I have not visited one way or another. I find many of the Grand Massif villages (the original ones, not Flaine!), are very similar to Austrian ones now for example. Maybe not so much these days as they have gone over to skiing and winter holidays big time, while many of the Austrian villages and towns are year round communities with little or even no expat incomers. Skiing keeps the farmers, builders and other outside workers in work in the winter, the seasonaire concept is pretty alien to many resorts in Austria compared with France for example. There are places like St Anton and Kitzbühel where they are found, but not to the extent of Val d'Isere, Chamonix or the Three Valleys.
Hope this helps - I'm not anti France (I'm half French BTW) or anywhere to be honest. I am pro-Austria because I know it offers incredible value for money and some fabulous scenery as well as skiing.
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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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AlpineAddict,
i'll take a punt that you are a boarder... if so; Flachau Winkl is awesome for boarding along with sport gastein (although in 5 years i still haven't boarded the latter!)... certainly the best within the passes!
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| flangesax wrote: |
| along with sport gastein |
Sportgastein is a great place, one of my all time favourite places to ski!!! One of the highest part of Amade usually means excellent conditions. Still never tried the off piste up there ... Speedster knows more.
Cheers
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