 Poster: A snowHead
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Resort: Ellmau (village)
Country: Austria
Domain: SkiWelt (Going/Ellmau/Scheffau/Soll/Itter/Hopfgarten/Westendorf/Brixen)
Website : SkiWelt Website
Author: skisimon
Date: 18th-25th February 2012
Our holiday: A solo trip for me. I had a knee operation in November, so wasn't able to confirm my usual ski work for the season - demoted to holiday skiing for a change! The aim was to get the ski legs back in again and give the knee a good test, and it passed with flying colours. 
Basics : The SkiWelt area is, essentially, a line of peaks surrounded by a horseshoe valley of eight villages (if I recall correctly). The resort is low - most of the villages are just under the 800m mark, and the highest point of the main range is just over 1800m, and on the Westendorf side it gets up to just over 1900m. The usual transfer time is about an hour from either Salzburg or Innsbruck. The transfer was a little longer this week as my trip coincided with one of Austria's region's half-term and the Austro-German holiday: Fasching.
Lift system : Generally speaking, when up the mountain, pretty much all of the lifts are chairs (mainly fours and sixes). There are a few T-bars (all the lifts on the beginner slopes seem to be these works of the devil). There are gondolas from most of the villages and a swift funicular from Ellmau. I'm sure that the lift system is usually adequate, but during any kind of busy period it is woefully inadequate and poorly thought out. There are a number of bottlenecks as you work across the area, and these are often serviced by four man chairs (inexplicably, given the number of six-packs in non-bottle-neck areas).
The terrain : Most of the pistes in the area are towards the top of the mountains. Being made up of a number of peaks, many of the runs are quite short in length, though the resort runs are of good lengths. The run down to Ellmau from the top of the funicular is nice, as it is made up of several crossing pistes, so you can almost always vary it a little bit from the time before - watch your head as you go under the funicular (health and safety precautions, such as bright padding on 5 foot high iron girders, seem to have passed by the Austrians). For it's faults, there are a good range of runs, mainly tree-lined, though none too difficult. I probably wouldn't recommend the area for an expert (unless a lazy week was the aim of the game). For beginners, the wide open and gentle terrain at the base of the mountain at Ellmau looked like an almost perfect place to learn, and there was a good range of runs higher up to progress on to.
The snow : With runs facing in just about all directions, you can usually manage to catch some sun (or if it's a bit warm, the last bit of firm snow for the day). As for the week I was in resort, the first three days were brilliant - generally around -3 degrees and brilliant snow. The Wednesday warmed up quite a bit, and we finished the day with lots of slush low down. I was concerned for the Thursday, I was expecting bullet-proof ice. Miraculously the snow on Thursday was spectacular (softening a little as the day wore on). I have no idea how they did it, but the bashers had defeated the ice! Presumably they have some wonderful technique they've had to develop due to the low altitude of the resort. Friday was never going to be the best, given the 12 degree temps - but on the right side of the hill things kept just about firm enough to stay enjoyable.
Off-piste : Limited. That would be my bet. As I was giving the knee a gentle run out, I wasn't hunting the off-piste, but with small peaks and tightly packed runs and thick woodland, it didn't seem to offer much opportunity. There were a couple of powder stashes that stood out - but they were well tracked, even by hard-pack loving Austrians, within a couple of hours of lifts opening.
The resort : Ellmau is small, but quite spread out along the valley. There's virtually nothing to do in the day and only a few bars (though they seemed fun enough). We generally had a couple of drinks in the Ellmauer Alm bar/restaurant, which was good fun, if not especially hardcore. Not somewhere to head to if you want the ultimate in the famous Austrian night-life. Even though I was there in an Austrian half-term week, which would clearly have skewed my impression, it certainly seemed to be more of a family type of village.
Food : Food up the mountains was generally very good, and very reasonably priced. The Tanzbodenalm restaurant, above Scheffau, was very good and very popular on the two occasions I visited.
Accommodation : I stayed at the Hotel Blattlhof. It's between Ellmau and Going, and connected to the ski area by a bus (or a long stroll to the nearer lifts). It's a ten minute walk to the Ellmauer Alm bar/restaurant, which is perfectly acceptable for a fun few drinks after dinner. The breakfast was typically Germanic (cold meats, cheeses, cereal), with a small cooked option. They offered a skiers snack in the late afternoon (soup, snacks, and cakes), this was very welcome after a hard day of skiing. Evening meals were five courses and quite filling; each day had three main-course options, apart from Thursday when there was an exceptionally filling 'farmer's dinner'. The room was fairly basic (bed, TV, desk, and wardrobe), but clean and functional. There was a good ski locker room and I have to admit that the sauna was well utilised! 
Costs: The area was extremely good value. Half litres of beer were cheaper than a pint back home (even up the mountain), and the food was well priced too. A meal and a drink up the mountain could be found for around £10, which I think is excellent. I probably spent less during this week than I would have done if I'd been at home! The holiday itself was just shy of £700, which I think was reasonable for a solo skier, though I do wish I'd held off (having seen it going for just over £500 a month ago - not worth the risk mind...)
Conclusion: I enjoyed the holiday; I met and skied with some good people whilst I was out there; and the snow was generally not too bad. Would I go back again? I wouldn't plan a trip in advance, but yes, if the snow was good and the price was right I'd certainly hit the 'book' button.
7.5/10
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| skisimon wrote: |
Resort: Ellmau (village)
Lift system : There are a number of bottlenecks as you work across the area, and these are often serviced by four man chairs (inexplicably, given the number of six-packs in non-bottle-neck areas).
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I imagine that the four man chairs were probably the first replaced (from older lifts) when four man was order of the day. Now they will come round again as the years go by, e.g. I believe that the Aualm lift, one of the bottlenecks, is to be replaced in summer 2013.
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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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I suspect that you are probably right, it certainly makes sense that they would be the first to have been upgraded. I imagine that were these 4-man bottle-necks replaced with six-packs (or, even better, eight-mans), then the lift system would be improved beyond all recognition.
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