 Poster: A snowHead
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Okay - have had lots of good advice here each year so here goes:
Party of 14 in March
Catered Chalet
Mixed ability from absolute noob to 3rd season blue/easy redders, to park style boarders and (mile hungry) black run hooners
All 25-35 and want to party Austrian style
Village should be attractive and easy to get around
Have looked so far at St Anton, Ischgl, Saalbach, Solden, Sol, the Hoff etc...... We normally go to France (Val/3V) as it caters so well for the huge ability range, but this year I badly (badly) want the group to experience the traditional joys of Austrian Ski-culture.
So where do we go? Huh? Help me out
Cheers
Steve 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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St Anton, Ischgl and Saalbach would fit the bill. The on piste skiing is excellent in Ischgl, whereas the overall skiing is better in St Anton. Personally I prefer the apres in St Anton to Ischgl. I'm an Anton addict so my judgment is clouded but you'd have a great time in any of those listed.
The absolute noob MAY struggle a bit in St Anton with a couple of the main runs back to town if they don't time it right - ie before the rush to the apres bars
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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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boabski, Cheers - really interesting comments. Everyone really wants to go to St Anton for the atmosphere, apres and town (or poss Ischgl), but I have been nervous about the noobs, and also the progressing intermediates - some websites imply that almost all the runs are sandbags - the less confident progressors would find 'all the reds like blacks' etc.... is all this notoriety just a little over hyped? I mean - as long as there is enough to go at for progressors and noobs it's no issue to get the odd lift down.
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leedssteve, there is plenty of decent runs for noobs - Rendl, Zurs, Lech - the only issue is on the main mountain at St Anton but to be fair we only spend a little time here, invariably because of the crowds. It is very easy to get away from them if you ski Rendl for example. Nasserein is where the nursery slopes are and are away from the crowds.
The grading is only wrong with a couple of sections of blues to be honest - ie a bit red in places. Otherwise the reds are reds and blacks are blacks. Ironically, some of the red ski routes are easier than the blue pisted runs.
St Anton ain't perfect but the upsides more than outweigh any downsides. Ischgl in my opinion does not have the same atmosphere as St Anton, although the on piste skiing is better in Ischgl.
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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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boabski, I hope your new skiers will be in ski school and therefore under the care of an instructor till 4pm so they will get down to the bar safely whatever the terrain and conditions!
Why not try Kitzbuhel/Kirchberg which has enough skiing for the advanced (Hahnenkamm?) whilst providing many manageable runs down for all and a decent sized town for partying. Soll area is also a varied area and legendary for partying, not so many black runs but I've never been bored there and there's a huge mileage if you like distance. (Stay in Soll or Ellmau).
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Val d'Isere?
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leedssteve, reckon St Anton fits all the boxes
blue/easy redders : yup, but may need a bit of thought about where to ski and be prepared to jump onto a bus to Lech/Zurs where there are quieter and nice blues IMHO
park style boarders : yup, Rendl!
(mile hungry) black run hooners : check, but they will probably need to ski the itineraries not many 'marked' blacks in the area, also fantastic off piste in the area
I've taken first time skiers to the area, they spent the week in Lech/Zurs with their instructor.
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I'd also look at Kitzbuehel, might suit the blue/red run fans more than St Anton. As boabski, says there are plenty of places for blue/red run skiers to ski in St Anton, you just need to make sure they know where they are going. If they end up coming down Kandahar at 3:30pm in flat light they'll let you know about later in no uncertain terms  (well, that's what happened to me... in my defense the blue run was closed so it wasn't my fault they had to ski the black)
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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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THe Hoff fits the bill too, as does Soll. Apres in the Hoff better than Soll. Can't fault St Anton either, but definitely pricier, I was shocked by beer prices compared to the Hoff.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I'd say Ischgl would be better than St Anton for your group, more terrain suitable for all (the noob would be fine in St A, it's the 3-weeker who may struggle to find much to easily progress on, unless they are the fairly 'gung-ho'/not easily fazed type). I think it's hard to justify the extra cost of St Anton if not skiing offpiste. Saalbach would be excellent other than there aren't a huge amount of black runs. The black down the front of the Schattberg though is probably more challenging than any of the pistes in Ischgl/St Anton. Don't think Kitzbuehel is as good as any of those three.
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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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clarky999,
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The black down the front of the Schattberg though is probably more challenging than any of the pistes in Ischgl/St Anton
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I'm surprised by that comment (although I can't dispute what you say from personal experience, not having been to Ischgl, and having only a dim memory of finding many of the reds in St Anton more a shade of dark red to black). I keep telling people that Schattberg black piste number 1 is a relatively kind and forgiving black, whereas number 14 down to Hochalm from the Zwoelferkogel is certainly not for the faint-hearted - possibly the most testing I've ever done (even compared to the likes of Tortin at Verbier, Chavanette/Swiss Wall at Avoriaz and the Tunnel at Alpe d'Huez.
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clarky999, Thanks Matt - is St Anton more expensive than Ischgl? We're looking for a catered chalet and I guessed they would be similar (in fact I'd heard Ischgl is pricey)
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You know it makes sense.
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| Tatman's Tours wrote: |
clarky999,
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The black down the front of the Schattberg though is probably more challenging than any of the pistes in Ischgl/St Anton
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I'm surprised by that comment (although I can't dispute what you say from personal experience, not having been to Ischgl, and having only a dim memory of finding many of the reds in St Anton more a shade of dark red to black). I keep telling people that Schattberg black piste number 1 is a relatively kind and forgiving black, whereas number 14 down to Hochalm from the Zwoelferkogel is certainly not for the faint-hearted - possibly the most testing I've ever done (even compared to the likes of Tortin at Verbier, Chavanette/Swiss Wall at Avoriaz and the Tunnel at Alpe d'Huez. |
What is the village at Saalbach like? What is it like for progressor slopes and mileage?
Cheers
Steve
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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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| Tatman's Tours wrote: |
clarky999,
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The black down the front of the Schattberg though is probably more challenging than any of the pistes in Ischgl/St Anton
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I'm surprised by that comment (although I can't dispute what you say from personal experience, not having been to Ischgl, and having only a dim memory of finding many of the reds in St Anton more a shade of dark red to black). I keep telling people that Schattberg black piste number 1 is a relatively kind and forgiving black, whereas number 14 down to Hochalm from the Zwoelferkogel is certainly not for the faint-hearted - possibly the most testing I've ever done (even compared to the likes of Tortin at Verbier, Chavanette/Swiss Wall at Avoriaz and the Tunnel at Alpe d'Huez. |
Not sure I've ever actually done that no.14 run! Will look out for it when next I'm in Saalbach.
It's as much a comment on the difficulty of pistes in Ischgl and St Anton, as on the Schattberg black (which is hardly an epic challenge). I don't think either of them have any particularly difficult pistes (lots of things at the harder end of the blue spectrum, and lots of things at the harder end of the red spectrum, but not much onpiste above that), their challenges are pretty much all offpiste. I think the Schattberg run is at least as steep in places (if not steeper) than any of the pistes in Ischgl/St Anton, and is pretty much always in the shade. I've seen people get 'in trouble' on it who thought they could handle most black runs.
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