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Montafon Schruns

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Any SH Montafon experts out there? Have heard great things, taking the plunge...........would welcome any advice.

In an attempt to not become too hooked on one resort area, ie Arlberg (think its too late for that but need to vary it a bit), and my second choice Verbier is still too expensive (CHF vs £ etc) we've taken the plunge and are having a couple of days trying out Schruns over New Year after Arlberg main trip as a tester, and also a week there in early March to give it a good bash. We're basing ourselves near Hochjoch lift for the week and will have car with us so we'll be able to get to St Gallenkirch etc if required.

Just wondered if anyone has any tips/ hints re the area, any OP gems we need to be thinking about?, bus links around the area? (dont really want use the car), any good lunch stops etc?

Thanks all
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I have been to the montafon many times but not for over 10 years unless you count a tour in the silvretta. It's a great ski area. It has three major areas, all have their own delights but good lunch stops is common to all. Make sure you visit Gargellan, it's small but a delight and has one of the best off piste runs in the alps, you will most likely spend most of the time at silvretta nova or Schruns both are superb.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
jbob, Nice one, sounds great.

Just to clarify re lunches, not bothered about huge self catering places and drinking, prefer quaint small places where you get locals type stuff, Tirolergroestl etc. Also a bit of steady apres for early evening in Schruns, sunny terraces/ live music etc.
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There are nice little cafes on the hill, I love the sausages, goulash soup and a sort of sweet scrambled egg called something like schmarren! I don't know about the current après spots. The best thing about montafon is the skiing, its like St Anton without the Herberts.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
The Montafon area is made up of a number of unconnected hills. I've not skied them all but here's a few comments.

Golm - not bad for a day. Not a lot of "back country" but plenty of short off piste sections and a steep black run. The alpine coaster is worth a go too.
Schruns/Hochjoch - some good skiing here, both on piste and off. If you go over the top and down the back, there are several marked runs that are unpisted. The lift back was a very slow chair, but it's possible that they upgraded it last year. There's a really nice pit stop at the top....you need to get some speed up and/or hike as it is above the piste.
Gargellen - worth a visit for a day. A higher base station than the others means that you can usually ski back even when snow conditions are poor. Again, I think there's a couple of marked unpisted runs.

All of the areas have some decent length vertical runs so you'll have fun Smile
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Elizabeth B, Thanks for the feedback, sounds good. Did you ski St Gallenkirch, have heard good things about that area, or is that one of the above areas?
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
jbob,

Kaiser Schmarren - sort of scrambled pancakes, usually served with a fruity (apple/plum) sauce ?

Mrs M loves it.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
musher, Thanks that's it, yumm.
Markymark29, St Gallenkirch is part of the large silvretta nova system and links with Gashurns. Gargellan is a small but delightful separate resort up a valley.
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Markymark29, I've not skied St Gallenkirk so can't comment.

I forgot to mention that it's not the liveliest resort for après ski.
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Markymark29 wrote:
Any SH Montafon experts out there? Have heard great things, taking the plunge...........would welcome any advice.

Just wondered if anyone has any tips/ hints re the area, any OP gems we need to be thinking about?, bus links around the area? (dont really want use the car), any good lunch stops etc?

Thanks all

Good lunch stops (in Gargellen) - Obwadhutte and Kesselhutte.
In St.Gallenkircn try Nova Stoba. Also lively apre-ski during sunny days.
If you are going to St.Gallenkirch try to find accommodation near ski-lift Valisera. Bus connection is ok.
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Thanks all, Elizabeth B, apres not high on my list of requirements, skiing is main priority with a few cheeky beers thats about it!

Any thoughts anyone on snow cover and runs back to Schruns resort early March?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Depends. There's plenty of skiing higher up. I was there a few years ago and could ski down at Easter, yet the following year you couldn't at Feb 1/2 term. As with most Austrian resorts they're pretty good at piste management so will keep stuff open as long as possible.
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A very timely post there Markymark29, I'm pondering the same thing, probably for a week in early March. I've not booked anything yet so looking for tips on where the best place to stay might be? Is Schruns the best bet? Ideally would like a 3* (ish) hotel with good "wellness" facilities (for my OH, I'm not keen on saunas myself).

Also, can anyone compare Montafon to Bregenzerwald? That is another option I was pondering.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
sah, Have sent you a PM with a hotel that looks really good, bit smarter than the place we're staying at!
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
We've had great trips to the Montafon valley. The resorts are not (yet) linked and he main areas are Schruns (a town), St Gallenkirch and Gargellen. The only area I've not skied is Golm, another small area.

Tips - you'll get the best from it if you have a car really. Parking is generally free everywhere except for the cable car at Hochjoch (only 1Euro IIRC) when we last skied there a couple of years ago. If you are staying in Schruns, the drive to St. Gallenkirch is on about a couple of miles and there is a huge car park at the base of the main St. Gallenkirch bubble - just get there reasonably early before the day trippers at the weekend arrive. Parking is also easy at Gargellen. All of the lifts , except for the Hochjoch cable car, are pretty modern.

Skiing in December is a gamble; when we went in December we were very lucky with perfect snow down to Schruns. It is low, though, about 800m, I think, so it will be a risk but it does have snowmaking. Remember to stop at the bar at the bottom of the cable car at the end of the day! The runs are enjuyable at Scruns, varied, but more in number at St. Gallenkirch. Again we had excellent conditions and loved the whole area; there are a number of itineraries marked with diamonds on the map, but I don't think they are patrolled..... We didn't come across a duff restaurant anywhere, not that we tried them all. If the snow is good, there area great runs down to the valley.

I was a bit underwhelmed by Gargellen at first, exceprt for the skiing into Klosters (you'll need a guide). It was bitterly cold in December, but worth going for the day and does grow on you. Do try the pizza place about half way back down to the village by the side of the furthest blue run.

All of the resorts except for Gargellen are now owned by one of the Austrian banks, who plan to develop it further and are putting a lot of investment in, according to a resort manager we shared a lift with.

The train to and from Bregenz is free with a lift pass, btw.

We stayed in a pretty cheap hotel (mind you, the whole area is good value IMHO, especially compared to The Arlberg) called the Chesa Platina. It was old but very clean and we were looked after very well, but no other wellness facilities, etc , if that's what you're after.

Finally, now Monarch are flying to Friedrichshafen, I'd go via there instead of Innsbruck; it's only about 40 mins to the Montafon if you avoid the afernoon traffic through the tunnel near the border and the car hire is very cheap as well as it being an all-weather airport.

Hope that helps.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Quote:

The train to and from Bregenz is free with a lift pass, btw.

Oh?
Bregenz? or just Bludenz? Could be handy.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
ptex, The train free with lift pass......does that include from Dornbirn also, which is after Bregenz?

One other point - do you reckon early March will still be ok, given that the town is low?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Sorry, I had just been talking to someone about Bregenz - yes it is Bludenz that the lift pass covers, not Bregenz.

I haven't skied ther in March but the season doesn't end until 7 April next year (14 April Gargellen); the Kreutzjoch is about 2400m, so it should be fine, assuming a "normal" season.
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Thanks for all your feedback, keen to keep this thread going if there's any more anyone can add? One things for sure I'm looking forward to skiing Schruns/ Monafon and discovering the area.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
A couple of other bits of info that may prove useful...

If anything should go wrong and you need to have medical assistance, then the ski patrol will ask if you have insurance. If you say yes, then they will more than likely take you to a private clinic in Schruns. While this is very nice, and undoubtedly offers 1st class treatment, make sure you have a high limit on your credit card, as we had to pay and claim back the 4 figure sum. Alternatively there is a hospital in Bludenz which is excellent and free.

http://www.valblu.at/site/home.php
Val Blu in Bludenz is a nice wellness centre/sports centre that is worth a visit if that's your thing.

English isn't commonly spoken in the area, and visitors from the UK aren't too common. Most people assumed that I was Dutch/Scandinavian when I spoke to them in English after exhausting my limited German.
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Great info here - and sorry for the thread resurrect!

Just booked now into this place for the 1st week of Feb: http://vital-zentrum.at/en.

If anyone has stayed there - or in that area, let me know! It looks a bit isolated, but we will have a hire car. Any tips much appreciated
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
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stayed there on a short trip last march. the hotel is ok but not as good as I was expecting from the web site. the food was more plate decoration than any quantity so fill up on the salad buffet. having said that im not a fan of HB as I prefer to go to a restaurant. the hotel/rooms were all very clean and hotel had nice staff.
as for the area being a bit isolated!! I think the opposite as Gaschurn is a really nice with a lovely traditional village atmosphere and we visited most of the other villages and Gaschurn was definitely our favourite. you are 10 min or less walk to the gondola from the hotel and I would advise leaving your skis and boots at the depot just by the gondola.
prices for food and drink are some of the cheapest I have seen in the alps. once on the slopes in Gaschurn you are linked all the way via piste/gondola to Schruns or at any stage you can get a bus also. the new gondola from St. Gallenkirch to what I will call the Schruns mountain seemed very slow to us but worth it as some great sking over there.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
garc, thanks for the response.

Any half way decent apres in that area? Obviously its not Ischgl, or St. Anton, but I curious if there is a decent bar within stumbling distance of the hotel?

Also, what were the conditions like when you were there?

Thanks
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right in the centre there are 3 bars, 2 of which are lively apre ski bars. prob not a problem for most people but personally drives me insane is that the 2 bars only sell beer in .250 or .3cl glasses and not in a pint glass ie .5cl. the 3rd bar is a tiny bar which had only locals in there the 3 nights we were there and yes they sell pints for the bargain price of 3€!! there is also a large bar by the gondola and another bar 2min from the centre which was a really cheap, nice décor, v clean and good beer, but!! there was something wrong in there which we couldn't put our finger on but for starters the owner barman was a bit weird and when we asked the locals why nobody was in there, then they just shook their heads and laughed. you will understand when you go there. another restaurant/bar slightly down the road which was ok with really friendly staff. that's all we found but there may be more.
great snow when we were there in March but unfortunately we had very foggy conditions for all 3 days we skied and so bad 1 day we had to pack it in at midday. on the ski map there is a slope marked which goes right back to the gondola but just to warn you there was no snow at village height when we were there so no slope to the gondola but we still saw people trying to ski down this non existent slope where the were ok for a while passing the last gondola to get down but we saw many people getting stuck about 300m from the bottom where they had to walk down with skis. assume this would be fine if there was snow cover but watch out.
the same week we were there we also visited many Austrian resorts over 1000km and 2 days and Gaschurn was our favourite of the lot. have also been sking Austria for 10+ yrs/resorts and Gaschurn would be up there for atmosphere/sking but especially for value as prices for food and drink are very reasonable. just the 1 fault is the ski hire is expensive.
enjoy.
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