Poster: A snowHead
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Hi,
I have been trying to find out which area Rauris belongs to. I am trying to find an area ski pass that includes Rauris and the other resorts nearby. Does anyone have any ideas?
Thanks 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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Its own I think. If you look on bergfex.com it lists the nearby resorts. Zell am See/Kaprun/Kitzsteinhorn and the Ski Amadè look to the closest areas, means another lift pass though.
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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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Zell/etc is the nearest if you are looking to do a day trip away from Rauris.
If you fancy skinning up the other side of the valley from the Rauris ski area you could probably ski down in Gastein, part of Ski Amade
All this is on Salzburg Superski card, but maybe better value to just buy day passes as you need them
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Thanks for all the info! Very helpful. We're driving the car down to there thankfully!
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Egg1206, Learned to ski in Rauris and spent the next 7 holidays there with my wife (timid intermediate) only, 2 times with 3 children, once with whole family + my parents (late 60s beginners) on my own twice for race training. All of my trips were fantastic - perfectly safe for kids (mine were 5,7,9) at the time. Hill is split into 2 "sides" one accessed by gondola manily blues and 1 black to base, the other by chair to red runs which link together to for a really enjoyable and testing top to bottom leg burner. Go there and enjoy, you've got a car so could visit Zell fairly handy.
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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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Egg1206, Rauriserhof hotel for a really nice dinner.
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I have been meaning to ski at Rauris for a while and this post has made me put the plan into action. I went there yesterday and had a very enjoyable (and quite strenuous) day. The perfect weather helped, blue skies though still pretty chilly - I hope you get the same for your holiday, Egg1206! I have included a few more photos than usual in my report since the area isn't so well known.
The drive from Fieberbrunn took 1 hr 10 min, about 25 min from Zell am See (around 24 km). The drive up into the Rauris valley includes quite a steep incline up from Taxenberg, with roadsigns indicating that chains may be required sometimes; yesterday the road was completely clear and no problem. At a pinch, if you weren't fully equipped, I expect you could leave your car in Taxenberg and take a taxi up to Rauris. Or just wait a while until the road is cleared fully (actually, I only saw the roadsign at the top of the hill, which would be for when you were leaving Rauris). It is unlikely that you will need chains but it is certainly possible and, since you may want to use your car for driving around, it would probably be worthwhile to take them along.
Rauris is a small ski resort with two main areas, Kreuzboden and Hochalm, separated by a deep valley. I parked at the Kreuzboden lift, the first I came across on reaching the village. The Kreuzboden lift is old and slow, skiing as it used to be, here's a photo showing the top station and the Kreuzboden hut...
After the chairlift there is the Waldalm T-bar. The two lifts together (and one other shorter T-bar) open up some good skiing on the Kreuzboden side. The slopes are quite steep and well-suited to speedy carving, especially on a day like yesterday when it was very quiet. Here's a view from near the top of the Waldalm T-bar...
As you can see, the scenery all around is great. I spent all the morning on the Kreuzboden/Waldalm slopes. In the unprepared area beside the T-bar there wasn't any great depth of snow presently and what there was was rather bumpy. However it, and other short stretches alongside the pistes, made for interesting skiing. Here is another photo at the Waldalm hut where I had lunch, a good if simple ham-and-cheese toast...
After lunch I went over the track, piste 4, which joins the Waldalm to reach the Hochalm. This photo was taken from that track, looking over to the Hochalm...
The Hochalm is served mainly by two gondolas, the two section Hochalmbahn (you can travel through at the middle station) and above that the Gipfelbahn to the top of the hill. The track over from the Waldalm leads to the middle station of the Hochalmbahn. From there I skied down the black piste 5 to the bottom of the Hochalmbahn. After the first section this piste is a zig-zag track down into the valley, just wide enough for a piste basher machine and not of any great skiing interest. I didn't find it any steeper than red piste 4 on the Kreuzboden side (maybe even less so, if memory serves) but maybe it is black because it is a track. This photo shows the view over Rauris from that track...
Down in the valley, near the bottom station of the Hochalmbahn, there is a good area for beginners, with rope tows as shown in this photo...
Up the hill most of the runs had relatively steep sections which I felt might worry a timid intermediate skier. Probably the easiest run is piste 2 from the top to the middle station of the Hochalmbahn. However, once I reached the top of the Hochalmbahn gondola, I took the Gratlift T-bar further up the mountain. I did wonder why nobody was using it but I soon found out...
It was the steepest and most difficult T-bar I've been on for a long time (though it might have been easier with two on the bar). An added interest was that it also had the Heath Robinson-ish Liftomat 2000 mechanism to automatically bring the bar down to the user - you don't see many of these nowadays! Actually, an operator did come out to help, probably assuming that I might not know to push down the bar (by the red arrow) to operate the mechanism...
I was happy when I reached the top still on the lift but it opened up some fine pistes. Later I only used the Gipfelbahn gondola to go up the mountain in more comfort. Here's a picture taken up near the top...
As well as the interesting pistes the Rauris area does offer attractive off-piste possibilities. This photo shows a section I saw from the track over from the Waldalm...
Being on my own and not wanting to get too far away from the pistes, I didn't try that. However, there were plenty other relatively easy off-piste areas alongside and between the pistes with better powder than on the Waldalm, e.g. this bit seen over piste 3 near the top of the Gipfelbahn...
At the end of the day there is a track, 1 and 1a, back over from the middle station of the Hochalmbahn to the Kreuzboden side.
I enjoyed my day in Rauris very much, though I would classify the pistes as being best suited for good intermediate skiers (and better). I'll go back. As I said, probably piste 2 is the best place to find your feet. As Samerberg Sue and others have mentioned, with the Salzburg Super Ski Card, you would have a wide range of other areas to try. Rauris itself does offer other possibilities, e.g. there were plenty folk walking about on the winter tracks and also toboganning. There are also snowshoe hikes. To cover these there is an add-on packet (€25) for the Rauris lift pass but I don't know whether that is available if you have the Salzburg card.
After the skiing I did some shopping in the village and found it attractive. There is no through traffic in the main street, shown in this photo...
The late baroque interior of the parish church is impressive. I am always amazed how such tiny villages produced such works of art...
So, all in all, I liked Rauris very much: village, scenery and pistes. I hope you enjoy your holiday as much, Egg1206.
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads on Fri 25-01-13 0:33; edited 1 time in total
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Wow! Thanks for all that information espri! Good to know there's some snow at the moment and fingers crossed the weather will be as good as your photos!! Thanks again, hugely impressed!!
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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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Egg1206, Great report by esprit - I remember when that t-bar was a "behind the knees" type drag. On my first ski holiday ever I took it on the last day 'cos I was a rufty tufty skier who could snowplough - and rolled, slid, ar*e planted my way down the piste.
Another point of interest is that Rauris is the home of the late Ulli Maeir a former double world champion racer from the late 80s who was tragically killed in Garmisch in '89 I think. Her Uncle Karl and now her cousin Harald own the ski school and are fantastic instructors. You can see her grave in the small village cemetery, a sombre reminder of how dangerous our sport can be.
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Thanks again all, I have posted this question on any ski forum I could find and this is the only one that has replied or has replied with genuine knowledge/interest/helpfulness! So thanks again!
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You know it makes sense.
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I hadn't known about Ulli Maier's connection with Rauris. The accident happened in 1994, 19 years ago this week. I remember the shock of her death. Makes you think as I wait comfy on my sofa to watch the men belting down the Hahnenkamm. There is a Wikipedia page with details of Ulli Maier's career.
On a happier note, glad we could help, Egg1206.
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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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espri, thanks for that. On my first ever ski holiday 25 odd years ago, we were based at a little two drag village called Embach just down the road from Rauris. On the last day went up the chair and did a few very icy runs and had to download on the chair as well. Nice to see what it's really like and a useful ski area.
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