 Poster: A snowHead
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Here another area specific thread, for the resorts in the so-called Schneewinkel: Fieberbrunn, St. Johann in Tirol, the Steinplatte/Waidring, Buchensteinwand/Pillerseetal, Hochfilzen, Kirchdorf and Erpfendorf.
And for a change I can start with cross-country, for on Saturday, while the biathlon pros were busy on the other side of the hill in Hochfilzen, I went langlaufing with two friends. We started out from the bottom station of the chairlift on the Buchensteinwand (at St. Jakob in Haus) and from there we went on an easy track which led towards St. Ulrich am Pillersee. This was an attractive loipe, through trees, flat (though one friend who hadn't skied for a while found the little humped bridges over streams challenging enough) and pretty quiet...
We didn't go right down into St. Ulrich (to avoid the downhill and climb back up) but eventually ended back at the our starting point, lunching at the Buach-Blick Gasthof. There is a fine beginners' area at the Buchensteinwand...
Just when we finished our day the peaks of the Loferer Steinberge, which had mostly been hidden in cloud, started to appear, showing us the panorama we might have seen anther day...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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espri, is skiing the Buchsteinwand worth the hassle? Looks like we'll need two buses.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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The Buchensteinwand is a small area, with three pistes -black (not very), red and blue- running down the St. Jakob side. The runs are interesting enough but there's not a great deal of variety. When there is fresh snow (and it is stable enough), there is a wide face alongside the red piste that can make for pleasant off-piste skiing (you can sort of see it above the trees in the photo of the beginners' area in the first post in this thread).
There is another short piste leading from the top of the hill down to the Panorama chairlift (with even shorter off-piste options). And on the "back side" of the hill there are runs down to Hochfilzen (serviced by 2 T-bars). I find the beginners' area good (see photo above).
I enjoy the area for a day but I live only a quarter of an hour away. There may be better options around. Where will you be based, HutToHut?
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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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St. Johann in Tirol. Was thinking of going when we come round to Fieberbrunn.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Based in St. Johann (and using the Schneewinkel pass) my order of merit for the other areas would be:
Fieberbrunn (am I biased?)
Steinplatte (Waidring) - also allows a trip over to the Winklmoosalm, though there isn't so much to ski there
Buchensteinwand/Hochfilzen
Kirchdorf - a small area
Erpfendorf-Lärchenhof - really only for beginners
You could do the Buchensteinwand along with Fieberbrunn but would be rather a waste of time, I feel, getting from one to the other.
I'd be happy to meet up sometime, if you want to.
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[b]espri[/b
Hi Espri I am out this week in st johan having a great time as always in austria! The 3 hrs of snowfall was most enjoyable today as it's so quite able to find a little fresh on 1a and 3a. If you fancy a meet and ski I want to get to fiberbrunn your home so that would be cool. Also I plan to stay in austria next season for four months in the tyrol or ski amade area so any advice would be appreciated
All the best sean
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| seany1 wrote: |
| If you fancy a meet and ski I want to get to fiberbrunn your home so that would be cool. |
Have sent you a PM.
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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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espri, thanks for the info and always enjoy your reports.
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Met seany1 today and we had a very good time on the pistes at St. Johann in Tirol. Weather wasn't at all bad, with some sun although still much cloud about, some of which we occasionally had to ski through. Pistes in very good condition and we also found enjoyable powder in some areas alongside the pistes (it had snowed a little overnight).
For those who know the area there was one novelty. A new track has been made from the top of the Harschbichl gondola down to the Penzing chairlift (top station) and Stangl-Alm. Branching off piste 1B, this is an alternative to the old route which winds round the side of the hill (that wasn't open today). The new track, shown in the photo above (with the Kitzbüheler Horn in the background), is steeper at the start, so maybe they will keep the old route available too when the season really gets going (pistes were still very quiet).
Another development this year which is not so positive is that the two organisations which run the St. Johann skilifts seem to have fallen out (again). There is the main area with the two gondolas, etc., and on the eastern edge, the Eichenhof lifts, two long T-bars and some more beginners' lifts. Now, according to the notices displayed, 1 and 2 day tickets of each area are not valid in the other area. As it happens, Sean had a three day ticket (supplied via Crystal, I believe) but this turned out to be only valid for the main St. Johann area. Luckily the lift operators on the Eichenhof side don't seem to be applying the rules too strictly at present and would open the lift gate when the ticket didn't work. What you actually need to ski both areas is at least a 3 day Schneewinkel pass (passes for the other larger areas, Kitzbüheler Alpen, etc., also work).
Here's one more photo from the day (taken on piste 7 leading down to Bauernpenzing) - I think that I shall never see, A poem lovely as a tree...
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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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I have had an awesome week enhanced with the company of espri who is a pleasure to ski with! If you find yourself in the area and have the opportunity to hook up with him definately go for it. The powder at 0830 was a brilliant way to end the week and being so quite remained for many hours.
Many thanks once again Eric
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You know it makes sense.
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| espri wrote: |
| Another development this year which is not so positive is that the two organisations which run the St. Johann skilifts seem to have fallen out (again). There is the main area with the two gondolas, etc., and on the eastern edge, the Eichenhof lifts, two long T-bars and some more beginners' lifts. Now, according to the notices displayed, 1 and 2 day tickets of each area are not valid in the other area. As it happens, Sean had a three day ticket (supplied via Crystal, I believe) but this turned out to be only valid for the main St. Johann area. Luckily the lift operators on the Eichenhof side don't seem to be applying the rules too strictly at present and would open the lift gate when the ticket didn't work. What you actually need to ski both areas is at least a 3 day Schneewinkel pass (passes for the other larger areas, Kitzbüheler Alpen, etc., also work). |
Further developments. Today the Tiroler Tageszeitung reports here (in German) that the St. Johann lift company has now taken over the Eichenhof lifts, uniting the whole area. So this means that there is no problem now with lift passes - even a plain St. Johann pass is valid on the Eichenhof lifts too  .
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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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Hi Eric
Might be a little longer before I am back on the slopes.....struggled for 10hrs in my ED today before I did xray and alas ankle is fractured!! Hope I catch you before the end of season in the mean time take care
sean
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Poster: A snowHead
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Scheiße, as we say! I'm very sorry to hear that and hope it will heal soon. I trust too that you'll be back on the slopes before the end of the winter and hope to see you then.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I skied a couple of corners in the Schneewinkel area this weekend. On Saturday afternoon I had a few hours on the Buchensteinwand near St. Jakob in Haus. It was a real bluebird day with good snow, although off-piste was pretty well all tracked by the time I arrived. Here is a view looking south from beside the Panorama chairlift, with the Kitzbüheler Horn on the left and the Wilder Kaiser range in the middle...
I also skied over to the Hochfilzen side of the hill for some runs on the T-bar there. This photo was taken on the run down to Hochfilzen (with the Leoganger Steinberge in the background)...
The next photo shows the Loferer Steinberge, with the (coral reef) cliffs of the Steinplatte just to their left...
And it was on the Steinplatte that I skied today. This photo, taken from the Nordhang, shows a general view across a good part of the ski area and with the connected Winklmoosalm area in the middle distance (on the right)...
The weather wasn't as favourable as yesterday, mostly overcast but with a few minutes of sun, but the snow was still good. The first thought that comes into my mind when I think of the Steinplatte is of the motorway pistes there. However, there are extensive unprepared areas between the pistes. Given suitable conditions, this is probably a good place for first tries at off-piste skiing with slopes of varying degrees of difficulty. Here's a view of a little run down beside the Lärchenabfahrt piste...
It was very busy today, though the only queue that really troubled me was the one that made me abandon thoughts of lunch. I skied over to the Winklmoosalm to check out the new chairlift on the Scheiblberg...
Very satisfactory and obviously designed by someone whose theme song is "I'm forever blueing bubbles" 
Finally, here is a view looking down the easy slopes of the Winklmoosalm - what I would call a Brueghel day : lots of little people...
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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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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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Fab photos ...
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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 alicia, hope you enjoy these too.
Today we went to the Steinplatte by Waidring. The first shot shows that the weather had improved since yesterday and we saw quite a bit of sun, although clouds did hang on the hill for most of the afternoon, with poorer visibility at times...
We spent most of the morning skiing near the Kapellen lift, nice easy pistes, and then went down to the Stallenalm for lunch. The photo below shows the elderly 3-seater Kammerkör chairlift that you can use to get back up to the main slopes from there (rumour has it that this lift will be replaced in the near future, possibly on a different line) ...
That was a cold experience and it was pretty chilly at times when the sun wasn't shining (I saw -11°C reported). Strengthened after lunch, we went international and skied over to the Winklmoosalm in Germany. There we spotted a famous couple from Strictly Come Skiing, floating down the pistes hand in hand...
The powder snow was so light and fluffy that even we ventured some easy off-piste once we went back over to the Steinplatte - very enjoyable...
Our day didn't finish with the skiing, for on the way home we stopped to look at a husky camp which is currently based in St. Ulrich am Pillersee. We were able to see some mushers out training with their dog teams...
And as a final pleasure, as we retired to warm up with glühwein, there was a fine sunset on the Loferer Steinberg (seen here from near the foot of the Buchensteinwand chairlift at St. Jakob in Haus)...
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Great pics! Will be heading out to St Johann in Tirol in 2 weeks, and these pics are a nice taster, can't wait! Can anyone tell me how far it is from St Johann to the Ski Circus? I'll be getting the All Star card, which I understand includes free train travel to Kitz from St Johann, but the post buses between ski areas cost extra. Both the Schneewinkel and Ski Circus areas are new to me, but have been on my list to tick off for a while. I wish I had longer than 6 days to check the areas out properly!
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With a car it is probably about half an hour's drive from St. Johann to the Asitzbahn in Leogang, the entry point to the Saalbach-Hinterglemm-Leogang Ski Circus. By bus or train it woulld probably take longer (the train station is a good bit away from the lift in Leogang).
For some variety I think Fieberbrunn or the Steinplatte/Waidring would be more practical from St. Johann. There are skibuses (free) linking these areas. For a timetable you can download a pdf from here. Kitzbühel you could do by train but try to get a train which stops at the Hahnenkamm halt (though you could also get a bus to the lifts from the main Kitzbühel station, I expect).
If you really want to try the SHL Ski Circus, send me a PM. I'll have a friend staying with me at the end of the month but maybe we can organise something.
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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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FAQ
, 
. We managed to ski down to the Hotel zur Schöne Aussicht and had lunch there. Later I had one more run with 
