Skiing

roundthebend

Got back from Innsbruck on Wednesday, and had 2 days on the slopes for a fairly bargain price.
We arrived at midday on Sunday to glorious warm sunshine - had to dump our bags and ski jackets in a locker at the central station so we could explore in t-shirts before taking a bus out to Igls where our AirBnb was. By mid afternoon we'd been to the rental shop and got fitted out for skis, and walked up to the bottom cable car station to see what the snow looked like - considering it was sunbathing weather we had our concerns. Everybody seemed to be sliding along nicely so we presumed it would be fine higher up.

Monday we went up top and found plenty of snow. The weather had chilled a bit and we had some fog and heavy snow, to the point that it was actually difficult to see the terrain, our skis weren't sliding well, and the view was mostly ruined. But we bashed on, learned the slopes, and chatted to some snowboarding dudes  

Tuesday we woke up to a good covering of snow at our apartment, and bright sunshine which melted it away by the time we'd had breakfast. But we were sure it would have settled nicely high up, and we weren't wrong. It was stunning. Beautiful blue skies, super powder, and it was warm. We knew the snow would deteriorate but it was a joy to glide along with our jackets slightly unzipped and with views over the Innsbruck valley.

I love this area because it's stunningly scenic, and so close to the airport that you can save money and time on transfers. It's also pretty cheap for skiing, and the slopes were so quiet with only a handful of people perhaps due to late season.

Ignoring food and drink costs, which were surprisingly cheap, the 3 nights and 2 full days of skiing cost us £288 (flights, accommodation, airport parking, ski hire, lift pass, UK fuel).

Dinner in the local pizzeria cost £16 for 2 courses and a beer. Amazing.

Teetonetal

My local resort had its last day today. Was 19 degrees though still plenty of snow. It's been a very good winter this year.

Fuengi

That sounds great @roundthebend nice work. Interesting the snow was still ok.

I really liked the area, felt more like a local weekend resort than big holiday area. 

Fuengi

Just chatted to Mrs Fuengi (she has spread sheets) and our costs were £600 each for three nights including absolutely everything (insurance, parking, flights, taxis, hotel, ski hire, lift pass, food and drink). 

joneve

Fuengi said:

Just chatted to Mrs Fuengi (she has spread sheets) and our costs were £600 each for three nights including absolutely everything (insurance, parking, flights, taxis, hotel, ski hire, lift pass, food and drink). 

that's not too bad. 

I think for a week in Hinterglemm it cost us close to £1600 all in (including lift pass, ski hire and food/drink), so comparable I suppose? But all relative depending on accommodation standards etc. 

roundthebend

Fuengi said:

Just chatted to Mrs Fuengi (she has spread sheets) and our costs were £600 each for three nights including absolutely everything (insurance, parking, flights, taxis, hotel, ski hire, lift pass, food and drink). 

I spent  £95 on food and drink, so my total spend was ~£400. Result!
The snow was probably helped by the piste maintenance with the bashers and snow blowers. On the sunny Tuesday we stopped at one point and there were a couple of snowboarders sat on the grass beside us eating their lunch, whilst we were standing on snow which was gradually melting to slush. Even though it was warm with the sun out, it was still cold enough to snow at night and higher up the mountain too.

I'm looking to go to Axamer Lizum next time as it seems like a bigger resort than Igls which was a bit limited on slope options. There's also the Stubai Glacier fairly close by and a few others too, so plenty of options. the fact that you can be on the slopes in around an hour after stepping off the plane is pretty damn cool.

Dominic

Kranska Gora in Slovenia has a lot of skiing , on Austrian border and is cheap.
This late season you need to be high and Austria is generally low......Courcheval, Chamonix ,Isola , Val d 'Isere in France
or Zermatt / Cervinia  or Saas Fee in Switzerland ,maybe Verbier but they are all expensive
They all operate dynamic pricing on the lift pass.........Zermatt was 78 Francs per adult day during half term week.
Highest resort in Austria with good snow record is Obergurgl .....lots of skiing to be done but with the usual short Austrian pistes.
 We had great off-piste in Saas Fee last weekend but a bit cloddy in places

joneve

Dominic said:

Kranska Gora in Slovenia has a lot of skiing , on Austrian border and is cheap.
This late season you need to be high and Austria is generally low......Courcheval, Chamonix ,Isola , Val d 'Isere in France
or Zermatt / Cervinia  or Saas Fee in Switzerland ,maybe Verbier but they are all expensive
They all operate dynamic pricing on the lift pass.........Zermatt was 78 Francs per adult day during half term week.
Highest resort in Austria with good snow record is Obergurgl .....lots of skiing to be done but with the usual short Austrian pistes.
 We had great off-piste in Saas Fee last weekend but a bit cloddy in places

Most years, yes, but this year was an exception. Hinterglemm/Saalbach season is still going, as far as I'm aware as they had  A LOT of snow in early January. 

roundthebend

78 Francs would have been OK as the exchange rate was around 10 to the pound.
78 Euros is a ludicrous price, I don't care how good the skiing is.

sev112

We’ve skid twice in the last 3 years in April in Italy. They keep the snow extremely well, plus  they have the best food.

have to challenge the Kranska gora comment, there is not much skiing there at all,  and it is not very high either.  Lovely place though.  Slovenia is good for skiing if you have a car because you can ski at a number of small resorts within relatively easy distance of each other.

slovenian wine is the best kept secret in Europe by the way  

Dominic

roundthebend said:

78 Francs would have been OK as the exchange rate was around 10 to the pound.
78 Euros is a ludicrous price, I don't care how good the skiing is.

Swiss Francs..........ie about 1.2 to the pound

Teetonetal

roundthebend said:

78 Francs would have been OK as the exchange rate was around 10 to the pound.
78 Euros is a ludicrous price, I don't care how good the skiing is.

Typo?

You get around 1.3 francs to a pound.

I worked a season in Zermatt for Ingham. They year of the Icelandic volcano, that was fun.

Not my cup of tea as a ski area but cervinia was awesome. Was a really bad snow year only had a handful of small snowfalls.

Best resorts skiing for me in Wallis is zinal & grimenz.

Dominic

Have you ever skied Lenzerheide/ Valbella @Teetonetal ;

Teetonetal

Dominic said:

Have you ever skied Lenzerheide/ Valbella @Teetonetal ;;

@Dominic ;
 
Yes, lots, I used to live and work in Davos, so took the bus round to Lenzerheide quite regularly (it's also a great mountain biking area. Was there in January, to see the new (ish) link lift from Rothorn to Arosa, which has really opened up and improved that ski area

I really like the Churwalden side of the ski area a lot, some really good, wide, steepish runs without being ridiculous. I normally start there, use the small link to cross to rothorn before lunch, head to arosa for lunch, then back to rothorn to finish.

roundthebend

@Dominic @ ;
I had assumed French Francs as some of the resort's mentioned were in France. And my recollection of that defunct currency was an exchange rate of about 10 to the £.
Swiss Francs I'd forgotten existed and have no clue if the rate. But that seems more reasonable, still pricey though.