 Poster: A snowHead
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@holidayloverxx, Red 21 or the Gabuhelabfahrt. It has an average gradient of less than 15 degrees and apart from the drop after the Almhausl isn't normally too bad. But yes, you can downlift after a nice lunch in the Steinbokalm.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@RedandWhiteFlachau, Great, in that case I think we will check out Werfenweng with a slow start on Sunday and then see how Hochkonig is and decide then if it is worth trying elsewhere later in the week. @holidayloverxx, thanks for mentioning that and to all the others who made suggestions.
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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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@RedandWhiteFlachau, that's the one. It looks benign until ..in the afternoon the last pitch/camber is big moguls with people stranded all over it
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Hey everyone, any reports of how the gastein valley is shaping up this winter? Planning on heading out end of Feb for one week so I know there’s still a month but is there a decent base now?
I was at Zell am see for New Year and while the pistes were generally in good condition considering the lack of natural snow, off piste was non existent. Would really like to not be solely piste bound this time around 
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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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On the way back to SZG after a great week in Bad Hofgastein.
No new snow to speak of, although a couple of enticing flurries up the mountain on both Tuesday and Thursday.
Pistes holding up reasonably well but a fresh dump of snow would be most welcome.
More icy pistes in Bad Hofgastein than Dorfgastein so spent most days in “dorf” where the skiing suited our group better. The Graukogel lifts and runs were closed all week, not sure why. Didn’t make it to Sportgastein as we felt the amount of skiing on offer didn’t warrant the lengthy bus connection.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@ElzP, we saw you from the lift in Flachau!
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Thanks for the conditions report @cardweg
Do you think that under average snow conditions there is enough to keep an advanced group of Skiers/boarders entertained for the week? We would be staying in bad gastein and plan to spend most the time there, maybe with one day visit to dorf and sport Gastein if the conditions are worthy.
We were also considering SkiWelt/Kitski or Ski circus as they have larger ski areas that might be better if conditions restrict us to largely piste skiing. My only concern is that skiwelt and maybe kitz just look quite low and not particularly challenging??
I thought Zell am See had some good challenging/fun black and red runs but was not particularly big in isolation and after a week limited to piste only, felt fairly repetitive.
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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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@holidayloverxx, we were concentrating VERY hard!
It was a gorgeous day to be out on Monday, hope you had wonderful skiing.
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@ElzP, we did..with Mrs RedandWhiteFlachau, that's how we knew it was you!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Heading to Bad Hofgastein for half term. On mountain hut recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Also any tips about alpentherme gastein as it's round the corner for where we're staying so will be hanging out there a lot I suspect.
How are the blues from the kids area to the downlift gondolas. It's my 5yo's first trip and whilst I'm very much tempering expectations on any progress and just hope they have fun I would love it if we were able to do even a tiny bit of skiing together at the end of the day.
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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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Hello, sorry if I am in the wrong place but this page was linked in my post re:ski trip. Where is the best place to stay in Flachau, mid December for beginner skiers and older children who will want to try more blues? Is there accommodation near the easier runs so we don't need to use a bus, or do I not need to worry where the accommodation is? Thank you
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| Drifter210 wrote: |
Thanks for the conditions report @cardweg
Do you think that under average snow conditions there is enough to keep an advanced group of Skiers/boarders entertained for the week? We would be staying in bad gastein and plan to spend most the time there, maybe with one day visit to dorf and sport Gastein if the conditions are worthy.
We were also considering SkiWelt/Kitski or Ski circus as they have larger ski areas that might be better if conditions restrict us to largely piste skiing. My only concern is that skiwelt and maybe kitz just look quite low and not particularly challenging??
I thought Zell am See had some good challenging/fun black and red runs but was not particularly big in isolation and after a week limited to piste only, felt fairly repetitive. |
Surely you skied over to S-H when in ZamS?
I love ZamS but rather limited, and very busy especially on the southern arm of the horseshoe
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You know it makes sense.
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Have booked Almwelt Austria - part way up the Reiteralm in Schladming area -for next January. Ski in - ski out
Main question is - is most of the skiing in January a bit... gloomy, given most pistes are north facing - great for conditions though
Want to give Schladming a try sometime..
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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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@TheKidsMadeMeDoIt, Runs in Flachau are mostly red, with the the main blue being a track. Some of the reds aren't that hard but are not for beginners (but they will be in lessons anyway?) The Wagrain side of the mountain - Flying Mozart and Rote 8 are proper reds and anyone wanting blues will likely struggle. Also mid-december open run will be limited. Accommodation wise stay near the Achter jet for easiest access and download - its a gondola rather than a chair which your beginners might struggle with downloading
Are you wedded to Flachau? there are better places for what you want
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Poster: A snowHead
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Am i right in thinking Flachauwinkl is going to have a lift flyover next season as Wagrain has?
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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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@buchanan101, you mean to Zauchensee? Its been talked about for a while but I don't think there is a firm timescale. RedandWhiteFlachau will know more
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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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@TheKidsMadeMeDoIt, Flachau has three lifts, all of which are away from the centre of town to a greater or lesser extent. And by "centre" of the town, I mean the middle on the map - Flachau doesn't really have much of a centre, as it is strung out along the road over about 2-3 miles with accommodation on both sides and set back from the main road in several areas. The main part of town is slightly more built-up, but only marginally so. It is normal to get a bus to the nearest lift, even if your accommodation is on the main road, unless you choose carefully to avoid this. The centre has several restaurants, a Spar shop, pharmacy, and a sport shop. If you are staying in a hotel, you may never go there. In December, it will be pretty quiet, but the area typically opens at the beginning of the month and there will be people around, but it only really gets busy from Christmas. A key consideration is where the ski school meets - choose your accommodation, and then go with the ski school at the nearest lift rather than staying at one end of town and then signing up with a ski school based at the other. They're all reasonable. And don't be afraid of the buses - they are regular and reliable.
On the lifts:
- Spacejet is essentially in the middle of a field with a car park, two bars and a hire shop with the nearest accommodation a walk or short bus ride away, but it is on the edge of town. For that reason, accommodation at that end of town tends to be cheaper. While you can walk into town from here, it's about an hour in each direction.
- Achterjet is the middle of the three, also originally in the middle of a field with a car park, but it now has a small selection of hotels and apartments nearby as well as a hire shop at the lift and several good bars. You can walk into town from here in about 20 minutes.
- Starjet is the closest to the "centre" of town, and has a cluster of accommodation and bars beside it. It's also where the night slalom race is held in January. A walk into town from here is about 5 minutes.
The lifts all converge on the top of the hill, with Achterjet stopping 3/4 of the way up and the others going to the top. You can see the main area above Achterjet on the webcam page at https://www.skiamade.com/en/Live-information/Webcams?resort=437998 - the lift on the left is Starjet, the one on the right is Spacejet, which gives access in the Wagrain direction.
As beginners, you will likely remain in this area for much of the time, but if you do progress and want to try different blue runs, it will be necessary to get to the Kleinarl or Flachauwinkel sectors via the Panorama Link.
Note that none of the runs to the bottom of the lifts are blue. All are mid-range red runs, so should not be attempted until an instructor says that you are ready and takes you down them. That means downloading at the end of the day on the lift, in which case Achterjet is more attractive as it's an 8 seat cable car where the other two are chairlifts - to download on these, you will be sent down one or two at a time with your skis across your lap, and it feels very strange and exposed until you get used to it.
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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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| holidayloverxx wrote: |
@TheKidsMadeMeDoIt, Runs in Flachau are mostly red, with the the main blue being a track. Some of the reds aren't that hard but are not for beginners (but they will be in lessons anyway?) The Wagrain side of the mountain - Flying Mozart and Rote 8 are proper reds and anyone wanting blues will likely struggle. Also mid-december open run will be limited. Accommodation wise stay near the Achter jet for easiest access and download - its a gondola rather than a chair which your beginners might struggle with downloading
Are you wedded to Flachau? there are better places for what you want |
Looking at the plan of runs, the reds down to Flachau are about 1.5x longer than the reds down to Wagrain..and the villages are near enough the same height.
There seem to be up to 5 parallel reds in places on the Flachau side, and from your description could be what I like skiing on..
4 weeks now...(staying in Wagrain, close to Flying Mozart)
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| TheKidsMadeMeDoIt wrote: |
| Hello, sorry if I am in the wrong place but this page was linked in my post re:ski trip. Where is the best place to stay in Flachau, mid December for beginner skiers and older children who will want to try more blues? Is there accommodation near the easier runs so we don't need to use a bus, or do I not need to worry where the accommodation is? Thank you |
As I said on your other post, you are all beginners (or having lessons) so don't worry about piste colour, you're instructor will only take you where they are confident you can ski. Ignore the nay-sayers. There are lots of ski-in/ski-out options but it depends on your budget and what type of accommodation you want (Hotel, self-catering, B&B)? If you can go 12-19 Dec 26 you will get good deals but if you try and bridge into "Christmas Week" 19-26 Dec, it is going to be much more expensive and probably restrict you to hotels only. This will be the same wherever you choose to go. As to location, are you really so averse to getting on a bus? If your accommodation has a bus stop right outside and the bus takes you to the bottom of the lift and is free, why would you book somewhere 300m from the lift? All the lifts have ski and boot locker rooms at the bottom and you'll have no problem getting one pre-christmas week.
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@RedandWhiteFlachau, Thank you. Not averse to a bus but just want everything as easy as possible, I didnt know there were lockers so thats great to know. Thanks.
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| ousekjarr wrote: |
- Spacejet is essentially in the middle of a field with a car park, two bars and a hire shop with the nearest accommodation a walk or short bus ride away, but it is on the edge of town. For that reason, accommodation at that end of town tends to be cheaper. While you can walk into town from here, it's about an hour in each direction.
Note that none of the runs to the bottom of the lifts are blue. All are mid-range red runs, so should not be attempted until an instructor says that you are ready and takes you down them. That means downloading at the end of the day on the lift, in which case Achterjet is more attractive as it's an 8 seat cable car where the other two are chairlifts - to download on these, you will be sent down one or two at a time with your skis across your lap, and it feels very strange and exposed until you get used to it. |
" it's about an hour in each direction." - you mean in total? its about 25 minutes each way max cutting across the fields
"none of the runs to the bottom of the lifts are blue" - there is a blue track to down the Achterjet
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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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@ousekjarr, That's why people ask questions on local forums. I teach here pretty much every day and I can assure you that my beginners, with the possible exception of very nervous skiers, will be able to ski to the valley after 2 days of lessons. You just have to know the lines. If they can't, well guess what, we end the lesson at one of the downlifts.
On your time/distance comment, it is 2.4km from the Harmis Hotel at the bottom of Space Jet 1 to the Restaurant Hoagascht smack in the middle of town. Even google says that's 33 mins walking. But you pass half a dozen equally good restaurants on the way.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@RedandWhiteFlachau, sure, with an instructor, and taking what is known to be an easier line. But a beginner who finishes the lesson then goes back for more practice should be aware that it's a red, and not to be done without someone else navigating until they are capable of handling that. I fear we all forget what it is like to look down a red run for the first time with no escape route... I stated there was no blue run, and there is not.
Hoagascht is not in the middle of town. Dorfstrasse is, by definition. Google maps shows it as 41 minutes for 3.1Km from Spacejet, as long as the pavements are clear, which in winter is sometimes the case, and sometimes not. And this argument amply demonstrates that there really isn't a centre to Flachau, more an area which is slightly more built up than the rest - if the church wasn't on the hill outside of the village, or if there was a rathaus or market it would be obvious, but instead they concreted it and now have a hotel and a new Festsal and even then someone who spends a lot of time there thinks a restaurant 500m away is the centre of town. 
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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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@ousekjarr, why would you need to walk from the centre with shopping bags? There's an MPreis 5 minutes walk from the Space Jet.
Geographically the centre might well be Dorfstrasse but to get there you'd walk past the places you really want to get to. I'm with RWF, the centre is around Hoagascht...and it's only 350 mtrs from the post office in Dorfstrasse, not 500 mtrs, which would be at the far end of the street
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| Drifter210 wrote: |
Thanks for the conditions report @cardweg
Do you think that under average snow conditions there is enough to keep an advanced group of Skiers/boarders entertained for the week? We would be staying in bad gastein and plan to spend most the time there, maybe with one day visit to dorf and sport Gastein if the conditions are worthy.
We were also considering SkiWelt/Kitski or Ski circus as they have larger ski areas that might be better if conditions restrict us to largely piste skiing. My only concern is that skiwelt and maybe kitz just look quite low and not particularly challenging??
I thought Zell am See had some good challenging/fun black and red runs but was not particularly big in isolation and after a week limited to piste only, felt fairly repetitive. |
Should be enough to keep you entertained for the week. The Stubnerkogel and Schlossalm areas (both linked from Bad Gastein) a day each to fully explore and enjoy the better runs a few times. A day to Sportgastein is I would say a must, you’d definitely be doing all the runs a few times to fill the day but the more extreme skiing, better snow and higher altitude make it worthwhile. It’s also worth taking your skis off at the top of the gondola and taking the time to walk to the top of the mountain, superb views and adds to the day.
I’d give two days for Dorfgastein and Grossarl, it’s a really nice area and although a bit lower down, the snow is usually as good and the views are better.
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You know it makes sense.
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| lyricproofvest wrote: |
Heading to Bad Hofgastein for half term. On mountain hut recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Also any tips about alpentherme gastein as it's round the corner for where we're staying so will be hanging out there a lot I suspect.
How are the blues from the kids area to the downlift gondolas. It's my 5yo's first trip and whilst I'm very much tempering expectations on any progress and just hope they have fun I would love it if we were able to do even a tiny bit of skiing together at the end of the day. |
Not really sure about the kids area, the largest nursery area is in Angertal which is either bus or ski over from BHG. There are gondolas connecting but not really any easy blues to get from one to the other. There is a smaller nursery area at the bottom of the Schlossalm gondola which is the main lift up from BHG and bus station, maybe the initial lessons will be there. I think for any meaningful skiing together you would probably have to meet at or get the bus to Angertal (it’s the valley between the two main areas, about 10 mins on bus from BHG)
Not been to the Alpentherme myself but I’ve only heard good reviews by people who have.
My recommendations for hütte are Stubneralm at the bottom of the Snowpark on Stubnerkogel, Jungerstube also on Stubnerkogel and Aeroplanstadl on Schlossalm.
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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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This may be a piece of string type question (for Flachau and nearby) but is there any discernible difference between how busy the place tends to be this current week compared to last? Already planning ahead and considering a return to Flachau next season and unsure which week to pick of 23rd or 30th Jan for the relatively quietest. I see the night slalom may now be a two day GS included event and is pencilled in for 4th and 5th Jan so I could even consider the week of 16th Jan, but maybe the later two are favourites in the hope of more snow.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@toyah807, This week (1st week of Feb) is busier than last week.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@toyah807, the GS and slalom is firm, not pencilled in
And wot @RedandWhiteFlachau says..I came home on Sunday and going back Friday next week. This week is Vienna week, start of the school holidays. I was there all of January. I'd opt for the 3rd week
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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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@RedandWhiteFlachau, @holidayloverxx, exactly the info I was hoping for, thank you both
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FAQ
I think Rohrmoos might be the best learning area I've come across anywhere in Austria.
