 Poster: A snowHead
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An end of season résumé
6th April was the last day of the 2025/26 Saalbach ski season. However the previous day, 5th April, was such a long and glorious skiing day that, after saying goodbye on the morning of 6th to my final guest, I actually took the day off and had an unforgivably lazy day.
On 5th April I set off with a friend at about 9.30am, intending to do the full anti-clockwise circuit of the main Glemm valley, and then to head to Leogang for lunch at the Chicken Man, followed by happy hour après-ski drinks at the Bergeralm. The pistes were so good (as well as practically deserted) that we spontaneously decided to add an excursion to Fieberbrunn into our itinerary, and we still had time to do it all quite comfortably. Highlights were pistes 125 (the red run from the Reiterkogel to bottom station of the TirolS gondola, and pistes 36/36a (the World Cup black and red pistes on the Zwölferkogel).
What a great season it was! After some timely snowfall, the season got off to a cracking start on 28th November. December and January were much colder than the previous “El Niño” ski season, with ample snow cover on the pistes (if not off-piste), and generally good, fast skiing on firm pistes. January was relatively busy, as perhaps more people intuitively opt for the early part of the season in the (perhaps misplaced) hope of more predictable weather.
The high season of February and early March was quite a mixture of weather and conditions. The resort was predictably busy. Lower than average snowfall, combined with sunny weather throughout most of the season resulted at times in a distinctly springlike look to the mountains, with snowy tops and white pistes snaking down green lower slopes. And periods of warm weather and high traffic ensured plenty of mogul practice during the afternoons.
And then came the late season: one of my favourite times - the middle of March through to early April. The crowds evaporated, and the snow arrived, in quantity! The green valley bottom turned an aesthetically pleasing white, and the depth of snow on the lower slopes shot up from 30cm to 80cm, virtually overnight (a reminder of how quickly things can change). And there were very few people on the pistes to mess them up.
Early April invariably provides excellent skiing on empty, perfectly groomed pistes, and this season was no exception. We got surprisingly wintry weather, with deep powder, on and off-piste, and, when the snow clouds cleared, it really was sublime.
And I’m happy to note that, very unexpectedly, I seem to have established a new personal all-time best, in terms of vertical meters descended and distance covered on skis. I claim no personal credit for this, as I was happy to let last season stand as my record, but I put it down to three things: firstly somehow managing to avoid the lurgi, secondly the predominantly beautiful weather, and thirdly being incentivised to get out and ski more by having so many great skiing buddies, many of whom come and go every season. A heartfelt thank you to all of them - there were very few times when I had to ski alone.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Reiterkogel up date, these pictures are from yesterday, the lift has been sold to Georgia. Should help helmet sales 
These images are courtesy of a FB post by Edward Blomme
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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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It seems that most of Saalbach village centre has become a building site, with barriers and hoardings everywhere. It took some ingenuity and lateral thinking just to walk to the Billa supermarket and back yesterday. The village is littered with diggers and JCBs, there are deep trenches, exposing sewage pipes, and all the cobblestones and paving slabs in the village square have been taken up. I imagine that the aim is to get the place looking tickety-boo again by the beginning of the summer tourist season, but at present it would be a shock for any visitor. Still, no gain without pain.
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Sat 11-04-26 18:37; edited 1 time in total
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@radar, is that the shell of the building with all the machinery taken out? Wow, that’s impressive speed to get things taken to bits.
The upgrade will be brilliant; it wasn’t the worst gondola I’ve been on but that changeover halfway up to get on a chairlift did slow things down. Looking forward to revisiting and see the improvement
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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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@Specialman, agreed, it will be a very worthwhile upgrade. Looking at that empty shell of a bottom station, and comparing it with every other gondola station in the Glemm valley, it becomes obvious how dated and ripe for renewal it is. And the extension of the new gondola to the top is a no-brainer.
It’s hard to argue with the decision to upgrade the Reiterkogelbahn this year, but I wonder what will be next. They’re running out of gondolas that need renewal.
I would vote for an extension of the Bernkogelbahn to the top.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@tatmanstours, that an excellent shout. Was probably my least favourite lift of the entire week we had there, just because the gondola works great but that drop down to the shiclrit is annoying and the queues were the worst in the resort IMO. keep the chairlift for people who want to lap the top of the hill but have the bernkogelbahn go all the way up.
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Any one know why the lift up and back to zell seemed to be shut over the season ,at least it was every time Ilooked and visited
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@ski for fun, a technical fault. They heard a funny noise, which turned out to be (IIRC) the engine bearings. It was decided to wait until the end of the season to fix it, because it meant dismantling the engine in the snow. Apparently there’s a legal issue with Doppelmayr, the company that installed the lift, because it shouldn’t have developed such a fault after only a few years.
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@Specialman, yes roof off and all the cable infrastructure has been removed, the pylons next and demolition of the building.
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