Ski Season 2018/2019

Danger Fourpence · 07-02-2019 1:53pm

I'm miles too early but...

Looking to book 4-5 days skiing next year, mid Jan. Don't really care where as long as it's not a long transfer from the airport and the skiing is good.

Are St. Anton/Soll a good option that time of year for a 3-4 night stay or is it wishful thinking and most places will prefer a week at least?

EDIT to add that we have all skieda number of times before but not in a few years

Skyfloater · 07-02-2019 5:40pm

Danger Fourpence wrote: »

I'm miles too early but...

Looking to book 4-5 days skiing next year, mid Jan. Don't really care where as long as it's not a long transfer from the airport and the skiing is good.

Are St. Anton/Soll a good option that time of year for a 3-4 night stay or is it wishful thinking and most places will prefer a week at least?

EDIT to add that we have all skieda number of times before but not in a few years

I doubt you will get anywhere in the resorts for shorter than the usual Sat to Sat. If you can really only go for 3-4 days max, then you're looking at flying into Munich and driving down. You could try some of the neighboring towns/villages on tirol.at to see availability.

a148pro · 07-02-2019 5:51pm

Mid Jan very quiet in austria. Just book your flights and you will get accommodation in the days running up to the trip. You just have to be willing to wing it in that sense. I went early - mid Jan this year and only booked it driving out to the airport. There were loads of options and that was in a busy resort.

DoraDelite · 07-02-2019 6:33pm

Danger Fourpence wrote: »

I'm miles too early but...

Looking to book 4-5 days skiing next year, mid Jan. Don't really care where as long as it's not a long transfer from the airport and the skiing is good.

Are St. Anton/Soll a good option that time of year for a 3-4 night stay or is it wishful thinking and most places will prefer a week at least?

EDIT to add that we have all skieda number of times before but not in a few years

I've had decent success on short trips to St Anton for accommodation of less than a week. It involves emailing a load of places to check for availability as a lot of them won't have stuff showing online for short dates. In saying that, the likes of booking.com has improved over the last couple of years for ski resort accommodation.

Also I wouldn't bother looking until close to the time as I don't think a lot of places have next years winter accommodation available yet.

Macdarack · 07-02-2019 7:27pm

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Any tips for Saalbach Hinterglemm? Decent early intermediate pistes, mountain bars and evening restaurants basically! Or anything really

Look for the soul house at the bottom of 46, great bar with live music every evening from 3.30ish, cool spot. Crazy deer or Bobby's for a rugby match if interested. Swepp bar is worth a peep too, down stairs of course. Avoid the Mexican restaurant by all accounts.

dzer2 · 07-02-2019 7:31pm

Danger Fourpence wrote: »

I'm miles too early but...

Looking to book 4-5 days skiing next year, mid Jan. Don't really care where as long as it's not a long transfer from the airport and the skiing is good.

Are St. Anton/Soll a good option that time of year for a 3-4 night stay or is it wishful thinking and most places will prefer a week at least?

EDIT to add that we have all skieda number of times before but not in a few years

The week before the race in Kitzbuhel you will get 4 days no problem you will have to leave on Wednesday though

Danger Fourpence · 07-02-2019 8:45pm

Thanks for all the responses. Looking at Dublin to Munich and then train down to Soll? Soll seems to be a little better than St. Anton?

Skyfloater · 07-02-2019 11:37pm

As someone who needs to book these things well in advance(8 months this year) I'm probably a little too cautious. Sundays through to Thursdays do tend to be quieter once the Germans weekenders have gone home.

a148pro · 07-02-2019 11:40pm

Danger Fourpence wrote: »

Thanks for all the responses. Looking at Dublin to Munich and then train down to Soll? Soll seems to be a little better than St. Anton?

Not sure on what criteria, but soll is pretty low and anton tends to get a lot more snow. But to be honest skiing is always fun if you don't take it too seriously so I think you'll be grand wherever you go.

gazzaman22 · 10-02-2019 11:52am

Hi....who here wants to help a brother out!
Never skied before....3 to 4 of us looking to go around the 9th March for 4 days or so.
Flights to Munich looked at......
Where and how do I proceed....
Any useful website regarding
Transfers/trains
Accomadation
Or any body recommend a sort of package website that allow you just to search for the 4 days rather than 7 days which is what I seem to always end up.
Thanks a million in advance to replies

gwakamoley · 10-02-2019 3:43pm

gazzaman22 wrote: »

Hi....who here wants to help a brother out!
Never skied before....3 to 4 of us looking to go around the 9th March for 4 days or so.
Flights to Munich looked at......
Where and how do I proceed....
Any useful website regarding
Transfers/trains
Accomadation
Or any body recommend a sort of package website that allow you just to search for the 4 days rather than 7 days which is what I seem to always end up.
Thanks a million in advance to replies

I recently went to Mayrhofen through Munich airport. The train is straightforward and fairly regular. One ticket will cover your whole journey across 3 trains from the airport S-Bahn station all the way to the resort. Book through the Deusche Bahn website and you can get a flexible ticket incase your flight is delayed. If there's a few of ye it could be worth considering hiring a car because the trains are expensive enough (I think its was about 80 euro return). Lots of Austrian resorts are low in the valley so you wouldn't need to be traversing mountain passes.

We booked through booking.com, but unless you're very lucky you will have to do a bit more work and/or wait until quite close to the dates because proprietors will prefer to fill their accommodation for a full week.

Lift passes can be bought in resort but you might prefer to have them arranged in advance so that you don't have to queue for them.

Lots of resorts have websites that list the equipment rentals and ski schools in resort.

For early March, check out reviews and/or ask here for any resorts you're considering. In Austria some resorts eg. Soll have the beginner slopes down in the valley at low altitude and I've heard of stories of streams running down the beginner slope in warm weather.

Rew · 10-02-2019 11:17pm

Having been to both id have said Soll is more beginner friendly and easier to get accommodation for less than 7 days. There is a risk everywhere that isn't high altitude or on a glacier that the snow will be crap the later in the season you go. The beginner slope in Soll is at about 650m above sea level but its also barely a slope and id say any instructor is going to have you up the mountain on the blue slopes. I had my kids (5 and under) in ski school there last week and they weren't on it at all. Soll has night skiing wed-sat which is a good way to pack more into a short trip. You wont go far wrong with either. There are loads of resorts close to Munich such as Garmisch, Saalbach, Kitzbuhel, kirchberg etc. Ive used tirol-taxi.at for transfers before they do both private and shared transport to resorts or you could also rent a car.

To cover all your bases you need to look at
flight
transfer
accommodation
ski hire
ski lessons

You can get ski pass in resort handy enough.

For soll:
accommodation - try the tourist info site (https://www.wilderkaiser.info/en/) or booking.com
ski hire - Snow and Fun via skiset.co.uk
ski lessons - mountain mind or skischule soell

A1Son · 10-02-2019 11:50pm

I Know Austria, France, Switzerland and Italy are always mentioned for ski holidays, but for a beginner, Jasna, Slovakia is worth checking out. Lifts stay open until mid-April, so early March is a great time to be hitting the slopes. A 4 day pass from the 9th is €131 and a 4 day pass from the 10th is €117. Fly dub-brat with Ryanair. A transfer on a direct train leaves you just 25min from the resort is about €20 return. Transfer time is between 2.5 and 3hrs. Private transfer is €180 1 way for up to 8 passengers. Jasna has a modern lift system, resort is expanding each year and the off-piste is endless. No problem getting a 4 or 5 night stay here for a small group. If your looking for a cozy chalet/ski lodge check out Liptov Lodge run by an Irish/Slovak couple. Your own private Irish bar in the Lodge. Rentals are still very reasonable and food and drink in the resort are much lower than the larger European resorts. With everything taken into account, a ski holiday in Jasna will cost you less than half the price of most other resorts. You can still buy beers for around a €1 here!!

pgibbo · 11-02-2019 6:31pm

gazzaman22 wrote: »

Hi....who here wants to help a brother out!
Never skied before....3 to 4 of us looking to go around the 9th March for 4 days or so.
Flights to Munich looked at......
Where and how do I proceed....
Any useful website regarding
Transfers/trains
Accomadation
Or any body recommend a sort of package website that allow you just to search for the 4 days rather than 7 days which is what I seem to always end up.
Thanks a million in advance to replies

I did this 2 years ago. We found it hard to get accomodation for 4 nights. In the end Brixen was the only viable option. The accomodation was excellent but there's not a lot to do in Brixen. Only a couple of restaurants.
The skiing was excellent though with access to a massive ski area.
We used Munich Ski Shuttle for the transfer and booking.com for accomodation.

We flew out early Thursday morning with Aer Lingus and we were on the slopes by 12ish. We skied until 2pm or so on Sunday afternoon. A great few days.

P.

sheesh · 11-02-2019 6:55pm

transfer wise if you get the morning fight to munich it is a 45 minute tram to munich main train station you can buy a return ticket Worgl about €35 from the ticket machine (english translation naturally!) they run every 45 minutes from munich the announcements are in german but are also on boards around the station.
if you are there early in the morning on saturday/sunday you will see people heading off on the trains in ski gear to go skiing for the day some will be tottering around on their ski boots poles and skis in hand! It is a wonderful sight !

from worgl you are close to Soll Westendorf hopfgartin and a couple of others you can take the local bus for a couple for a of quid or a taxi (I forget how much. But feck it your on holiday go mad!)

I went 2 yeas ago to westendorf and friends stayed in a hotel near the train station (in westendorf) for 4 days so that might be an option they had a car to get to the ski lifts.

irish_goat · 16-02-2019 3:00pm

Heading to Bankso in 2 weeks. Anyone have any tops recommendations for bars or restaurants?

Snow Garden · 16-02-2019 10:20pm

Weather for Central Europe looks unseasobly warm next week and the week after.
I imagine that will have an affect on the slopes. Heading to Mayrhofen end of Feb.

Trevor O · 16-02-2019 11:19pm

Snow Garden wrote: »

Weather for Central Europe looks unseasobly warm next week and the week after.
I imagine that will have an affect on the slopes. Heading to Mayrhofen end of Feb.

Landed in Mayrhofen today. Will post an update at the end of the week.

q85dw7osi4lebg · 17-02-2019 3:58pm

Val D'Isere next weekend, really hope forecasts aren't right..

Billy Mays · 17-02-2019 8:56pm

So Ischgl then...

Well that was by far the best week of boarding I've ever done. It's just a brilliant resort. Fantastic piste skiing and lift system on the mountain. Only long queue for a lift was on the first day when the link from the Swiss side was closing due to incoming high winds so everyone had to head back at the same time. Not much can be done about that though.

Snowed all day Monday and into Tuesday morning which dumped at least a foot of fresh up on the mountain. Blue skies every day followed and spent the rest of the week doing more off piste, tree runs etc than I've done combined on previous trips. Hired a guide on Thursday and did the scariest and longest powder lines I've ever ridden. Another thing struck off the bucket list. Still loads of easily accessible powder to be found on Friday whereas I found in St Anton last year it was tracked out within a day or two.

Apres ski was great. No on slope apres like St Anton but loads of bars at the end of the slopes. Usually headed to Freeride. Good tunes, girls on the bar and zero cheesy europop sh!te (though there's plenty of places for that if it's your cup of tea):p The Golden Eagle up in the town was a good spot for a few pints, a chat and a bit of classic rock. Kiwi Bar also up in the town was a decent spot aswell.

Best week ever and can't wait to go back

SmashingPilot · 20-02-2019 8:29pm

Heading to Les Arcs area on the weekend for a week, staying in Plan Peisey. Any recommendations for a ski school/instructor here?
Looking for either small group lessons or private lessons.

Snow Garden · 21-02-2019 11:57am

Trevor O wrote: »

Landed in Mayrhofen today. Will post an update at the end of the week.

How does it look in Mayrhofen?

Snow Garden · 21-02-2019 1:24pm

Someone advised me to bring a back protector when skiing to prevent injury. What do the experts here reckon?

a148pro · 22-02-2019 1:11am

Never heard of one to be honest - do boarders wear them?

Helmet a good idea certainly

Billy Mays · 22-02-2019 11:18am

Some boarders wear them but usually just in the snowpark

Wouldn't think there'd be any need for one if you're just skiing pistes/off piste.

q85dw7osi4lebg · 22-02-2019 11:31am

Any reports from Tignes / Val D'Isere on conditions? May need to pack the flip flops.

Rew · 22-02-2019 2:16pm

Snow Garden wrote: »

Someone advised me to bring a back protector when skiing to prevent injury. What do the experts here reckon?

As a beginner cant imagine it doing anything but hindering you

dzer2 · 22-02-2019 3:17pm

Great yoke off piste if steep not warranted if skiing on piste as you get enough speed up

DoraDelite · 25-02-2019 12:07pm

dzer2 wrote: »

Great yoke off piste if steep not warranted if skiing on piste as you get enough speed up

Wouldn't think there's a need for one if you just get an off-piste backpack with one built in (most of them do).

I reckon only needed in the snow park!

Snow Garden · 25-02-2019 12:30pm

I was told the back protector was to stop people running into your back when you are on the ground. As a beginner I expect to be on the ground a lot.

Tacitus Kilgore · 25-02-2019 12:38pm

Snow Garden wrote: »

I was told the back protector was to stop people running into your back when you are on the ground. As a beginner I expect to be on the ground a lot.

Not at all.

You should be fine without a back protector, however if it's boarding you're doing not skiing, I highly recommend wearing crash pants/shorts with good coccyx protection until you get going at it.

BarryNumber1 · 25-02-2019 1:08pm

Snow Garden wrote: »

I was told the back protector was to stop people running into your back when you are on the ground. As a beginner I expect to be on the ground a lot.

Are you skiing or snowboarding? Helmet and crash pants if boarding, not sure you’ll be on your butt as much if skiing, dont know any skiers who have a back protector for general cruising.

Snow Garden · 25-02-2019 3:37pm

BarryNumber1 wrote: »

Are you skiing or snowboarding? Helmet and crash pants if boarding, not sure you’ll be on your butt as much if skiing, dont know any skiers who have a back protector for general cruising.

Skiing only.

cocker5 · 27-02-2019 11:17am

8 days and counting.... until 11 nights in Ischgl.. sweet Jesus it cant come soon enough :cool:

Trevor O · 27-02-2019 2:25pm

Snow Garden wrote: »

How does it look in Mayrhofen?

It was a fantastic week except for the Friday which was zero visibility. Every other day was blue skies!

For anyone planning on eating out when they get there, a word of warning: Book ahead of time. We went out one night with no booking and got turned away from everywhere except the pub that did pizzas. That same night we booked dinners for the rest of the week.

a148pro · 27-02-2019 10:11pm

cocker5 wrote: »

until 11 nights in Ischgl..:

The boom is back!

You'll need a new liver, enjoy

DoraDelite · 28-02-2019 11:51am

Off to Gressoney on Saturday for a week, looking forward to a new location! I've only done the odd day here and there in Cervinia and Pila over the last few years so this is the first proper trip to Italy since my first beginner trip to Livigno a good few years ago.

Skyfloater · 28-02-2019 1:25pm

DoraDelite wrote: »

Off to Gressoney on Saturday for a week, looking forward to a new location! I've only done the odd day here and there in Cervinia and Pila over the last few years so this is the first proper trip to Italy since my first beginner trip to Livigno a good few years ago.

I was there last year, an underrated place and very quiet compared to the bigger resorts. The only real annoyance was the walks from some pistes to the lift back up.

cocker5 · 28-02-2019 4:51pm

a148pro wrote: »

The boom is back!

You'll need a new liver, enjoy

Ha!!

Been saving my liver now for a month now... I'm ready to go

skallywag · 28-02-2019 4:57pm

cocker5 wrote: »

8 days and counting.... until 11 nights in Ischgl.. sweet Jesus it cant come soon enough :cool:

Great place, I'm not sure which I enjoy more, the runs down to Samnaun or the chilling afterwards in Freeride and Schatzi ....

blue note · 06-03-2019 10:01am

Is it too early to start the 19/20 thread? I'm home over a month now, so at least I'm a little closer to it, but God it's a long way away.

It was a great week again in zell am see. Conditions were amazing. 3rd week skiing and I decided to go without the week of lessons, the 4 of a just hired an instructor for ourselves for a day instead. To be honest, I'd rather learn more and would have spent another week in lessons, but my experience of them from the first two years were very mixed. 2 great instructors and two terrible. I wasn't going to risk another terrible instructor so just went off with my friends / girlfriend / fiance instead (I got engaged on the trip)

The one thing I plan to do next year is more skiing! The first day we took it a bit easy finding our ski legs. Day two was the lesson. Day 3 I got engaged so a lot of that day was a write off. Surprisingly I skied well before proposing and then had jelly legs after. I thought it would be the other way around! Day 4 we went to the Glacier and spent far too long getting gluwein, seeing the top and sheltering from the cold. Then day 5 was great! 6 days like that next year is the plan!

Trevor O · 06-03-2019 10:44am

blue note wrote: »

Is it too early to start the 19/20 thread? I'm home over a month now, so at least I'm a little closer to it, but God it's a long way away.

It was a great week again in zell am see. Conditions were amazing. 3rd week skiing and I decided to go without the week of lessons, the 4 of a just hired an instructor for ourselves for a day instead. To be honest, I'd rather learn more and would have spent another week in lessons, but my experience of them from the first two years were very mixed. 2 great instructors and two terrible. I wasn't going to risk another terrible instructor so just went off with my friends / girlfriend / fiance instead (I got engaged on the trip)

The one thing I plan to do next year is more skiing! The first day we took it a bit easy finding our ski legs. Day two was the lesson. Day 3 I got engaged so a lot of that day was a write off. Surprisingly I skied well before proposing and then had jelly legs after. I thought it would be the other way around! Day 4 we went to the Glacier and spent far too long getting gluwein, seeing the top and sheltering from the cold. Then day 5 was great! 6 days like that next year is the plan!

Congratulations!

Snow Garden · 07-03-2019 5:52pm

Just back from Mayrhofen and I thoroughly enjoyed the skiing trip. It's a fantastic spot and easy to get to. Everything went smoothly and the ski lessons were great. We got fresh snow on Day 1 which set us up nicely. We were doing red runs by the end of it.

Thanks for all the advice here. I really needed it. On the clothing, I wore one technical tshirt and a ski jacket every day and it was plenty warm enough. A fleece as a middle layer would have been way too hot.

The Austrians were very friendly and the local food was perfect for our needs.

I absolutely loved the Apres Ski music! Mama Lauda!

a148pro · 08-03-2019 9:39pm

Snow Garden wrote: »

Just back from Mayrhofen and I thoroughly enjoyed the skiing trip.

Just booked a cheeky two day-er from tomorrow, due to be warm but piste skiing is underrated :pac:

Snow Garden · 08-03-2019 11:03pm

a148pro wrote: »

Just booked a cheeky two day-er from tomorrow, due to be warm but piste skiing is underrated

Plenty of snow up there and more was falling when I left.

Enjoy, it's a super spot!

AlternateID · 09-03-2019 11:13am

a148pro wrote: »

Just booked a cheeky two day-er from tomorrow, due to be warm but piste skiing is underrated :pac:

Sitting in the airport now. 2 weeks in zillertal. Staying in hof as always.

Not a good season for me. This is my one and only trip.

a148pro · 09-03-2019 4:57pm

AlternateID wrote: »

2 weeks in zillertal.

Not a good season for me. This is my one and only trip.

2 weeks!

"Let them eat cake!"

a148pro · 09-03-2019 5:00pm

Any recommendations for food on and off piste welcome

Rew · 11-03-2019 2:53pm

a148pro wrote: »

Any recommendations for food on and off piste welcome

The butchers shop opposite the Penkenbahn does savage take away food thats so cheap you feel like your robbing the place. Found a lot of on piste expensive by Austrian standards but there were lots of options. The place near the Penkenpark did good pizza for reasonable money. Schneekar at the top of the Schneekar lift was nice and the view is epic (look downaand you might spot me)

https://goo.gl/maps/f9Ma3942oBn

a148pro · 11-03-2019 9:15pm

Rew wrote: »

The butchers shop opposite the Penkenbahn does savage take away food thats so cheap you feel like your robbing the place.

I saw that place and thought what the fcuk is a butcher's doing opposite a ski lift in a resort with loads of catered accommodation?

I'm going to be controversial now - I didn't like mayrhofen. At all. Did one day there before and did like it, this time was really busy, full of brits, ridiculously expensive and lifties and restaurant staff on mountain had an attitude. We're number one so why try harder.

Didn't help that it was really warm. Skied hintertux today and it was superb. Much colder, less busy, no one speaking english, great facilities on the mountain (could barely find a jacks in mayr) and really nice table service place. Big long wide runs.

Anywho I don't think anyone here will agree with me as its so popular, but mayrhofen - too busy, too booziey, too british, and in consequence to fcuking expensive. 45 Euro for one day's ski rental opposite penkenbahn. Queue inside must have been 40 minutes long (changeover day I think). 28 Euro in hintertux. Says it all really.

Ski Season 2018/2019

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