Austrian location for beginners and good skiers

OK, so thank you for the responses, some very helpful info here. It is looking like New Year, so cost will become an issue.

Filzmoos ~ Checked this out, looks to be spot on for beginners, Ski in/ski out, gentle slopes to village. But the advanced skiers will spend several hours of the week on a bus.

Ischgl ~~ Beginners slopes at the top of mountain, so bad weather may have an influence. Great for the more advanced folk. Quite expensive.

Seefeld ~Seems OK for beginners, very limited skiing. Lowish cost. Seven Xmas's Adele?? Was this your Chrissy present?

Soll & Ellmau ~ Schiwelt is a great area for all skiers, you can go out for the day, and ski different runs all day. Can't remember too many blue runs down. I recollect that Soll is a bus ride to the slopes. Ellmau a shortish walk. Ellmau village a bit dull, Soll church as good as church interiors get ~ wouldn't have escaped Cromwell that's for sure.Both lowish cost

Saalbach/Hinterglemm ~ Have been summer alpine walking here, and from that thought it would be an attractive ski area. Attractive for beginners are the choice of full blues down the mountain. 200 km of skiing looks good for the rest of us. Bit expensive.

Niederau ~ Good for beginners, but routes down the mountain are tricky for first timers, without an instructor to show exact routes that simplify. Quite good on cost.

On another thread, Risoul was mentioned for beginners. It does look good, but since I am introducing a couple of newcomers to skiing, I wouldn't want them to think that French village architecture was typical. And Austria is so friendly, and cheap, and the tyrol music is soooo good.

So thanks again, feel free to add further comments or additions. I might need to work on Tony H for ways to reduce the cost at New Year.

Now, it's Monday morning and not all is well in the tino camp, however I feel like I am missing something.....why hasn't anyone mentioned Mayrhofen?

The place really has got something for everyone, just look at the profile on this site...

http://www.j2ski.com/ski_resorts/Austria/Mayrhofen.html

It is not the absolute best place in the world for beginners, however it is far from being the worst. This is where I really learnt to ride, you could say I cut my teeth here.

The resort is large enough to do something diffrent every day, small enough to be friendly, cheap enough to be affordable....you really can't go wrong here.

Dave Mac wrote:

Considered Ischgl, looks great for better skiers, and a gondola ride to top of mountain beginner slopes. Any comment?
 

It depends what you mean by better skiers there, it's pretty awful for advanced skiers, the pistes are tedious, repetitive and dull. There's some off-piste but it's more suited to beginners.

The lift system is modern and efficient, but half the lifts go pretty much the same place and the other half start from the same place, the latter is particularly bad as skiers are all funnelled into the same place all the time, as most are on flattish pistes on modern carving skis then around half are totally out of control so it's actually dangerous in places for slower skiers.

The town is pretty dull as well, no character at all, just a collection of hotels and loud bars although I believe that's technically known as good apres-ski

tino_11 wrote:

Now, it's Monday morning and not all is well in the tino camp, however I feel like I am missing something.....why hasn't anyone mentioned Mayrhofen?

The place really has got something for everyone, just look at the profile on this site...

http://www.j2ski.com/ski_resorts/Austria/Mayrhofen.html

It is not the absolute best place in the world for beginners, however it is far from being the worst. This is where I really learnt to ride, you could say I cut my teeth here.

The resort is large enough to do something diffrent every day, small enough to be friendly, cheap enough to be affordable....you really can't go wrong here. 

I seem to recall being told Mayrhofen was no good for beginners. Funny, because thats where my best mate learned to ski. Its something to do with a lack of blues, despite their being a couple of lovely wide reds on the front of the Penken, and a perfect beginners area on the Ahorn.
I guess its all about opinoins though. And according to ISE, Ischgl is rubbish. Off piste for beginners as well, eh? I didnt go off piste until something like my 8th week on skis, but there you go. I guess when you live in the snow and ski it almost half your life, its a bit of a different concept.

Tony_H wrote:

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I guess its all about opinoins though. And according to ISE, Ischgl is rubbish. Off piste for beginners as well, eh? I didnt go off piste until something like my 8th week on skis, but there you go. I guess when you live in the snow and ski it almost half your life, its a bit of a different concept. 

obviously I meant people beginning to ski off-piste for whom it's actually totally ideal, safe, consistent gradient, longish runs, easy route finding etc.

Ise, thanks for clarifying Ischgl, in this instance I took the info from the brochure.

Clarifying our needs, apart from the two beginners, there are some capable intermediates, willing to have a go at new things. I generally ski with the group, then take a couple of mornings by myself, or with my OH. My dodgy knee precludes 7 days of 100% all out, so this mix is a good balance for me.

Tony H is right Tino, there was a mention on another thread about the steepness at the top of the blues at Mahrhofen. These are probably no worse than most places.

So Saalbach/Hinterglemm and the Skiwelt both look the best of the suggestions.

I want to get this as right as possible, so guess I'm trying for a bit of Utopia.

if you want utopia and you're prepared to pay for it, I still stand by my suggestion of the wonderful obergurgl/hochgurgl......

caron-a wrote:

if you want utopia and you're prepared to pay for it, I still stand by my suggestion of the wonderful obergurgl/hochgurgl......  

good suggestion, nice place, good variation of terrain and a great snow record.