Are piste maps condensed?

Ok, quick question.

Having looked at a few piste maps i am wondering what there is to attract people to certain resorts.
For example, lets take the often praised Niederau. The piste map here shows precious little runs, certainly nothing to keep me busy for a week!

http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Niederau/pistemap_full

Am i missing something?
I realize that off piste opens more terrain but if you only ski on piste what am i going to do after the first day?

I think you have the ski welt area down the road

Yes, IME piste maps are generalised, and quite often show major routes. If you want to ski a small resort, it's quite pleasant skiing the same run repeatedly, but in different ways. These days I find @55km quite enough to amuse me, as it's how I ski the slope that determines entertainment and achievement.

Looks OK, I would be more concerned of the altidute, too low IMHO, hit a warmer week and the snow between 1500-800 will be disappearing quickly.

I wasn't really asking about Niederau in particular, im sure its a lovely place.
Its just that the piste map is a bit sparse and i had noticed this on quite a few, especially austrian, maps.

Snapzzz wrote:Ok, quick question.

Having looked at a few piste maps i am wondering what there is to attract people to certain resorts.
For example, lets take the often praised Niederau. The piste map here shows precious little runs, certainly nothing to keep me busy for a week!

http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Niederau/pistemap_full

Am i missing something?
I realize that off piste opens more terrain but if you only ski on piste what am i going to do after the first day?

Snapzzz,
I think piste maps do miss a lot out. I haven't been to Niederau but I know when I went to Hochgurgl (Obergurgl area) the piste map had one simple piste marked but in reality the whole huge area seemed to be piste (judging by the fact that everyone was ski-ing all over it) and in fact we wondered where the piste had gone :wink:

What isn't perhaps clear on the Niederau piste map is that it apparently (according to the website below) also has a giant slalom, a special carving run, a slalom track, and a speed track (which is why national teams go to Niederau to train) and they do a guest race every Friday. These extras alone would keep me happy for a whole week!

http://www.wildschoenau.com/sport/winter/en/tmp_1_1306156917/Snowboarding_in_the_Wildsch%C3%B6nau_Tyrol_detail.aspx

Ally

Thanks Ally,

I did find it hard to believe that a resort could survive with only a few runs.
I have started to study the piste maps hard in preparation for booking next years trips and having done Paradiski this year i am beginning to wonder if i was spoilt by the vast choice.
I cannot imagine myself being happy with a small resort now, no matter how good those few runs are.

Most large linked ski areas are a relatively recent arrangement. The schiwelt, which is a wonderful, if confusing ski region, was, until the late 80's, eight disparate village ski areas. Most had only a couple of small lifts.
Hence, those of us who pre-date this era, are quite comfortable with skiing in large or small areas. After all, all that skiers need to ski, is some snow.
Having carried skis up the Lake District's Cross Fell, and spent days happily skiing down it's gullys, and walking up, it would not occur to me that I need to have huge areas to enjoy my sport.
I love skiing ~ and I like to ski all day, and do as much as I can. I find, for a number of reasons, that I can do a lot more skiing in the resort that I return to year after year, than in any other area ~ and I have skied a lot of areas!