From Vienna

I will have to be in Vienna for a meeting in early March :D. From there, I would like to do 1 day or 2 of skiing, likely going by train (I could possibly fly back from another Austrian airport, but I certainly want to minimize travelling). I am an intermediate skier and have been to Europe and Austria a lot (I speak German too), but never skied in the Alps. I like long trails and beautiful scenery, and I am used to Colorado powder, which I understand one does not get in the Alps, but I hope for really decent coverage and no mashed potatos. Any recommendations?

Welcome to J2ski :D Admin has very kindly put together a list of resorts and their distances in time from Vienna.

http://www.j2ski.com/ski_resorts/Airports/Vienna.html

As el bandida says, welcome. But can I correct an inference that only Colorado gets powder and Europe doesn't. The worst snow I've had in 40 years of ski holidays was in North America; there was the fluffiest powder imaginable on my drive last December!

Vienna is not the normal gateway to Austria as far as skiing is concerned. Salzburg, Innsbruck and Munich service the major resorts, which are much further west.

The only one I can think of - and included on Admin's list - is Semmering. However, it's at fairly low altitude and mainly intermediate - pleasant enough for a day or two. It does have good rail links and a railway station on the famous Semmering Bahn mountain railway line.

You will increase your resort options a thousand-fold by flying home from one of the other airports and getting access to the country's great ski areas (the size of the Ski Welt, Ski Amade, the Arlberg or Zugsptiz arena usually makes an impression on US-based skiers!).

Good luck!

I think I'll fly home from Salzburg and will be open to 2 days at many resorts. 2 seem particularly nice (I like intermediate, long runs/vertical drop and nice scenery), Bad Gastein and Zell am See, they are both 4.5 train hrs away from Vienna. Any preference/advice, especially from someone who knows both resorts?

And moreover, I can do intermediate (US blue) and advanced runs (US black diamond) in Colorado, but there is local variation (for instance, I was at snowbird in Utah once and was surprised how steep their intermediate runs were) and I wanted to ask whether the European (blue/red/black) system is comparable in difficulty? Or is it all steeper in the alps (I sometimes get that impression when I am there in the summer)?

Not been to Bad Gastein or Zell but I did go to Saalbach-Hinterglemm from Salzburg - and that was very pleasant.

As a very rough guide, black diamonds usually equate to the upper end of difficulty European red run, US blues can be anything from Euro-blue to easier Euro-red. It really does vary from resort to resort.