Sölden & Hochgurgl/Obergurgl

We're going to Sölden in March for a week. I noticed that Obergurgl & Hochgurgl are just up the valley and I was wondering if there are regular buses linking the two and if a Sölden lift pass gets you any skiing in Hochgurgl & Obergurgl?

Yes, you can ski in Obergurgl area on the Solden pass I believe.
You lucky bugger, I have fancied Solden for a while now.
Would you come on here when you have been and write a report for us, with some photos as well?

I believe it's the yellow bus that travels between the three resorts and it only takes about 20 mins or so.
From Obergurgl we were offered a day in Solden for an extra 10 euros and you had to make the decision when buying the pass. I don't know if it's the same the other way round or if it was the op pulling a fast one.
Enjoy :thumbup:

I've skied at Sölden,it's truly a wonderful and unique experience,but I haven't gone to Hochgurgl,although... as far as I remember there where some fantastic views of that area

I was in Solden in January - my pre-booked pass (via Neilsons) included one day in Obergurgl, but if you buy your pass in the resort, as Betty mentioned, its an extra 10 euros for a day that has to be paid up front.

Obergurgl is 9 kms from Solden and there is an hourly bus service.

If you want a review Tony, I will try to knock one up over the next few days.

Aitch

brandyaitch wrote:

If you want a review Tony, I will try to knock one up over the next few days.

Aitch

That would be good ta

Date: 16-23 January 2010
Flight and transfers : From Gatwick - 12.20 out, 16.30 return. Transfer from Innsbruck about 1hr and 15 mins. The resort : I was surprised by the size of the village – probably comparable in size to St Anton. Not exactly picturesque - quite a busy main road running through the middle of the village – serviced end to end by a free ski bus – apparently no (or few) catered chalets, but many self-catering 'pensions' and good quality hotels. Large aqua dome, but I cannot comment as we didn't use it. Very much geared up for the tourist.Not serviced by many English tour operators – I would guess that less than 5% of the skiers/boarders were British – very much a Dutch/German holiday resort and big increase in elderly (older than me) Austrian trippers over the weekends – English spoken or understood in most places. Very quiet mid-week – Tuesday to Thursday.Obergurgl and Hochgurgl about 9 kms away – hourly bus service.
Lift system : By and large a modern lift system providing good connections to the whole area. Two main gondolas each end of the village, rather crowded for the first run – 15/20 minute queue for a 9 am start on busy mornings. Most of the lifts on the mountains relatively modern, variety of lifts - 8-seater and 20-standing gondolas, 4 and 6 seater chairlifts with wind shields, but a few older open fronted 4-seater chairs and a couple of old 2-seaters and a few T-bar drags.
The terrain : Plenty of wide cruising intermediate blue pistes ad a few steeper reds and blacks and plenty of off piste. Not a lot of good on piste for the advanced skier. 3 mountain peaks/runs start at over 3,000 metres – glacier skiing at the top which hosts the first World Cup Alpine run of the season in October I think. Longest run from top of glacier at 3,340 metres to the village claimed at 15 kms. Bit of a trek to get to the glacier – maybe 45/60 minutes from the village.
Not exactly an extensive area for the mileage buffs, probably cover the whole area in less than 3 days if you don't like repeat runs.
Nursery slopes : The main nurse slopes were above Giggjoch lifts, mainly blues, no greens, and struck me as being pretty steep for complete beginners.
The snow : Mainly hard pack snow whilst we were there, but the pistes were refreshed during the week with a few cms overnight giving runs a refresh - one bigger dump of around 25cms on the glacier on Thursday provided my first deep(er) powder skiing. Pistes well maintained – piste busters out during the Thursday mid morning dump to settle things down.
Off-piste : Had my first off-piste training and experience, and surprised myself by not ending up face first. Plenty of off-piste available on the glacier, and it was relatively untracked and soft.
Skiers/ Boarders : Probably 90%+ skiers
Food : Plenty of reasonably priced restaurants – but we were on half board so didn't use any in the village. The usual mountain bars but several relatively large self service restaurants in the mountains - lots of choice - Spag Bol 7.80 euros.
Apres ski : At my age my preferred apres ski is a long soak in a hot bath and a hot chocolate – maybe a few beers - that said, the bars were probably the liveliest I have come across – the web site claims there are 45 bars and 8 'discos' - fine for party goers provided you like oompah pah music and don't mind drinking with drunken Dutch and Germans. Two or three 'lap dancing' type clubs if you want (can afford) that sort of entertainment - I couldn't cope with the excitement after a days skiing. My preference was the Black and Orange Harley Davison Rock Café – proper music !
Beer : Hmmm – around 2.80 euros a glass, but the glasses were 0.3 litres, which works out to around £5 a pint !
Accommodation : Stayed at the 3 star Hotel Tyrol – very good quality hotel – spacious rooms – multi choice hot and cold buffet breakfast – 5 course evening meal – top notch.
Costs: Not particularly cheap – we booked through Neilsons – around £500 half board, flight and transfer – ski pass £176 – ski hire £92 - ski carriage (10kgs) £15
Conclusion: I thoroughly enjoyed the week – I can't imagine skiing and not enjoying it. Reasonably good skiing available for all levels, not quite so for the expert and not particularly extensive – snow guaranteed, at least on the glacier -plenty of après ski – very few Brits.
Would I go back - I was a late starter and have only visited La Plagne, Meribel, St Anton, Sauze d'Oulx and Solden, and I would place Solden 5th on my list of places to go back to.

I went up to Obergurgl on Saturday, for the first time.

Sölden is reputed as a party town, many bars and ski shops stretched out a long way along the one main road. Why is it unique, iimmm?

I skied in Obergugl, which is linked to Hochgurgl by a horizontal lift (but not by piste), so the two are almost a single resort. It is high so thin air, tendency to be very cold (though daytime under sun was ok) and quite a bare-looking (but very impressive) landscape, not many trees. Beautiful snow, and wonderful soft powder beside the piste, not that I am really up to skiing powder, but had a go in easier parts several times (GF gets very excited by soft powder, and 'forced' me to follow, and I fell, lost one ski, and got the other stuck deep under the snow...). There is a small amount of skiing between trees available.

Sölden is, as noted, 1 hour 15-20 minutes from Innsbruck by car if the drive goes well, maybe a bit less from the airport, and Obergurgl / Hochgurgl about 15 minutes further on by car. In summer you can keep going across the Alps across the mountain pass into Italy, and I think they attract walkers and bikers for summer tourism, but in Winter the road approach form Italy tends to be closed.

Because it is quite remote you do not get the masses of local and German day trippers which I am used to at Seefeld (my usual resort). Also far fewer small children. Also a much lower percentage of boarders, not sure why. Another difference is that Seefeld is a real town whereas here you get the impression there is not a lot going on aside from the tourist industry, although Sölden is not that small (however, there does not seem much for evenings at Obergurgl / Hochgurgl). Saturday seems to be the switchover day for a lot of packages (tourist information office closed!), so slopes are relatively quiet, and they actually offer a discount on passes to local residents for Saturdays only, to get some custom.

I have to say the pistes, and the powder at the side of the pistes, were both superb, and a good mix of steepness. I did not find the signage terribly good, and ended up on a black by mistake, which I do not particularly enjoy (built for comfort, not for speed), but a little bit of steep is probably good practice, and there was nothing you can really call icy. As brandyaitch said above, not much for the expert, except that there is so much attractive skiing for those who are up to deep powder.

On the point above about beer prices, the whole Euro zone is a problem at current exchange rates, but I did find bar prices a touch on the high side in Obergurgl.