Ok. Been back home about 2 hours, all unpacked, all the kit in the wash as we go away again saturday night. Mrs H has decided to take a bath, giving me half an hour to compile a report on my few days in
Niederau and the surrounding area.
First things first, I want to take the opportunity to thank Jan and his family for the huge amount of hospitality shown to me and my good lady wife over the few days we spent out there. Without him, I would not have made it out over Christmas this year, so I am eternally grateful. Its always good to make new friends, especially through something you share a passion for. Jan did more than was expected of him all round, including door to door minibus service from the Auhof to the lifts, so there was no more than 10 metres outside before getting skis on: brilliant!
The Auhof sits high up on the sunny side of the village looking over the valley. The views from the balcony are pretty, you can see the runs off the hill opposite, and all the buildings in the small village itself. The sun was shining on the Auhof from morning until mid afternoon every day. Unfortunately, this means that the rest of Niederau does not get any sunlight on it, making it a chilly and dark place. This of course does work in its advantage, keeping the snow cold, bearing in mind the low altitude of the resort and the slopes, in comparison to other places I have visited. The Auhof is apartments, and self catering is what its aimed at. It would be a good 15 minute walk down the hill into the village, and a much longer and harder one up hill back if you chose to go out, although Jan does provide lifts in the minibus up on demand, provided it is convenient of course!
As for places to eat, there is a reasonable choice, many of them providing traditional Austrian fayre, and at typical prices which sadly have been made to feel more expensive thanks to the weak pound, so we only ate out twice in the village. Both times the food was lovely, huge portions, just what you expect from Austria. Its mainly hotel based restaurants, although there are a couple of individual eateries, and several bars dotted about, but dont come here expecting to be able to party all night, or dance away to eurotrash and drink copious amounts of strong lager until you fall over - its just not that kind of place. Quaint is what a called it, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. Its not a place I would have chosen looking at a piste map personally, and its a far cry from the likes of the mega resorts, but it has a charm of its own and is.......well, quaint!
So, what of the skiing? Well, like I said, most of the place doesnt see the sunlight, so much of the skiing was colder and darker than I was expecting or used to, although it is all through the trees, so in bad weather it would be less difficult to find your way down. There is the Markbachjoch Gondola from the village which goes straight up to the top of the hill, where you can ski straight back down a red underneath the gondola, which was a nice cruisy run, but sadly a little scratchy and icy in parts, and struggling for snow in a few isolated parts. You can go further along the top, where the sun shines most of the day, and head towards the little chapel, where there are a couple of short reds with T bars to bring you back up. We spent most of the 2 days we skied Niederau on these runs, as the weather was bright sun and clear skies, so we wanted to make the most of it. These reds are wide and not steep, and I would have probably classified them as blues in terms of difficulty. They are perfect for early intermediates and those looking to sharpen up after ski school. However, down from the 2nd T bar the piste gets more difficult and disappears out of the sunlight again, so use goggles and not glasses here. This run meets up with the black which you can take from the top, which is pretty steep, but nice and wide also. The run continues down to the village with a steep section which is massively wide in parts, and then evens off and there is a long schuss into the gondola. Top to bottom its a real leg burner, and we enjoyed doing this circuit a number of times. However, the temperature difference from the top in the sun to the bottom of the gondola was noticeable. It fell from just under freezing to between 6 and 8 below.
Down at the bottom, near the gondola, are a nunber of beginner slopes and easy blues where ski schools spent their time. These slopes were really struggling for good snow coverage in places, and were quite icy a lot of the time, so if beginners can cut their teeth here, they will love the reds at the top near the chapel. I have to admit that I wouldnt have enjoyed learning here as it was always cold and never saw sunlight down here, but I understand the red ski school have a good reputation, and the ski classes were packed every day. Jan's eldest son is an instructor himself, and the young girls love him!!!
Further across is the new 4 man chair which takes you further across at the top, from where you can ski down a short but fun red wiht a steep section where you need to open up to make it up the incline to the gondola the other side, or turn the other way and take the black down the right hand side of the ski area. The top section gets steeper and steeper as it goes down to the bottom of the short T bar back up, and the gorgeous mountain cafe, and from here you can continue further down back to the chair lift. Sadly this run was struggling with snow coverage and there were lots of stones on it, but I could see this would be a lovely run with good snow on it, and Jan's wife regards it as her favourite of all. I would have liked to have been able to open up and ski back down to the village on this, but we spent more time dodging rocks and avoiding damage to our bases to be honest.
That is about the extent of Niederau to be honest. As Jan and Dave Mac both said, its not about the mileage, but about approaching the slopes in a different way each run. I take their point, but I also raise them the fact that having spent 2 days on the slopes, I was actually starting to become bored, and this is not meant to cause anyone who has a thing for the place any offence, but it is my honest opinion. I said before I went that it was limited in extent, and it certainly is. Fortunately, the Brucie Bonus for me was the resort of
Auffach 7km up the valley. There is a free ski bus you can use, but we took the car. It was much much busier down at the gondola station, and we queued for 20 minutes before even getting on a lift, but it was worth the wait. The slopes are in the sun all day, until the sun goes over the furthest peak, so the slopes are soft and forgiving, and they are at significantly higher altitude than Niederau, which I dont care what anyone says, it matters. The pistes at Auffach were mainly above the tree line, but that is not an issue for me personally, and I found these to be really enjoyable in the sunshine with more variety, and we had a good full day on the mountain, and even then wanted to do some pistes again. There is a good red run off the mountain beyond the middle station of the gondola as well, but this too was struggling in patches nearer the bottom at around 1000m or under. If you want to be in the trees, this might appear to be a soul-less and less pretty place, but if you want to bomb down some reds with the sun on your face, it gives that alternative.
As for
Oberau, we drove through it on the way to Auffach, and quite frankly I wouldnt bother here. There were a couple of short lifts and maybe 3 blue runs? It was a pretty village, but the skiing appeared only aimed at complete beginners.
So, if I was going to summarise, I would say Niederau is in a good position just over the German border, and easily accessible from
Munich, Saklzburg and
Innsbruck airports, with good road links. The road up from Worgl was kept clear at all times, and the local roads in the valley were fine, but anything off them required the use of snow chains much of the time, mainly because of the lack of direct sunlight and colder temperatures. Its a pretty little village, and I know there are a lot of people who swear by the place and return year in year out, but for me its just too small and I prefer to ski on slopes which get more sun on them. I would like to do the black again when the snow coverage is better, as that looked a really good run potentially when we went on it. Unfortunately, you are only able to form an opinion based on what it was like for you when you were there, and whilst the weather was lovely, clear skies and bright sun, you werent able to appreciate that down in the village or on the majority of the slopes there. For me, the best skiing was had over at Auffach just down the road.
Would I recommend it? Well, that depends on what you are looking for in a ski holiday. If you want to bomb around and do the miles, then probably not. If you want a party atmosphere, find somewhere else. However, if you want to take it easy and relax, and maybe if you or some of your party are beginners or early intermediates who are not bothered about distances, then this could be a good place for you. For me, being on a short break with 4 days skiing, it was just about right, especially with the option of Auffach to try out as well, which I would recommend everyone who goes to Niederau tries out, as its on the same lift pass. Take your sun cream up there though!
I was asked at the end of day 1 by Ellistine if I had skied tghe whole resort.....not quite, but it would be possible to do so, yes. However, we had 2 days on the Niederau slopes and that was about right for us, so I would pigeon hole Niederau as somewhere for competent skiers to conswider as a short break, or a base from where to explore other areas too.
I would have liked another day in Auffach to be honest, but I was determined that we would go to
Mayrhofen for a day, as it was only just the next valley across, and it took around 50 minutes to drive there, and we had a fabulous day cruising around up there, especially in the sun and at the higher altitude, where I have to be perfectly honest, the snow was so much better. Sadly, Mayrhofen was rammed and the lift queues were the worst I have ever experienced. Fortunately, its big enough for the numbers to disperse, and the slopes only get busy towards the end of the day as everyone heads for the gondola.
As I said earlier, I dont think its right to compare ski resorts, as they are all different and have merits of their own. Niederau is like nowhere I have been before. Mayrhofen is more comparable to maybe Vernier in terms of resort and extent, but again they are both totally different as well, so whilst the banter on here between the N and M gangs has been fun and good natured, I dont think its right for anyone to say one is better than other. For me personally, I felt kind of at home the day at Mayrhofen, whereas I know Jan is totally at home there, and Dave Mac feels the same way. I guess its down to individual preferences, different choices, alternative expectations, and alternate requirements, but the bottom line is skiing is brilliant wherever you are, and a day on a mountain skiing is better than a day anywhere else not doing it.
Marks out of 10:
Hospitality and friendlieness = 12
Weather = 9 (only overnight snow would have helped make it a 10)
Skiing = 5 because I wasnt so keen on the lack of sun facing pistes and it is limimted in terms of extent
I hope that anyone who cares to read this will take it in the manner it is intended, which is not critical, but honest. This is how I found the place, and whilst I would happily return for another short break sometime, its a big old skiing world out there, and there are a lot of other places I really want to get out and see.
It was great to meet up with some of the guys from this site, Jan was absolutely fantastic and couldnt do enough for us, and bumping into Dave Mac on the slopes had to be fate!!!!
many thanks to those who made our stay enjoyable and relaxing, and I hope to meet up with them in the future. Cheers Jan, happy new year to you, and to everyone on J2ski.
