Ellmau, Austria

So,all good so far,come out you doom mongers,lets have the bad bits!Ellmau is only 820m high,so some days,if its snowing upstairs,as if,it will be raining in the village,dont be put off,check the web cams,it can be glorious sunshine at the Hartkaiser.The other thing is on the piste map,the lifts are numbered but not the runs so the only way to navigate in fog is to watch for restaurants going by,they are numbered also.If you get a chance to ski to the Hohe Salve,a wooden church at 1829m,beware coming back because the pistes are not marked on the map!Have fun.

Yeh but it's Austria, innit. Altitude does not matter in the land of the eternal snowshine.

RossF wrote:Yeh but it's Austria, innit. Altitude does not matter in the land of the eternal snowshine.

Oh but it does, Ross.
I was told altitude doesnt matter when Niederau was being discussed, yet when I got there after recent snow falls, the pistes were quite bare, there were rocks on some runs, and the lower beginner slopes were like a building site.

Some bright spark tried to tell me mayrhofen was only at 690m. Well, the village may be, but the slopes certainly aint. 1800m and up mostly. If its raining in town, its heaven upstairs. Usually.

Hi Zwee. Stayed at the Alpenhof 4 years ago. Had a great time. The village is ideal for a family with young children. The slopes in the village are long and wide, allowing you to get your confidence back. The only problem is you have to pole along the flat to the first lift.

We all went in ski school and for the first few days we met up to have lunch together. After a couple of days they take you up the mountain and you do not come back to Ellmau until the afternoon (between 3 and 4). The childrens instructers will ask for a few euros (5 euro when we went) and will take them to a restaurant at lunch time.
There is normally a kids ski race on Friday and also Ellmau puts on a great ski show one night of the week.
At the other end of the town you can go tubing and there is also a Tobogan track.

It is easy to ski to Going and Scheffau and as long as you are with the instructor you will not get lost.

I have also stayed at Soll, and Scheffau and will be in Scheffau the week before you. The Ski Welt is a great resort and looking at the current weather it looks like a bit of snow is due in the next few weeks.

If the weather does let you down in the village, once you get up the top of the funicular railway you will be fine.

Have a look at the web site below and hope you have a great time.
www.skiwelt.at

Thanks guys - great info :)

Not looking forward to the flat bits as my skating technique is not good. :(

The quaintness sounds lovely, the kids have only skied in Bulgaria and Andorra which are not known for this (neither any of the places I've been to in France for that matter). Altho' the bell sellers in Bulgaria do have a charm of their own!

Hopefully the forecasts of snow are correct and those of rain aren't!

Rich S - have a good trip. :)

Where is the best place to keep boots and skis (bearing in mind the kids are not good at carrying their own stuff) - hotel, ski shop or are there lockers at funicular?
Cheers.

The Alpenhoff has a small boot/ski room and the hotel is only 200m from the nursery slopes where everybody meets.

Would recommend buying some ski carriers.

My kids are 9 and 12 also, so i know what it is like.

Used some 'Ski Web'carriers last year and they were great. Keeps your poles and skis tied nicely together.

www.skiweb.uk.com

rich s Thanks for those tips - as you say we are so close to the slopes this time - I'll put the 'Ski Web' carriers on the Christmas List!