J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Wanderer

Skied Kaprun in March last year. As has already been pointed out, you can also ski Zell am See on the same ski pass using the frequent ski buses. The snow on the glacier should be near perfect at almost any time during the season. However, because it is a glacier, there are a lot of draglifts, some of them quite long. Queues for cable car to top and for some of the drags in the centre of the bowl can be a bit slow but have a good look around and you should be able to find some with short queues. The 2 blacks off the top on the right hand side as you look at the mountain are really nice and, if you are up to it, there are some interesting and challenging ski routes dotted around the mountain. We stayed up near the glacier so no info on the village (it is a bus ride up to the gondola up the mountain from the village)

Zell is lower and conditions can be ropey at times but has some very nice runs. For the more timid skiers, most of the skiing is up near the top of the mountain and there are limited easy options to get down the mountain and the few runs that are there can be a bit crowded and icy in places. Again there are a number of decent long blacks down to the valley. Over on the Sonnkogel area, there is a permanent timed slalom course that you can try your skills on. Your efforts will be videod automatically and you can check out your technique online afterwards!

Its nice to alternate between the two resorts and you should have a very enjoyable trip :wink: .

An interesing feature in Zell am See is the opportunity to test yourself on a timed slalom course and have the run video'd.

Here's a link to my efforts



Doing it, I thought I was going quite fast and carving the turns reasonably well :shock: Disappointed to see the actuality. Turns are really pretty poor :x

Still good fun - everybody in the group had a few tries and the competition for fastest time was quite intense - unfortunately, not me :roll:

Big dump forecast for central Austrian resorts tomorrow (Kitz, Soll, Mayrhofen, etc).

However, because of high temperatures likely to fall as heavy rain low down. I would expect that this will pretty much finish off the lower runs in these resorts but should give pretty decent skiing up high, though possibly a bit heavy.

Just back from Kaprun. We drove down from Munich in a hire car and think we were flashed by a speed camera :evil: (in a village just before Kaprun)

Can anybody confirm whether the Austrian authorities will be able to send the fine to the hire company in Germany? Will the car hire company pay the fine and charge our credit card? Also, any idea of the level of fine? Not sure what speed we were doing (not mad fast) but possibly as much as 20kph over the limit (late at night with nobody about).

.... and then the forecast is for a big dump on Thursday (at least up high). Looks like you may get great conditions up high. Unfortunately, it is probably going to fall as rain down low :evil:

IIRC a guide was killed on the Valley Blanche run recently - fell into a deep crevasse, I think! If its not safe for the guides ...........

Haven't been to Kitz but just back from Kaprun yesterday. The glacier was in excellent condition but Zell am See is really beginning to suffer. Still decent enough on the higher runs but some of the lower pistes, especially those exposed to the sun, were barely skiable. We could see plants beginning to bud under the chairlifts so clearly the ground has warmed up quite a bit and unless there is a dramatic change in weather, conditions are likely to continue going downhill fast(no pun intended).

I suspect you will have to make the best of the higher slopes and lower runs will probably be best avoided!

Sorry to give you bad news!

I would definitely go for the ski school option at this stage. In my experience, 1st timers learn a huge amount over the course of their 1st week in ski school. You may also meet a couple of other skiers of the same level that you can practice with in the afternoons.

1-hour a day will leave you with too much time on your own where you will either not push yourself enough or, worst still, push yourself too hard and destroy your confidence.

As for physical demands of lessons, I am afraid that it does tend to be very demanding initially. One awful part of some ski schools is making you side step up the hill to do exercises - this is so draining! Once you are using a lift the effort is much reduced!

Finally, do not fret too much about your level of progression. You are supposed to be enjoying yourself after all. Relax and it will come!