J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Wanderer

If anybody needs inspiration, check out this documentary by Red Bull TV on Lindsey Vonn's recovery from a very severe knee injury! To come back from such a severe injury and win more World Cup races was an extraordinary achievement.

https://www.redbull.com/int-en/tv/film/AP-1K5EHGNBN2111/lindsey-vonn-the-climb

Iceman wrote:To cut all that short. Does it mean the black is a red? All slopes vary according to conditions, so that's consistent.

James in the video is more than a standard intermediate. There's plenty of tools in his box, if you know what I mean.... :oops:

If I am following this thread correctly, we are discussing a black that will now be an important link run between major areas of the Milky Way. In normal circumstances, it might be reasonable to conclude that a black should really be a red or vice versa. I am assuming that the video above was recorded in normal conditions, i.e with normal levels of traffic.

However, in this instance, it seems to me that people are trying to work out if people who would not normally take on a black could take on this particular black in circumstances where there is likely to be a much higher rate of traffic on the run than is normal. I would be very wary of inadvertently encouraging people who normally avoid blacks to take on this one when it is likely to be very busy with lots of people potentially struggling!

This is sad.

She is an amazing athlete who make an extraordinary recovery from a previous injury that would have ended the careers of most people. To come back from that injury and proceed to win more titles was truly remarkable.

Its a real pity that injury is preventing her from chasing Ingemar Stenmark's all-time record number of 86 wins - Vonn has won 82.

andymol2 wrote:The black is pretty easy as they go - no hidden horrors. Not for first week skiers however we took my future son-in-law down it on his second week on the snow and he was elated.

The snow was late season pudding, a few steepish bits but relatively wide and would probably be labelled a red in some resorts.

I don't know the black in question but given the circumstances, it seems to me that it could be a nightmare for nervous skiers simply down to numbers using it. Your group may be well able to ski the piste in normal conditions but it can be very tricky if less-experience skiers are taking it on and falling all over the place.

The run off the top of the Hohe Salve in Soll is a classic example of this. It is a pretty typical black but because it provides an important link to other parts of the resort, it attracts a lot of people who are not really up to it. The problem is then not about your own ability to ski the slope but the numbers of people sliding down out of control after falls or skiing into you as they cannot control themselves in the conditions.

I would also echo the earlier comment about the video - apart from any limitations of the value of the video if it was shot in perfect conditions, videos tend do to understate the steepness of the slopes.

To start off, there is a short video of run 102a in Going in the Skiwelt from my trip to Soll last week. Going is at the far end of the ski area and tends to be forgotten or ignored by most people who visit the area. It is a very nice small area easily reached from Soll. Conditions last week were excellent and the entire area was really quite - not a lift queue in sight :mrgreen:.

The run is a relatively short one at the top of the Going area. There are also two or three excellent reds down to the valley that are well worth doing (runs 90, 100 & 100a)



Conditions in the Skiwelt last week were excellent, though we did not have many sunny days. Visibility was pretty good with virtually no white-out and only a little flat light from time to time to time.

I have been to Soll and the Skiwelt several times so well used to the area. Really enjoyed it this year yet again. The snow conditions meant everything was more fun. Even the home run down into Soll was enjoyable - this can often be a bite of a 'mare alternating between ice and slush and made more difficult with lots of tired skiers not really up to it. But not on this trip. The ski area is as good as I remembered it, with a very extensive 280kms claimed. It is all well connected and it is easy to reach any part of the area in a day.

The runs are varied and will keep most skiers very happy. I don't do off-piste so cannot really comment on this but it would generally not be regarded as a particularly good off-piste resort. Lift system is generally very modern with several lifts renewed since I was there last - still some work to be done on lifts in Westendorf and Going but overall excellent with no queues all week.

I always find it worthwhile heading to the outer reaches of resorts as you tend to find less people there. So it was on this trip where my highlights were probably my morning in Going (see video above) and to Westendorf. Going is a small area reached from Ellmau by possibly the oldest lift I have encountered - cute but slow. It is a 2-man covered chair. Once up top, there are a few options - a short but lovely red (102a) and blue (102) at the top. There are also a couple of great red runs down to the village of Going 100 & 100a. There were great fun - decent reds with virtually nobody on them.

Westendorf is well worth the trip over. Ski down into Brixen, walk across the bridge and gondala straight to the top. The variants on 117 and 118 will entertain. We did run 120 down into Ki-West which links to the Kitzbuhel area but that was only ok. Red 11 back down to Brixen at the end of the day can be interesting - the top half is lovely but the lower section should probably be rated Black. It was ok when we were there last week but it can be challenging.

Above Scheffua and Ellmau, there is an endless array of runs - some wide and open, others through the trees. It can get a little busy on some of the more central runs but there is usually more than enough space for everyone to find a line!

Food on the mountain is usually good quality standard Austrian fare offered at very reasonable prices. Drinks are also reasonably priced.

We stayed in the Hotel Tyrol in Soll. It is a little under a mile up to the lifts in the morning. We used the ski garage up at the gondola and took the skibus up in the morning and walked home in the evenings (occasionally with a stop or two along the way). This worked really well.

The apres ski was great with lots of decent live music, including the famous Frog on the Tyne (great entertainers who really know to get a crowd going) and Cuckoo, an Irish band (though the fiddle player is actually from Argentina) playing a wide range of excellent music. The Salven Stadl is now gone and the Postwirt does not have much music anymore. The Mill pub in the Whiskey Muehle is now a very popular spot with lovely weissbeers for €4.20. The Moonlight and the Hexenalm up near the gondola are also worth a visit for a more typical "Austrian" apres-ski experience!.

For me, Soll and the Skiwelt ticks a lot of boxes and, in my view, is a seriously underrated place, possibly because of the relatively limited off-piste options. Maybe people also have concerns about the low level of the resort but their piste maintenance is as good as it gets. It remains a hugely popular destination with the Brits and the Irish, probably because of the convenience of getting there - only about 90 minutes from either Munich or Salzburg.

Staying at the Hotel Tirol in the village. I have been to Soll several times and really like it. Yes, it is low but has probably the best snow management team in the alps. Even in snow-drought years, I have found the slopes to be good. One negative is the relatively short length of many runs but there are so many, this is not a big deal. Runs to the valleys will give enough length for anybody - perhaps to be avoided at the end of the day but often forgotten as sources of excellent long runs earlier in the day.

The village is really nice - compact, friendly and with several good pubs and reasonable prices.

It is a gem and it always surprises me that it is not more popular. Funnily enough I think it has "fallen out of fashion" which is just bonkers.

Thank god you are not gloating!!!

I never thought I would be happy to see the snow stop falling in a resort I am about to head to :shock: :shock: :shock: .

For once, it is a case of too much snow. Heading to Soll in 11 days and the skiing in resort has been extremely limited in recent weeks because of the amount of snow that has fallen with top of mountain closed as well as links to other villages. Not much fun if you are there at the moment :evil: . I am guessing that the piste workers will welcome a break from the intense work of trying to get stuff open.

Now I am hoping for a couple of weeks of low temperatures and clear blue skies :thumbup: .

A little greedy perhaps :oops: .