J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by austrian-adventures

Business must be good then

i thought this was a wish-list... cos it most certainly won't happen!

Wickers, i don't like 'em either but although they have all these extras 9 times out of 10 they are still the cheapest carrier, with or without skis and with or without luggage.
The biggest thing that needs to change is the poor customer service and the wa they advertise their prices. Make the advertised prices the actual price rather than a fanciful one!

Carol,

I don't think your lad will be too young but budget to pay for private lessons for the pair of them...

Wagrain and Alpendorf have some great guest houses that offer half-board accommodation.
Have you tried doing an accommodation request through www.skiamade.com ?
You put in what you want and where you might consider (eg. half-board, 2 rooms 2 adults, 2 kids within Ski Amadé and your dates) this then gets sent to a forum that all the guest houses and hotels pay to use. We then look at what is good for contact you directly.

It is a good system and means that you can often find cheaper accommodation than the heavily advertised hotels.

It is also worth trying www.booking.com and www.tiscover.at

Anyhow... Wagrain/Alpendorf/Ski Amadé is about an hours drive from Kitzbuhel so still pretty local if there are any probs with your daughter.

I only need some new socks!
And maybe some new goggles, and maybe some shades.
Oh, and a new neck scarfy thing.
Maybe some new trousers and jacket.
Gloves... deffo gloves!
Could chuk in some skis as well I spose! (or a board... nah just some new bindings for the board)

Good to see that a resort in Austria are spending some money to remove antiquated old "T" bars,

I have been living out here for 3 years now... every summer there has been major investment and improvements in the areas in Salzburgerland.

The first year there was a new 8 man heated and covered chair put into Wagrain (this one was to replace a T'bar!) plus a new Gondola in Alpendorf.

Last year was a biggy. Eben had a revamped/new chair at the bottom plus a brand new chair at the top, plus a funpark added to the pistes.
Hauser Kaibling / Schladming had a new piste and lift put in to service it (which is 3 chairs and then a gondola... very cool!)
Wagrain also had revamped gondolas ready for the next stage.

This year in Zauchensee/Flachau Winkl, there is a replacement gondola and a replacement covered chair.
In flachau there is a new chairlift to take you up to the top.
Wagrain has a new gondola station plus a new chairlift to take you halfway up because...

Next year there will be a new cable car to zoom you accross the valley from Wagrain Graffenburg to Flachau - this years' new chair will be an access point from the valley to this new cable ca.

That will really open up the area.

The Gasteins have also had a lot of mone spent on them...

So I think Salzburgerland is realy pulling stops out!

Ryanair will always manage to stay afloat... it is one of those scenarios that unless evryone puts their hands up at the smae time and stops using them, they will always have a custom. Lets face it, if you have hand luggage only, they are still cheap. Also use a Visa Electron card to avoid the card fees.
But the costs for anything else are escalating and there are so many 'small-print' conditions (like the luggage pooling, although I think this has changed again)... still the BA price checker is quite interesting. It shows you how much money you would save (but you do have to have a very, very heavy bag).

There seems to be a bit of fussing over 'commercial' interests and posting on this thread.
I will 'come clean'. I own and run guest house/chalet in Radstadt within Ski Amadé.

This doesn not mean that the information I have to offer is rubbish or bias. There was, of course a reason for me to move to this area and that is the fact that the area is awesome!

So please don't cut me down as I live here and run a business. The UK market is quite small compared to the other countries within Europe but I can only write in English so like to use English speaking forums!

Also some info on Radstadt if you can. Is it difficult to shop/cook with the kids in tow if we self cater? I am having trouble finding something in my budget if we go half board as we normally do

Radstadt has about 4500 guest beds in the winter. It is a quiet and family orientated town.
The local mountain in Radstadt has a ski school, nursery slope and an 8 man gondola. for 2009/10 there is also going to be a new cafe/aprés bar at the base of the lift.... don't know much more about that yet as it isn't open yet!

The mountain is quite small and can offer a learner group a weeks worth of skiing. For more experienced skiers/ridersit may be a little limited after day 2. But at the base of the Altenmarkt side of the mountain you can get regular shuttle buses up to Zauchensee which is huge and awesome! The ski school here is run by Michi Walchofers' father!

Zauchensee links into Flachau Winkl, (via a comedy shuttle train tractor thing). The winks also links into Kleinarl... from Kleinarl you can grab a shuttle bus down to Wagrain... and Wagrain links into Alpendorf.

Radstadt also offers regular busaccess to Flachau, Fageralmand Reiteralm.

Radstadt has a Penny Markt, Spa, M-Preis and a Hofer/Aldi. So there are plenty of places to grab stuff in normal priced supermarkets. The bars and restaurants are genrally quite quiet (even in peak season) so it is ot a good place for party aprés!

Anyhow... there is a bit about Radstadt...

Have a look at Ski Amade - 45 mins from Salzburg airport. Loads of places to choose from. Ski schools can be found at each mountain. As for the snow - well if I could answer that I would be very rich! )