J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Wanderer

Just back from my trip and thought I would update you on my route. Based on the comments received, I decided that the most reliable route was the North West routing by Memmingen. It is a pleasant drive with motorway nearly all the way. Traffic was relatively light and we had no holdups at all - far easier than the alternative routes. We did hit a major traffic jam on the A99 Munich ring road which I am guessing was due to an accident but we were able to divert through a part of the city and avoid the blockage - we lost no more than 10 minutes as a result of this. The journey down probably took about 3.15hrs while the way back was about 3.30hrs.

Locals in St Anton reported regular issues with the Kufstein route with the border controls in particular regularly causing delays ranging from a few minutes up to half an hour. Interestingly, there are no border controls (for private vehicles anyway) on the North West route.

Thanks for all the feedback - a great example of the value of this site :thumbup:.

Sounds like there is no obvious choice but that the Memmingen routing may be the best bet even if it is somewhat of an unknown quantity. Intuitively, it looks like a routing that would serve less ski destinations and therefore should not suffer as much from "changeover Saturday" traffic chaos :shock:.

Certainly, I could not bear sitting in static traffic for lengthy periods as seems to happen from time to time on the Fernpass route plus the small windy roads look like a lot more work for the driver (i.e. me) :twisted: .

Flying in to Munich on Saturday, 17 March and driving down to St Anton :mrgreen: . I have been looking online at possible driving routes on both google maps and viamichilin. They are offering a variety of routes :roll: with roughly the same travel times:

1. Down the 95 and then over the Fernpass (through Garmisch and Lermoos). This the shortest, by a long way, but not much is on motorway and involves a windy road up over a high mountain pass.

2. Down the 8 and 93 motorway down through Kufstein and Innsbruck or

3. Across to the West on the 96 through Memmingen and then down through Bregenz.

The first option is most direct but presumably is prone to weather issues and getting stuck behind slow moving traffic with no passing possibilities ( I know it is still a good bit away but the current long term forecasts are suggesting that there could be heavy snow that day) :cry: . The 2nd seems most straightforward but this route does seem to suffer from very heavy traffic at the weekends. I don't know anything about the 3rd option.

Is anyone familiar with the journey and can offer advice on which is the best route to take?

Also will be heading back on Wednesday, 21st around 3pm. Any advice on the return route also appreciated (bearing in mind that traffic should be less of an issue mid-week). :thumbup:

daved wrote:I was in the Dolomites last year , which was a particularly bad year, and the pistes were great...the surface was just like "real" snow.., a white ribbon threading through a green/brown world...Artificial snow can be good if its done properly

I agree wholeheartedly with Daved's assessment of the Dolomites. I suspect the quality of artificial snow varies depending on when and how it is produced. The Dolomites (or at least the areas covered by the Sella Ronda) have achieved near 100% coverage by snow cannons. however, you would be hard pressed to tell the difference from the real thing. I do seem to recall some horrible slopes in the past where the artificial snow was not nice - inclined toward the icy/sugary mix that Furthy34 has complained about. Perhaps modern technology has provided the means to create artificial snow that is virtually indistinguishable from the real thing but only some resorts have made the investment to roll out the best versions :roll:

Living up to its name judging by the photo :thumbup:

biki17 wrote:Hi NJB,

We have just returned from Val Gardena last Sunday.
A lovely area.
We have done Sella Ronda twice.
First time the Orange route on Tuesday. There were significant crowds to the lifts.
However the second time on Friday it was much better, perhaps due to end of week ski schools competitions.
Val Gardena is trying to promote Val Gardena Ronda circuit that runs through Ortisei.
There is one drag however: paid ski bus from Alpe Di Siusi to Monte Pana area.
A lovely ski region !

Just back myself on Sunday as well. No major bottlenecks all week - what queues we did encounter tended to move reasonably quickly - well within acceptable ranges for a mid-term week.

Just one observation about with your comment Biki - the bus journey to/from Alpe di Suisi is no ordinary bus trip. The bus uses a forest track through beautiful countryside and is quite a novelty. Yes - it can be very crowded sometimes and uncomfortable if you are standing given the rough terrain covered but worth doing at least once! Incidentally, the few runs, particularly Alpha and Bravo, in the Monte Pana area are amongst my favourites anywhere :thumbup:

This was my 4th trip to the Dolomites and my love affair with the region continues - great skiing, great tours around to the various villages and great value compared to other major areas, especially rip-off France :mrgreen: