Recommendations for ski virgins

AllyG wrote:Hi Coop,
I'm glad you found my comments helpful.

Strangely enough, although I haven't been to many ski resorts, I have been to both Obergurgl and Kaprun.

I picked Obergurgl because we were going the first week in Jan, i.e. the first week back at school, which tends to be a very cheap week, and I wanted to make sure there would be plenty of snow, plus my eldest daughter wasn't very well and I wanted to be able to find a hotel next to the gondola where she could see the ski-ing out of the window in case she wasn't well enough to ski herself. There aren't many other Austrian resorts where you are practically guaranteed to be able to ski back to the hotel. We stayed at the hotel Crystal.

Like all resorts I suppose, Obergurgl has good and bad points. It seems to cater specially for the wealthy middle classes who like very comfortable hotels with good food, and a smallish resort where they can safely let their teenage kids ski around without worrying that they're going to stray into another valley and be unable to get back because the lifts shut, or become lost. So there seemed to be lots of families who go there year after year.

If you have unlimited money the best hotel is the one right in the centre of the village, by the ski school meeting point (I'm afraid I've forgotten what it's called). We met some people we vaguely knew who were staying there, and they were a hospital consultant's family.

The rest of the hotels are clustered around the road that goes through the village, and there is a free ski bus to take you to the lifts and the ski school meeting point. My younger daughter was 13 at the time, and had been on 2 ski holidays before, and she reckoned the ski school was marvellous. She had a young lady teacher who seemed to have been born on skis, and she took her little group of kids around like young ducklings down the blues, and by the end of the week they were very happily ski-ing down reds. The only thing she didn't like is that at lunch time they bring the kids back to the resort so they can have lunch with their parents.

It was my first high altitude resort, and I'm afraid it scared me a little. Nearly all the runs are above the tree level, and in fog or blizzard conditions it's very frightening because you don't know where you are. If you are in lessons it's O.K. because the teachers know where they are, and you all stay together, but I wasn't in lessons. The people sitting next to us at dinner skied into really thick fog one day, and couldn't see anything at all. I would have been completely terrified, but they managed to get back O.K.

You can also get a gondola over to Hochgurgl and either ski back, or ski down to Untergurgl and get the free shuttle back (we did that one day).

I would think that probably the week we went, at the beginning of Jan, is the best one to go to Obergurgl, because it's cheap and not crowded. They have a very good snow record.

I have also been to Zell am See, and had a day at Kaprun, which is the neighbouring resort, linked by ski pass and free shuttle buses. I much preferred Zell am See. It's much lower down, with plenty of trees, and a beautiful lake, and it's a large town so there are lots of shopping/town type activities to do. There were plenty of mountain restaurants with good food, and you could easily and safely ski all round the resort without worrying about getting lost. The kids ski school was really good, and they had lunch out on the slopes in the mountain restaurants.

The only slightly bad thing about it is that most of the hotels are in the town and you have to walk, or get the shuttle bus, to the gondola, to get up to the ski school meeting place, although I think if you're quick you can rent lockers at the gondola so you don't have to carry all your ski stuff. 6 year olds aren't generally very good at carrying their own skis and poles on and off buses. And there are a few hotels up on the slopes.

I admit I didn't go to the learners slopes at Kaprun, so I have no idea what they're like. We went up the gondola and on to the bowl-like glacier. Here it was all white and very disorientating and very high. All you could see, apart from other skiers, were the thin black lines of all the ski lifts, criss-crossing the white snow. And I couldn't stop laughing because I got mild altitude sickness. In the restaurant it seemed like everything was moving up and down, like when you get off a boat if you've been at sea for a long time. And apparently, if it's windy, they shut the gondola, so there's no ski-ing up on the glacier.

If it was me, I'd much rather go to Zell am See, and go a little later, e.g. in Feb (but not half term). If the snow is poor you could always go and ski at Kaprun, and I should think the beginners slopes would be O.K. at Zell because of the artificial snow. I suppose you could check the snow record. Going ski-ing is always a bit of a gamble, because you can't predict the weather, or the snow fall.

We stayed at the four star Heitzmann hotel in Zell, and we still talk about how good the food was. At the time, they did free child places, and Airtours did one child skis for free, so it wasn't an expensive holiday.

Next Feb half-term we are going to Courchevel ourselves, and staying in a cheap self-catering apartment close to the slopes and the gondola. I want to ski in trees again, because I'm sick of treeless high altitude resorts. I am hoping we get plenty of snow, but I'm fairly confident that their snow making capacity will mean we have something to ski on, even if it's not real snow.

Ally

AllyG wrote:Ian,
What cheek! You mean my essay style has returned?

Actually, I'm very busy today, thank you. We are booked all the way through to September with both holiday cottages, I've just been in to town to get the ironing (I'm having it done professionally now, at 70 pence per duvet cover or whatever), we've got a T.B. test on the cattle in an hour, and I've got plenty of paperwork and cleaning to do in our own house, plus gardening when it stops raining.

Aren't you supposed to be packing? And looking for a cat?

Ally