Tell me all about Ellmau.....

Me and ski oppo Gordon are off there for a week at the end of Jan., and I would like some info on Ellmau. Staying a little out of town up a piste (Hotel Schonblick) so we'll be wobbling home up hill of an evening, I should guess....

Hi Dobby. As I am sure you know Ellmau is part of the very large Skiwelt area. I love the area but usually stay in Soll when visiting so cant help you with info on the village. Soll offers better apres ski (I think). The skiing is primarily on-piste with a vast number of runs - over 100 according to the piste map. However, the runs do tend to be relatively short but with lots of variety. It is interesting to traverse the ski domain and does give you a nice sense of going on a journey. Worth heading out to the margins to get away from the crowds, if there are any!

A couple of stand out runs that I can recall are 1,2 and 2a located near the Hohe Salve mountain. These are two reds and a black are usually quiet and in the right conditions can allow for some seriously fast cruising.

A day over in Westendorf is also worth doing. Most of the skiing over there is not too taxing but the run to the valley can be very tricky, even unpleasant if conditions are poor. Its rated Red but I would regard it really as a Black.

Overall, it is a great area and good value too. Lunch, beers, etc, all very reasonable. The tiroler Grostl (or something like that) is great ski lunch fare - basically fried potatoes and chopped up beef and ham with a fried egg on top.

Thanks, Wanderer. The Grostl sounds just the thing for lunch. I'll keep an eye out for that. We definitely will be trying to get out to the different villages.

....And if you have a sweet tooth for a change one lunchtime I would suggest the Kaiserschmarrn. Very nice !

ellmau is small and quiet but a handy taxi or bus run to soll. nice home runs to ellmau but id head to soll after ski and hit some great apres bars, hexenalm near bottom station in soll or into village to salvenstadl or loads more\!loads of great wee mountain bars too btw!!

Try sheffau bowl that's a nice area as well I've had some tremendous ski holidays in ski welt I think you can get to kitzbuhel from the Westendorf side the area has increased over the years enjoy

Interesting point about the Skiwelt. It wasn't too many years ago all the villages had only their own lifts. Then they got their act together, installed top of mountain links, et voila, a large ski area.

Have a look at the Allstar ski pass. You can ski over to Brixental, then with a bit more skiing and a transfer bus, you can be skiing in Kitzbuhel. I agree Westendorf is a lovely ski area.

I recall a few years back, I drove to Kitz, skied and watched the Hahnemkamm Downhill practice, drove to Westendorf, skied most of the afternoon, then nipped back to Niederau and had the last run down!

Finally, the Skiwelt has, arguably, the world's worst piste map. I once skied there with Admin for a day, and of course we kept getting lost. I blamed him!

Love love the ski welt! Been going for many years. Seriously difficult to read piste map so always allow good time to get back to where you need to be before the last lifts. There is a lovely Hut on the descent into Ellmau village. One of my favourite runs.Make sure you venture over to Going on the rickety chair lift. Going to miss it this year as we are trying France for the first time