A jewel of skiing
12th January 2013 | James Cove, Ski Juwel
Last modified on March 18th, 2022
A new linked ski area has been created in the Austrian Tirol as Alpbach links up with the resorts in the Wildschonau. It has taken 11 years of heated debate as change happens rather slowly in this part of Austria. PlanetSKI reports from the Ski Juwel.
“Actually it has not just been raining here in Niederau, but it has been pouring down with rain for three days. We have never seen anything quite like it and it has washed away much of the snow,” said the head of the Wildschonau Tourist Board, Michael Unger, as I met up with him on my first afternoon’s skiing.
It was a refreshingly honest assessment.
I could see with my own eyes what the snow was like and had already spoken to a few local people about conditions but often, as a ski writer, I am not always told the facts exactly as they are.
As I skied around the new linked area the following days this honesty was reflected across the Ski Juwel. It is not trying to oversell itself with hype, flashy marketing and gimmicks. It is traditional, quaint, beautiful, genuine. And honest.
This is not the huge, purpose-built money making machine that some of the mega linked areas of the Alps have become; squeezing as much out of the winter tourists in the shortest possible time seems to be the sole pursuit of some.
Not so here in the Tirol; hospitality is a way of life.
Many ski instructors are farmers in the summer and most people seem to do at least four jobs. We had a ski instructor show us around the slopes one day and in the evening we bumped into her at dinner as she wore the different uniform of Tirolean national costume and worked as a waitress serving dinner in a former Benedictine monastery, The Kellerwirt Inn, in Oberau.
It has run by the same family since the 18th century.
In the villages and valleys everyone knows each other and change is not always welcome; the status quo is rather enjoyed.
But however quaint the traditions may be in this part of the Tirol the ski areas of Alpbach and Wildschonau realised they needed to compete with the outside world in order to survive.
Without investment in lifts and the creation of a larger ski area it was feared guests would drift away.
Over the past 11 years the people of Alpbachtal (Alpbach and InnerAlpbach) and Wildschonau (Auffach, Niederau and Oberau) came to the conclusion that they must be able to compete with the larger ski areas and that meant they needed a new linking lift to create a larger ski area.
Size matters.
The new lift has cost €13.5m but that is just the half of it. The cost in time as the villagers argued about it has been considerable.The mayor of Alpbach, reflecting the views of some locals, did not want to as they thought it would alter the character of the historic Tirolean village and its ski area.
In the end the modernisers won and a new area with 145kms of piste has been created. It has 23 blue runs, 29 reds and 11 blacks. A daily lift pass is just €39 and it is the 7th largest ski area in the Tirol. There are now 29 mountain restaurants. The lift takes 11 minutes to ride.
A year of negotiation for every minute of the journey.
Albach is a long-time favourite of the British with good beginner and intermediate slopes and some challenging slopes at the top of the resort. It oozes Tirolean charm with its strict building controls and slower pace of life.
At the opposite geographical end of the Ski Juwel is Niederau with its charming village and family-friendly slopes.
If you are after the steep ‘n’ deep terrain of the other linked areas in the Alps then perhaps look elsewhere. If you want Austrian charm with some decent slopes at an affordable price then take another look at the Ski Juwel area.
Personally I liked it surprises and quirkiness.
Where else would you see a ski school head office like Toni’s in Auffach?
Anyone seem a better ski school office?
Where else would you see a single-seat chairlift that is still in service?
Allbeit only at busy times towards the end of the season.
Sense of history
Where else do you see so many T-bars?
But no-one sees to mind and they are probably the best type of lift for the gentle blue runs of the Tirolean alpine meadows.
Fit for purpose
Where else do you see kids able to have the afternoon off school to go skiing?
And then of course there are the small après ski bars that everyone floods into at the end of the day.
It simply doesn’t happen in France.
The prices of lunch up the mountain, ski hire and drinks is more than acceptable.
“We used to come to Austria many years ago but since then have been skiing mainly in France. This is our first time back and we think it is wonderful with great skiing, true hospitality and prices that don’t make us cringe,” said British skier, Wendy Jeffery. I happened to sit next to her at lunch at the Gipfohit Lodge and have rarely met a person so happy with her choice of ski resort.
So what about the snow?
It is low with the villages between 800m and I,000m but the skiing goes up to 1,903m on north facing slopes.
Most of the skiing is on grassy meadows rather than rocks so not as much snow is needed to cover the slopes. In the last few years the snow levels have been excellent and Austria has seen some of the best snow in the Alps.
The rain received shortly before our arrival quickly turned to snow and as we had a final couple of hours on our departure day before leaving at lunchtime it was chucking it down with over-sized snowflakes at an altitude of 846m.
Kids were hurtling down the nursery slopes, a few locals travelling at excessive speed in the slightly old-fashioned Austrian ski style before all the tourists arrived later in the day.
There was snow dripping for the trees and a chocolate box Tirolean village nestling on the valley floor.
I felt relaxed with my batteries re-charged.
A ski holiday how it was. And how should be.
Tirolean charm
Next week James Cove will be back in the Tirol but at the other end of the spectrum.
The hedonistic party town of St Anton where the skiing is both steep and deep. It is his first visit for 18 years.
FACT BOX
James Cove travelled with CrystalSKI that offer a week’s half-board at the Hotel Sonnschein in Niederau for £575. The price includes flights and transfers. For further details see here.
For further information on the Ski Juwel area see here and for more information about the whole of the Tirol then check out the region’s web site.
For the spirit of the mountains
