alan little’s weblog
Bad Hofgastein ☆☆☆☆
9th January 2009 permanent link
| Times visited: | four |
| Last visited: | January 2009 |
| Rating: | Very good |
End of a week's family holiday in Bad Hofgastein. The local mountain, Schossalm / Hohe Scharte, is a very good ski area. Good snow at the moment, especially higher up – the mountain is a concave bowl, and so seems to have held the snow better than the neighbouring Stubnerkogel. The slopes seem to get more sunshine too. Spectacular high mountain scenery.
Big area, lots to do, especially long & challenging red runs – the Hohe Scharte Nord, allegedly the longest pisted run in the eastern Alps, is way more interesting than the similar-length valley run at Stubai, and passes through some spectacular scenery at the top. Looks like there would be lots of good off-piste given a decent fall of snow. Family-friendly blue runs below the treeline are mostly Skiwege (forest roads in summer), not ideal for snowboarding but mostly wide enough, and good enough snow, to be ok. My two not-quite-beginner-any-more skiers like them.
The valley run to Bad Hofgastein village, though, is a scraped-bare icy nightmare in its lower reaches. Don’t bother until it snows again.
Lots of Russians – not just my two – here this week (Orthodox Christmas on Tuesday), but generally not too crowded as most of the New Year’s week Germans, Brits and Dutch have gone home.
related entries: Snowboarding
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