A good place when it has good snow
This was our group holiday and that brings a different flavour to the holiday. It is certainly more testing on resorts ability to please every type of skier. Our group consisted of timid intermediates to adventurous (early) advanced skiers. In St Anton we had so much fun in ski school that we wanted everyone to go into ski school. Surprisingly this was quite difficult to do. Several of the party seem to consider ski school as a criticism of their ability to ski, but we eventually did manage to persuade everyone to go into ski school, mostly be cause we too were planning to take ski school or a guide. We decided that since Jim was having problems with an old injury that it was prudent to take a day free skiing to see if it could hold up to the rigours of off-piste skiing.
Jim had no problems the next day but we were quite disappointed in the piste conditions. In Alpbach itself the roads were quite icy but the fields were mostly green rather than white (the exception being where there was artificial snow facilities but it was too warm to use these most nights). We tried out the snow "beside the piste" and found it to be heavy and quite crusty. We decided that off-piste was not a real option. There was also a clear avalanche problem due to the heat. We did feel a little that we had unintentionally conned the others but, it has to be said, they all needed ski school. It is interesting to note that Jane, who had only had a few years skiing, but always in ski school, is technically the second best skier of the group, whereas some others who have been skiing much longer are progressing much slower. It also has to be said that Jim and I took every one of our first twelve weeks holidays in ski school, and several after. This has no doubt helped rapid progress and brings special rewards - even if one does have to do ski school races!
The first day Kevin and Jane went into ski school and Richard and Steve came skiing with us. Steve had many difficulties in the beginning as did we all. I think the fact that we had overdone the beer the night before didn't help. Steve abandoned us after one run. Richard did stay with us all day but we did test his nerve a little. He also fell off the lift on the black run (and didn't live it down all week). The next day they both went into ski school. This left the three of us to pick our way through the bare patches and the slush. For the early part of the week it was very hot and it felt more like June than mid March. On several occasions we had to take off our skis and walk over mud and roads that had absolutely no cover. On one occasion we were skiing down a small river - under water. If you stopped the water flowing down the river was in danger of climbing over your boots - not a very comfortable situation but a stimulating one - none of us fell here - thank goodness. On Wednesday however the weather changed dramatically and it finally started to snow properly. It was raining at the very bottom but as soon as the sun went down this turned into snow. The fair weather skiers soon went into the restaurants and gave up for the day. This left the pistes empty for the dedicated powder hounds - like us. Thursday was snow all day. We were in seventh heaven. The pistes were more-or-less empty, the off piste was transformed into absolute bliss. Visibility was very poor and more than once we dropped off something that we simply hadn't seen. We had to be very careful off-piste. In the trees however it was a different story and we had a ball. It was one of those dream days where the piste had enough new snow on them that one could ski 18" of powder on piste! This makes it very forgiving and a total joy. Towards evening the snow let up and the next day was beautiful and sunny. There was some great powder still to be found even after lunch. There were not many snowboarders in Alpbach and this meant that there was enough powder snow for everyone. This last day everybody abandoned ski school and we all skied together. It gave Jim a chance to show-off and all those that had been in ski school to show us what they had learnt. It was amazing how much they had come on. In particular Richard and Jane really seemed to have benefited. Since the morning was so wonderful (fresh powder and sunshine) we initially split into two groups. Richard, Steve, Kevin and Jane stayed on the now perfect pistes while Jim, Michelle and I found some untracked powder next to the piste. There were very few skiers skiing the off piste and I must offer a special thanks to Tom Johnston in Geneva for his advice. It certainly does pay to ski a small relatively easy resort, that does not attract powder skiers when the conditions are like that.
Earlier in the week we had skied the ski route back to InnerAplbach and had noted that there was always an easy way down (albeit a road). This seemed like a good idea since the more adventurous skiers could take the more direct and much steeper deeps snow route and those that felt less audacious could use the road. Unfortunately, we hadn't reckoned with the earlier skiing. We had skied a lot of runs earlier in the day and the legs were tired. Few people had the inclination or strength to ski more difficult conditions. We had many problems coaxing some of the team down this run and Kevin in particular had leg fatigue problems. To his credit although he was clearly mad with himself he kept in good spirits all the way. It took us over and hour to do this 9km run, but we did enjoy the beer at the restaurant at the bottom.
The resort is small compared to the places we normally ski and it was certainly not impossible to ski every run more than once in a day (although we never did). The few black runs that are there are not very testing but there is some great near the piste and off piste skiing to be found. The village of Alpbach is a bus ride from the skiing and is on the south side of the valley. This has the benefit that the village is pleasantly sunny and warm whereas the skiing is on the north side and sees less sun. The bottom station is in fact about 200 metres lower than the village. On the negative side it does mean that everyone has to take the bus to get to the skiing and the first bus is not until after nine o'clock. This was more than an hour after daybreak and we did find this annoying after it had snowed.
Apres ski was noticeably quiet, even for a British resort. The restaurant at the bottom of the gondelstation was never very busy and since the last bus back to Alpbach village was at five o'clock there was no real chance to get going before it was time to leave. In the resort the Birdy Bar (Post Hotel) was quite good and the umbrella bar at the bottom of the floodlight nursery slope (the only skiing that did not involve a bus) was often busy even when we were going back to our rooms. Alpbach seems to be popular with families judging by the number of children in the resort and this may have impacted the apres ski. It is certainly cheap. There are several disco bars in town but none were really busy but we did have one or two late nights (but I don't remember where we had been - must have been good).
Richard was quite well behaved this year and restricted his activities to groping females rather than trying to undress them. This may be a result of his domestic situation or it may be a sign that he's getting older. Kevin was his normal boisterous self but kept under control (mostly) by his wife Jane - who is going to get lots of birthday presents!
All in all our opinion of Alpbach was totally changed after it snowed. Up until that point it seemed like we would have to make the best of a bad decision but after it snowed the area appeared to be much improved and we really started to enjoy it. We probably won't go back because the place is so small but that doesn't really do it justice. It has much to offer and I would recommend it to most beginners and intermediate skiers. It is only the more advanced skier that will find the area restricting. It has to be said that we did not really explore the off piste opportunities and it is possible that this can offer the expert skier more of a challenge.
You can email you comments and
reports to us here.
© 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999
