This winter I decided 2 ski weeks weren’t enough. I mean… I’d had to miss skiing during the entire pandemic. I had some making up to do. Unfortunately I only have so many holidays, so I settled for a long weekend in Austria. On Thursday we took the train via Munich to Zell am See, with a return on Sunday afternoon. We had 2,5 days and 3 ski fields to choose from. The ski area at Zell am See, Schmittenhöhe, is not that big, so the ski pass also included skiing at Kaprun and Saalbach-Hinterglemm-Leogang. It was really more than we could cover in 3 days, but we managed to explore all of it a little bit.
On Friday we were at the rental shops when they opened and we geared up. It was pretty warm and I was already sweating before I even had the skis. We went up the City Xpress and decided to take the blue run down to warm up and get into it. The snow was a mix of rock hard ice and slush and the run mostly zigzagged down like a road. It was the end of the season and they’d scraped together what snow was left so that people could make it to the bottom. Once we got back up we decided to get a bit higher via the Hirschkogel-Express and Breiteckbahn. Unfamiliar with the resort and getting our ski legs back, we skied down the same side of the mountain a few times, before we made our way down on the Areit side to take the bus to Kaprun. Kaprun being a glacier, we expected better snow conditions.
I guess the conditions were a bit better, but the crowds were much worse too! It took a long time to actually get up to the ski area and we crossed a big valley in the gondola, offering great views of the Alps. There were some nice runs, but you had to watch out for the many other skiers and the runs were relatively short. In Kaprun you can also visit the top of Salzburg though. The Kitzsteinhorn is 3029m high and you have a fantastic view over the surrounding mountains. Binoculars showed what we were looking at, even in the direction of Berlin. You can’t ski down from up there, so a little funicular takes guests up and down to the viewpoint. I enjoyed the sun, my first Kaiserschmarrn in a long time and the mountains, but by the end of the day I still hadn’t found my ski legs and I seemed to stumble down the last slope. It was pathetic! And, surprising that I made it down in one piece.
With Kaprun done and a full day ahead of us, we crossed the Schmittenhöhe in Zell am See to go to Leogang and join the slopes of the skicircus on Saturday. It was a beautiful day but the temperatures were way too hot for skiing. A lot of the slopes were already slushy in the morning, but occasionally it didn’t matter and we found a little gem. We went all the way from top to bottom a few times, finding challenging slush moguls on the way. But the stretches that were good, were fantastic! We sat in the sun at a hut, enjoying typical Austrian ski food like lentil stew. We slowly crossed the ski area, making a big circle around Saalbach. We didn’t stop until the lifts closed. The last run was a killer though. It was a super long blue run, which had turned into a black run due to the crazy amount of moguls. Add some tired legs and you’ve got a killer combo. My feet were burning in my boots and the relief when I hit the bottom and unclipped the buckles was blissful. Tired from the day we couldn’t wait to get to the hotel, but unfortunately we missed the bus, because there were two stops and we were waiting at the wrong one. It only went once an hour, so we waited as the sun sank behind the mountains. What a huge day!
Sunday was a mini-day and we took it easy. We enjoyed exploring Zell am See’s Schmittenhöhe a bit better. The conditions were again a mix of super packed ice, conveniently on the steep runs, and slushy moguls. But we found one run under the Hochmaisbahn that was absolutely perfect. We flew down the almost empty slope and I got to feel again why I love skiing. The few runs down there made the morning a success. Satisfied we brought back our rentals and enjoyed the sunshine and a last meal of Kaiserschmarrn in town. Zell am See seemed ready for summer. I thoroughly enjoyed this little town. Having 3 ski areas to choose from was nice, although it takes a bit of effort to get to Kaprun and Saalbach-Hinterglemm. It was great for a weekend trip and I hope to be back some time.
