Where to Ski And Snowboard -

All white in Ischgl

12th March 2011, by Chris Gill

Idalp, Saturday 5 March

After spending a couple of big days in the Arlberg which have been dutifully documented by web editor Wendy King, I went off to refresh editorial acquaintance with some other key resorts in western Austria – first, Ischgl.

Ischgl is a place I love to visit, but am always quite happy to leave. For a late Austrian holiday, there are few places to beat it, other than glaciers – valley runs apart, the skiing is all above 1800m, which is the top height of some Austrian resorts. The terrain is nicely varied. And the lift system is one of the best, with a huge number of fast, detachable chair lifts. What’s not to like?

Well, the bottom line is that I don’t feel at home in the village, which strikes me as a kind of glitzy battery-farm for skiers. Every inch of ground is built on. I get some of the same sensation up at Idalp, the mid-mountain plateau that is covered by buildings and lifts. And people. It’s all a bit intense. But your mileage may vary, as the Americans say – you might warm to it more than I do.

Our day skiing here (a week ago on Saturday 5 March) was not perfect – the shady steeper slopes were unpleasantly hard – but it was pretty good, with everything open and completely snow-covered. The thin cloud that we had on earlier days in the Arlberg was replaced by clear blue, and despite crowds in the busier areas we were able to find plenty of space on the more remote pistes. The highlight being a piste towards Samnaun, over the border in Switzerland, that was signposted higher up the hill as closed but actually was open, freshly groomed and deserted. Magic.

Following our usual policy of skiing village runs early in the day, we went on down the lovely secluded run to Samnaun and took the giant double-decker cable car back to Alp Trida, before a good lunch at the smart, modern Salaas on the Swiss side of the area. Then it was back to the Austrian side, for the first of two runs down the lovely, almost lift-free Velliltal. Led by an instructor, we worked our way down the valley off-piste on the shady south side, finding quite a few short powder pitches as well as the expected chopped-up snow.

Later in the afternoon, we carved down the piste on the floor of the same valley and on down to join one of the infamous red runs to the village. That run more than lived up to its reputation, littered with nervous skiers struggling to keep control on the rock-hard snow, and inconsiderate “expert” skiers slicing through the crowds without giving any thought to control. A nightmare.

Next, Obergurgl, coming shortly.

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