Tales From the Tirol

5th March 2022

We arrived a week ago in Obergurgl for an interview with the GB slalom skier, Dave Ryding.

We were offered a private tour of the Top of the Mountain Motorcylce museum with co-founder Attila Schieber and grabbed it with both hands.

Now we’re on the road.

Meandering around the resorts at will, doing and posting about whatever we fancy.

This weekend it’s cross-country skiing in Seefeld, and then skiing in Kappl.

Kappl is often overshadowed but its more famous neighbour, Ischgl.

PlanetSKI’s chief reporter, Jane Peel, has been there and sings its praises.

I have only passed through the village on a bus so I’m looking forward to skiing its slopes.

On Friday we slipped into the resort of Lermoos in the Zugspitz arena.

Friday 4th March

It is the main ski area of the Zugspitz Arena that lies on the German border and near the biggest resort in Germany,  Garmish Partenkerchen.

The Zugspitz Arena is home to a number of ski areas including Ehrwalder, Marienberg and  Lermoos/Biberweir.

On their own there are nothing to write home about.

Put them together in this stunning natural setting then it is a different matter altogether.

Watching over proceedings at all times is the mighty Zugspitz mountain.

Lermoos used to be hugely popular with the British, but those days are long since gone as the Brits headed to France and other resorts with bigger ski areas and faster lifts.

And that is the current attraction of Lermoos – it remains as it was, though the lifts are certainly better.

It is now hugely popular with the Dutch, Belgians and Germans.

We didn’t hear a single British voice on our visit, though we did get to speak some English as two elderly German women started chatting to us in the gondola.

“We come here a lot on day trips from Munich as it so close and have been doing so for years. It is such a treasure.

“There used to be many English but you are the first ones we have seen in a while. It is strange you do not come anymore.

“Keep your eyes open for the views and don’t just stare at the slopes ahead as you will then be missing something,” were their parting words.

They were right.

The slopes were packed with children skiing.

It is a joy to see the next generations coming through, and I thought how it stood in contrast to so many other areas in Austria that have many middle-aged people staying in 4* hotels.

Lermoos is altogether more genuine.

There few designer ski suits worn on the slopes, but plenty of cheaper and practical attire.

And the skiing?

It starts at 1,000m and goes up to  2,060m so there is a decent vertical descent.

Many of the runs are red and blue pistes through the trees, with views of that mountain.

There are a few people out snowshoeing too.

Lermoos is well worth a visit if you are in the area just to sample a more simple ski area, where time slips slowly by.

And all in the most fabulous mountain setting.

Our elderly German ladies in the gondola were right.

Yesterday it was perhaps the exact opposite experience at one of the most famous ski resorts in the world, St Anton.

Thursday 3rd March

St ANTON am ARLBERG

PlanetSKI has now moved round to St Anton as we tour some of the finest resorts in the Tirol.

The weather has not changed much as our editor, James Cove, ponders which is the best linked ski area in the Alps.

The most important photograph we took today was this one in Warth-Shrocken as we skied the whole of the mighty Arlberg ski area.

Here are a few other images of our Arlberg experience today.

Whether it is, or is not, your favourite linked ski area in the Alps, it is perhaps the most stunning.

The off piste was not so tempting – all skied out.

We stuck to the pistes.

Which was good as we had a route to stick to with the clock ticking, so no powder temptation was probably for the best.

Then we did it all again in reverse and shorty after 4pm we were back in St Anton.

Time for a beer in PlanetSKI’s favourite bar in St Anton – The Underground.

Cheers!

We are remaining in the Tirol for much of March.

Next week are the GB ski tests in Khutai and we’ll be putting a few of next season’s ski through their paces.

We also want to hit the glacier resort of Kaunertal to see what it offers for late season skiing.

Then we’re planning on heading east in the Tirol to St Johann.

Then it’s then some of the resorts in the big, linked ski areas of the Ski Welt and the Ski Juwel.

Mostly though we will be enjoying the Tirol and will be keeping our eyes open for surprises on the way and trying got report of reflect on this fabulous part of the Alps.

We were based in Innsbruck for three and half months in the season of 2018/19 so in a way it simply feels like coming home for PlanetSKI.

This article was originally published by Planetski.eu. Read the original article here.