ineedsnow for ski / snowboard holidays
The misery continues for the Austrian men’s downhill racers as Swiss star Didier Cuche took the win at the 71st Hochkrimml men’s downhill race today. What might sooth the local’s was the weather with cold conditions, sun and plenty of fresh snow across the region. You can see the latest snow report from the slopes of the Kitzbuhel Hahnenkamm today:
Fresh overnight snow on the Pitztal Glacier - image © www.ineedsnow.com
So overnight snow on the Pitztal Glacier combined with sunny weather and a cold wind to give superb ski and snowboard conditions. I wasn’t the only one to head to the Pitztal Glacier but there were far fewer skiers than on the weekends and the wide slopes allowed you to feel pretty. Take a look at the video snow report and some ski action from today:
No lifts running meant that the half a metre plus of powder snow was devoured by the local tourers – not a moving lift in sight and also a national holiday in Austria meant this was a great day to be a touring skier. The car park at Axamer Lizum above Innsbruck was half full and there ski tourers were streaming up the mountain – the prize on offer was a drink and snack at the peak followed by some seriously deep powder snow. Yep they had a good day alright. Short video from the skiing today:
Air higher than the mountains - image © www.ineedsnow.com
The weekend saw the opening of the Stubai Glacier Park, the Stubai Zoo. The Stubai Zoo opening featured a huge Park display and competition as well as a snowboard village with all the leading players in the ski and snowboard freestyle market. For those looking for air then the great powder snow conditions were of little consequence – but for the record the snow conditions were outstanding with several days of snow prior to the weekend. You can see a video of the Stubai Zoo opening here:
What a weekend at the Hintertux Glacier with fresh snow last week and then the Betterpark opening festival on the Hintertux Glacier under the mighty Olperer peak. Locals and many from outside the region flocked to the opening weekend jam and festival on the Hintertux Glacier. Conditions on the Hintertux Glacier were great for those on the snow but less good for those over it toward the end of last week (it was snowing) but today the skies were clear offering excellent conditions. All the big names in snowboarding were at the festival including Burton. The Hintertux Glacier offers year-round skiing and snowboarding – check it out some time.
This September just gets better and better. I waded through over half a metre of new snow to get to the Stubai Glacier viewing platform to film the latest video snow report. The amount of snow that has fallen over the last few days was huge – I estimate that there was 50-70cm of new snow on the peak. Conditions on the slopes of the Stubai Glacier were as good as any time of the year and it is still September! More snow is forecast for the coming days – I am guessing October might start with pretty special conditions as well 
Just a few km’s down the road the Stubai Glacier opened yesterday without me – I am deep into an Msc thesis that needs submitting next week and despite the opening and the ‘moderate’ snow fall that the glacier is getting right now I have to remain focused and remember that the skiing here is going on until June next year. Focus, focus, focus…it isn’t working for me 
What a year that was, it started with the chaotic and far from salubrious winter 08/09 opening party and reported on one of the very best winters in many years. The rest of the world was generally awful but the snow came and kept those lucky enough get some of it more sane than would have been. The season opened for us with a powder day at the start of October on the Stubai Glacier and closed with some great Spring skiing on the Hintertux Glacier. Injury free skiing for me for the first time in many winters and the skigloo were a couple of the highlights. And for the coming winter I have become a family skier with the arrival of Josh, so time to learn a whole new way of doing things. Looking forward to every second of it!
One man’s spam is another man’s ham maybe, but how does this pan out when one of the best off-piste ski areas in the Alps gets an improved lift? What happens when an existing ski lift is replaced with a higher capacity lift or terrain previously only accessible on touring skis receives a new lift? A couple of seasons ago my local ski hill in Innsbruck had 2 new gondolas installed. The Mutters and Gotzens ski areas had for several years existed as the preserve for ski tourers, the old lifts had been de-commissioned and the only way up was either on skins or via some routes out of Axamer Lizum. For several years I effectively skied a private ski piste, you would rarely see any other skier on a descent and just a couple making their way up on skins. The arrival of the new lifts brought mixed emotions. Snow cannons, piste markers and numerous piste users replaced the serenity of the area but whilst the negative aspects of this development were clear, the boost to the local area and the joy (yes genuine) at seeing others on the slopes to appreciate the superb terrain and views outweighed all other aspects for me. What must the locals of St Anton be currently thinking? For years the Rendl side of the St Anton ski region was underused and remained a locals’ hangout. For obvious reasons the lift company has invested heavily to increase the convenience and capacity of the lift accessing the Rendl ski region. Mixed emotions for sure with more competition for the famed Rendl powder routes. But St Anton locals, whatever they do are reliant on visitors and to make the visitor experience better can only benefit them and their standard of livings. And remember, at one point in time a lift didn’t exist, what would the previous users of the Rendl have thought when the lift pylons went up for the first time?
rendlbahn built 1974 and with a very 80s logo - image © ineedsnow.com
Built in 1974 the Rendlbahn, St Anton am Arlberg has come to the end of its life and is being replaced by a new system that connects from the heart of St Anton. For 35 years the Rendlbahn has carried skiers and snowboarders to some of the best powder fields in the St Anton ski area. And whilst the iconic yellow cabins have formed a part of St Anton scenery over the decades the time has come to replace the lift.
Valley station 1312m
Top station 2030m
Vertical rise 718m
Route distance 2440m
Max capacity 1300 Persons/hour
Time 12 minutes
Vitally the capacity, speed and age have not kept up with the rest of the St Anton ski region, whilst the most impressive aspect of the new development is the location of the valley lift station of the Rendlbahn that will occupy what is currently the bus terminal in the centre of St Anton. Just as with the relocation of the St Anton train station from the centre of the resort to a location across the river, so the centre of St Anton is going to be shaken up with bus terminal being buried underground and the main lifts hubs of the Galzigbahn and Rendlbahn leaving from the centre of the resort. Work is due to start in June 2009 and should be completed for the start of the 2009/2010 winter.
With a top height of 3250m the Hintertux Glacier is still offering great skiing conditions with blue skies and plenty of snow today. I spent much of the day capturing images and film in the terrain park as well as chasing a ski ballerina – I thought this discipline was long extinct but there he was, a guy in his 60s, resplendent in his one piece suit and glacier glasses performing some staggering tricks on skis. I will edit the video from today as soon as possible and see if I captured any of his moves on film.
There was a great display of freestyle skiing and snowboarding today on the Hintertux Glacier.
Big air Hintertux style – image © ineedsnow.com
The top station of the Hintertux Glacier is located at 3250m ensuring great snow conditions into early summer and from autumn onwards. The Hintertux Glacier actually offers skiing throughout the year.
The Hintertux Glacier top lift station – image © ineedsnow.com
And the viewing platform above the lift station – image © ineedsnow.com
I managed to ride with Matt from the USA again today before he heads over to Vienna and then back to the mid west.
Air Matt – image © ineedsnow.com
Warm weather across the Tirol the last few days produced soft snow on the Stubai Glacier today and whilst the skiing was heavy later in the day, the snow pack up there is still something to behold – over 3m with May drawing to a close. Morning skiing on the glacier is superb with Firn snow offering effortless carving. Following overnight freezing the surface of the glacier is often hard and icy for the first couple of runs and then as the surface melts a wonderful melted depth of granular snow develops. Today I made a few turns with a blogger from Minneapolis, USA – Matt flew into Vienna last night and was on the snow this morning – highly committed! And for those who form stereotypes get this – I, the European had Ribs and chips for lunch and no beer, Matt from the USA took a salad and a beer.
Protective thermal / reflective blankets shield the south facing areas of the Stubai Glacier during the summer months – image © ineedsnow.com
The Stubai Glacier offers year round skiing and snowboarding one of the few places in the Alps to offer this. Remedial work was ongoing this week to protect some of the more exposed and higher areas of the Stubai Glacier from melting due to strong sun and warmer temperatures. The glacier deploys reflective thermal blankets at the upper reaches of the glacier, particularly on the south facing areas in order to preserve a thickness of the glacier that will over time feed the lower areas of the glacier. The north facing side of the Stubai Glacier that comprises the biggest ski area on the Stubai Glacier is open all summer down to the Eisgrat lift station. One thing I would be confident of, there will be one or two more powder days on the Stubai Glacier before mid summer sets in, there always is.
Like the early days of Hewlett-Packard - image © ineedsnow.com
Many of the lifts are now closed over here in Innsbruck although there are a few ski regions that are still open including Ischgl which will be hosting a Kylie concert at the start of May. The glaciers over here are in absolutely superb shape. We had clients recently at the Stubai Glacier and they described the conditions as the best they had ever experienced. For me it is a short break between the end of the season, some glacier skiing and the start of planning for the coming winter. Plans that are currently a bit on hold as I await the arrival of my first child – currently 6 days overdue. The current names in the hat are Franz Bode Brown for a boy and Renate Brown for a girl. During the wait I am designing some new camera accessories that I intend to utilise in the filming of the ski areas over the next year. There are some great online resources that I am currently modifying to fits our needs, I am really hoping for some great results from the new gear.
There have been rumblings of disquiet regarding the look back at some of the images from the 08 / 09 winter. More precisely the blog entries have been compared to a re-run of MASH in terms of allure. Apologies for that, although I would quote the wordsmith Pat Butcher in this case “bit ‘arsh innit?” Ever one to keep the blog readers happy I will draw this theme to a close with three images that I think are worthy of a show. One I took and the other 2 were the work of a skiing obsessed Swede. I have to confess that he has the beating of my image in my opinion but I will let all you MASH fans be the final judge of that.
Ok, firstly the images taken by Petteri Koste. I was at Axamer Lizum, Innsbruck the same day as Petteri but whilst he took a series of shots that I rate as some of the very best I have seen, I moved between a plate of spare ribs and a few powder routes. You can find more of these at Petteris’ youtube channel.
© www.snurt.se
…and another great shot from a great day…
© www.snurt.se
…..and one last one of mine, from a few weeks ago in Stuben (so no “already seen that” complaints please)
I did those – image © ineedsnow.com
For anyone else ruing the end of another winter season there is some solace – autumn glacier skiing. Why wait until Christmas to start skiing again – this picture was taken on the 5th October 2008, with great powder skiing on offer after several days of snow. The crowds were really absent as well making for a really sensational day of powder at the Stubai Glacier.
Powder the first week in October – image © ineedsnow.com