Ineedsnow ski holidays blog » innsbruck

Ski touring in 50cm of powder, Innsbruck

mat — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 18:25:20 +0000

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:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhX35ZVZvG4

Innsbruck delivers another top powder day

mat — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:06:12 +0000

Short colds days of powder – image © www.ineedsnow.com

After several days of great skiing around Innsbruck, Axamer Lizum delivered another great powder day, this time under blue skies. With around 20cm of new snow that banked in places, adding to the already impressive off-piste then conditions for early December were excellent. There were few people on the mid-week slopes and so many fresh tracks to be had. Snow is set for the rest of the week and after a cold and reasonably clear weekend the snow is set to return early next week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Nwkc7FR9iY

So many lines on offer – image © www.ineedsnow.com

Powder weekend in Innsbruck

mat — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 12:23:47 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usB2l3OMjiI

After heavy snow last week the transformation from patchy lower slopes to deep powder skiing has been fantastic over this weekend. High above Innsbruck, Axamer Lizum delivered a great powder day on the season opening day, Saturday 5th. Off-piste is never great this early in the season but I was either lucky with the choice of lines or the snow base was better than usual as I only hit 2 rocks, one that sent me over and the other I landed on – slow getting up for sure. In an autumn that has seen bare mountains (particularly in France and Switzerland) the arrival of winter cam very quickly – last week the lower slopes of Axamer Lizum were in a sorry state, this weekend the conditions both on and off-piste have been sensational, one of the best season starts here in Innsbruck for some years, even if it was 2 weeks late.

Heaving snow falling above Innsbruck

mat — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:53:41 +0000

So the Foehn winds stopped finally and as usual the skies opened with a deluge of rain in Innsbruck and snow in all the resorts around Innsbruck. The south and west of Austria is experiencing some very heavy snow and this is set to continue tomorrow and return later in the week after a couple of clear days mid-week. Snow is forecast down to Innsbruck later in the week. This current winter snap is dumping significant amounts of snow in the ski areas, certainly the heaviest falls of the season so far and enough to open many of the resorts for the coming weekend.

Winter arrives with snow down to Innsbruck

mat — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:44:10 +0000

Overnight snow reached as low as Innsbruck whilst the Hintertux Glacier has had a metre of snow over the last few days. Winter is here and the Hintertux Glacier, Stubai Glacier, Kaunertal Glacier, Kitzsteinhorn Glacier, Pitztal Glacier and the Solden Glaciers of Rettenbach and Tiefenbach have all seen heavy snowfall and impressive accumulations. The weather in Austria is set to remain wintry into next week. Conditions on the glaciers tomorrow could be incredible with breaks in the cloud forecast show off the deep powder.

The 6 day overdue Franz Bode Brown means no glacier skiing for a while yet

mat — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:18:22 +0000

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.

Look back at 08/09 likened to a MASH re-run :(

mat — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:49:27 +0000

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.

…and another great shot from a great day…

…..and one last one of mine, from a few weeks ago in Stuben (so no “already seen that” complaints please)

Easter spring skiing has very much arrived in Innsbruck

mat — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 20:08:36 +0000

Plenty of wind, sun and snow in Innsbruck today with great spring skiing conditions. Although the avalanche danger is low at present there have been many slides over the last week or so and several of the connecting pistes have been dissected by avalanches especially between Axamer Lizum and Mutters / Gotzens, high above Innsbruck. For those who enjoy spring conditions then the snow pack is sensational at present and the high pressure pretty sustained here in Innsbruck. For the coming month or so then the glacier skiing around Tirol is very likely to be outstanding. I will be spending much of my time dealing with maternity wards – very exciting if also terrifying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAggW0uqvaE

Axamer Lizum – Schlick 2000 ski link a step closer

mat — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 09:36:31 +0000

Following a council meeting in the Stubai village of Telfes yesterday evening, a majority of the votes are now in favour of proceeding with ski lift connection between Axamer Lizum and Schlick 2000. The combined area would eventually bring together Mutters, Gotzens, Axamer Lizum and Schlick 2000 and complete the biggest ski region in the Innsbruck region. According to locals the project to link the Axamer Lizum and Schlick 2000 ski areas has been under discussion 20 years and deep divisions have existed between the towns of the Stubai valley as to whether to link into the Axamer Lizum ski region. The vote paves the way toward the start of the consultation and financing of the project.

Austrian bar sales slump as the WMD’s take flight

mat — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 09:23:16 +0000

Following a relaxed if enjoyable Skigloo party on the weekend the dice man and his weapons of mass destruction have now left Austria. Bar owners the length of the Tirol are counting the cost of the departure of a man who has in the past been single-handedly capable of keeping local economies afloat. Whilst the dice may have flown, a love massage reminiscent of UK park benches was sentimentally inscribed on the exterior of the Skigloo.