Saalbach - Only with good snow conditions
2014 – Saalbach itself is a nice village with a car-free main street. The main lifts are all close to the city center, but
There is about 270 km of slopes
- 140 km are easy (blue)
- 112 km are moderate (red)
- 18 km are difficult (black)
Limited flexibility
We started daily with the SchattbergX-press as our material was stored in that building. What we read upfront about the ski area was correct. You can’t really make your own tours. You are forced to always start with the same slopes in order to get somewhere. Off course that is always a bit the case, but we prefer resorts where you have more flexibility and can go easily in multiple directions. So we ended up mostly taking slope 2b towards Schönleitenbahn to get back up the hill and follow anti clockwise in the direction of Hinterglemm. If you don’t follow certain direction, you end up where there are no lifts and then you have to walk. That’s why you see a lot of people crossing the village with their ski’s on their shoulder. You can avoid it, but then you are lose some freedom.
Altitude
We selected Saalbach on its reputation and booked the hotel a couple of months up front. We didn’t pay that much attention on the altitude of the village, which is only around 1000 meters and the highest slopes nearly go over 2000 meters. Around 2014 there were a few years were snow was scarce. When we arrived on Friday and wanted to hit the slopes on Saturday it was a huge disappointment. They were not prepared and the quality was terrible. We heard they did not prepare the slopes due to lack of snow. Don’t know if that is true or not. As of lunch the quality of the lowest slopes was even worse. It became melted snow. And if you know that all slopes are between 1000-2000 meters, you often have to go down.
That night we got about 40 centimeter of snow and it felt quite late, making that the bulls could not prepare the slopes. So on Sunday the slopes were again not prepared and covered with enormous amounts of fresh snow. It was very difficult to snow. As of day 3, when the slopes were prepared, it was better, but towards the end of the week, quality reduced again, and it was becoming again melted snow on the lower areas.
If we ever go to Saalbach again, it would be last minute, when we know there is enough snow, for the entire week.
We found this little pension on the internet and there were only 6 rooms available, of which we booked 3 rooms. So half of the hotel was ours 🙂 The hosts were very friendly and the breakfast was great. It is in the city center and it’s about 300 meter walk to the big elevator. From the hotel you can reach everything quickly. Back then the room maybe was a bit out-dated, but I have the impression when I look at the booking site that the rooms are completely renewed in meanwhile.
