No snow?
There was plenty
where I was!
Notes from my diary last winter: Who says
there’s no snow in the Alps? It’s been piling up
this week in the Ötztal Valley, the home of
two of Austria’s highest and best-known
resorts, Obergurgl and Sölden. A foot or
more fell by Wednesday, and according
to one jubilant phone call I received
Jonathan Arneil looks back on
a typical Obergurgl winter
after returning home to the UK, ‘it’s
still snowing!’.
Obergurgl is the highest parish
in Austria. And one of Austria’s most
snow-sure locations - even in a winter
like the last one, when ‘mother nature’
was a little mean-spirited and didn’t deliver
much in the way of good snow in the Alps.
Obergurgl’s altitude was not lost on Walter Ingham,
the founder of Inghams’ tour operation. He brought his first party
of skiers to the Ötz Valley in 1934 after placing an advert in The Times. It
said: “Private Party to Ski the Tyrol - 14 days for 12 guineas.” Ingham had
been working as a salesman for Remington typewriters. "Very soon," he
wrote – or maybe typed – "I found that selling typewriters gave no job
satisfaction and no skiing."
The resort is as far as you can get in winter along the Ötz valley,
a 40-mile-long gash separating the Ötztal Alps from the Stubai Alps,
which branches off from the A 12 Motorway 31 miles from Innsbruck.
It was high above this valley, just 100 yards across the Italian border,
that Europe's oldest natural human mummy ‘Ötzi the iceman’, who
lived 5,300 years ago, was discovered in a retreating glacier by German
tourists 20 years ago. Some six miles into the valley, Ötz itself has a
delightful bijou ski resort of its own. But the ‘real’ skiing begins almost 20
miles further up the valley at Sölden, where Europe’s World Cup skiing
season traditionally starts: each October men’s and women’s giantslaloms attract some of the best skiers in the world as they battle it out
in front of animated crowds of ski-hungry spectators looking forward to
getting back on skis themselves. From here it’s almost another 10 miles
before you finally reach Obergurgl.
None of Obergurgl/Hochgurgl’s 68 miles of piste are on a glacier, but
transportation back to Obergurgl for skiers
the resorts are so high that good natural snow is virtually guaranteed, with
who have overdone the schnapps - or are
wall-to-wall snowmaking on occasional standby duty.
simply not keen on skiing down in the twilight,
All the runs are above the tree-line, and most are satisfyingly
even though the restaurant has erected
steep enough to keep intermediates and even advanced skiers and
floodlights to help you find your way home.
snowboarders happy. There’s plenty for beginners too. At this altitude, with
“If you don’t feel able to go back to the village by yourself” says Rudi,
skiing up to 10,100ft, things can get a bit draughty in the depths of winter,
“we will be glad to drive you down from 5pm.”
but there are plenty of mountain restaurants where you can sneak an
But it seems a shame to leave when you’re having such fun. The
early Glühwein or hot chocolate with rum, perhaps returning later for lunch
same goes for Obergurgl itself. Especially when the weather forecast is:
and even après ski. At the Downhill Grill, at the bottom of the Hochgurgl
more snow!
gondola, the menu suggests “if you like you can grill yourself”.
Jonathan Arneil was a guest of Inghams, which offers a
If you manage the legendary bump run down from the Hohe Mut
selection of three and four-star hotels in Obergurgl/Hochgurgl.
Alm (a restaurant with a sunbathing terrace and a panoramic view of 21
He stayed at the four-star Crystal Hotel. For more information
peaks) down to the Nederhütte, this establishment promises to “rock
and bookings visit
you to the limit” from 4pm onwards, four days a week, with live music.
www.inghams.co.uk or
The resident band enjoys the colourful name of the Nederlumpen.
contact 0208 780 4447.
You can even dance on the tables with impunity – encouraged by
Further information
the owner, Rudi Gamper. Thoughtfully, he also provides snowmobile
www.obergurgl.com
There’ll be a Ski Club Leader in
Obergurgl from Dec 17 - April 21
Ski+board | 63