Ski Amade Tour - Wagrain, Flachau and Kleinarl

Seven Villages and 4 Valleys in a day

Our Route for the Tour

Even though there is plenty of skiing in Gastein we thought it would be good to make use of our Ski Amade passes. We took a tour of some of the surrounding mountains and had a look at some of the local villages in the Salzburg region. Our route took in Dorfgastein, Grossarl, Alpendorf, Wagrain, Flachau, Flachauwinkl and Kleinarl.

Profile

Up bright and early. Bus down the Gastein Valley to Dorfgastein. We took the Gondola up to Fulseck at 2033m and then skied over to the Grossarl side and down to the Grossarl valley station of the Panoramabahn. We did not need to hurry so we made the most of the freshly bashed corduroy.

We were aiming for the PostBus L4 leaving at 09:45. The bus was on-time, as usual, and we headed off down the valley road to Alpendorf, a village above St Johann in Pongau. We were there in about 15mins and took a ride up the Gondelbahn to 1574m. At the top we dropped to the left for the 4 seater chair Gernkogel Panoramabahn* and climbed to 1763m. 

* this chair can get busy and a new alternative would have been to go down to 1004m and then ride up on the fast Gondola - Buchau Gipfelbahn to 1783m.

Once off our chair we turned left and headed down for the Sonntagskogel 6 seater. The approach to this lift and the subsequent two lifts is a bit hairy as a number of pistes cross and it gets a tad hectic. Anyway, we negotiated the human hazards safely and we took the lift up to 1808m.
The snow was perfect and the views absolutely stunning. Because these are relatively small mountains the lifts go to the very top giving a 360 degree panorama. Is that Radstadt over there?

Pushing on, we skied down to 1615m and Sonntagskogel I which deposited us at 1807m.  Another red run took us to another 6 seater chair – Hachau - that lifted us from 1645m to 1710m and the top of the Grafenberg. Below us was Wagrain and we headed on down a blue and then a red to the valley lift station at 862m. A shuttle bus was waiting to take us across Wagrain to the Flying Mozart Gondola. This is a bit of an odd contraption that takes eight people at a time but sped rapidly up to the peak at 1814m.

Flachau now stretched out below and we headed off, stopping briefly for a cuppa at a pleasant Alm, down towards Hermann Maier’s hometown. Blue dye was still showing on the floodlit piste. The ladies tour visited recently and they had a night slalom. Didn't think Lindsey Vonn was a blue rinse kinda girl! 

We now waited about 10 minutes in town for the 12:10 PostBus up the valley to Flachauwinkel. The bus stopped on the way to allow skiers to embark for Zauchensee on a new Gondola - now that’s a job for another day!
We continued to Flachauwinkel. Three chairs saw us up to the top of the Mooskopf.

The Sunshine Shuttle: 1030m to 1313m, the Family Shuttle: 1310m to 1793m and then finally the Powder Shuttle: 1713m to 1925m.  From the top it was a stunning run down to Kleinarl. This the hometown of a former Ladies Champion Annemarie Moser-Proll.
One o’clock and time for a lunch!
Berwyn tried out his German on the waitress which left her totally non-plussed, anyway the service was quick. Maybe she wanted to get rid of us.

Looking down the valley to Zell am zee

Towards Bishopshofen

After a 25 min. break for soup we took off for home and the ten minute journey by bus down a pretty valley to the Grafenberg lift centre in Wagrain.  We had skied down to this centre earlier so we were now starting to retrace our steps. A fast Gondola, the Grafenbergbahn, rushed us up to the Grafenberg at 1713m from where we descended to 1601m and the SonntagskogeI II four man chair. Having reached 1732m we then skied down to the 4 seater Gernkogel Panoramabahn. This is an odd lift as it goes up one side of the mountain and then carries on down the other. So you need to make sure you get off at the top otherwise you miss out on some skiing! We took the same lift up to 1763m on the outward route to Wagrain.
A great detour was then taken down Route 60 to 1004m and the new Gondola - Buchau Gipfelbahn. After a magnificent run and superb lift we then got back on-track and headed down to Alpendorf in time for the 15:16 back to Grossarl.

The bus driver was on a mission and we were soon back in Grossarl where we climbed on the Yellow Gondola, the Panoramabahn, up to 1849m. We needed to get to the Kreuzkogel sixer lift before it closed at 16:15. We skied down with 15 minutes to spare – no problem. Missing this lift would have meant skiing back down to Grossarl and then getting a bus to Sankt Johann and then a train back to Gastein.

All that was left was the ski down to Dorfgastein. However, we could not resist a quick run up a favourite lift, the Gipfelexpress Fulseck.. We then skied down through the trees to the valley bottom for a well-earned Weiss Beer.

Now that was an excellent day out with Berwyn and IG, 106km covered, good company and lots of laughs.

Note:
It is important to check the Kreuzkogel sixer lift closing time. It closes at 16:15 in March but when the days are shorter it closes earlier.

Link to SKI AMADE