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When the tourists go home and the new arrivals turn up TW getting ready to go. View to the Graukogel from the Baerstein Alm Sunny and cold When you are here for a while it gets to feel like Groundhog Day. Every Saturday morning people are packing their cars and the coaches are loading up - its changeover day! That should mean that its going to be quiet on the piste. However, if it is sunny, and the snow is good, the villagers are going to be out in force along with various ski clubs from miles around. As the skiers are Austrian they are, by definition, going to be good and will probably be fast. There will nearly always be local ski races on the Haitzingalm piste on a Saturday Today they were racing ski-bobs on the steepest run. There is normally a quiet period on the slopes in the morning when the World Cup Downhills are on and the locals dive into a local alm to watch the race. This week the race was from Kitzbuhel and the Haitzingalm was noisy with disappointment. The ...

On the Piste - House for rent above Angertal I think I can ski around the mountain pretty well and have have developed a method that seems to suit me and is pretty economical. I tend to go for the steepest part of the piste and go at a good pace.  The other day, by chance, we met a couple of people from Marlow having lunch in the Felding Hutte. Turns out they are good skiers and used to be ski instructors in an earlier life. I spent a day skiing with them in Dorfgastein. They volunteered some comments on my skiing. My pole planting they described as like windscreen wipers, apparently this is not good! I do not lean forward enough and am too upright. I do not properly complete my turns. I need to edge the ski's more by angling my ankles. Oh, and I ski too fast. I need to use more of the piste and spend longer on ski's and less time on the lifts. Grossarl - over the hill from Gasteinertal Oh well, not much to worry about then! So if you see someone doing neat tu...

The Angertal Snowman On the Graukogel Mountain 11th January Snuff Machine in Bad Gastein The snuff machine is a 'must to avoid' in Austria. Firstly, you have to position your nostrils over the machine and then the operator of the machine sets it in motion. There is normally a loud bang at the moment when snuff is fired in a jet straight up into your sinuses. This is a particularly fine Schnupfmaschine at the Graukogel Middle Station. A little hut on the Graukogel in Bad Gastein Sunny Sunday in Gastein - 13th January Looking down on Bad Hofgastein New snow cannons above Bad Gastein There was a time when the the first week in January was a quiet and cheap period to come skiing but that was before the Russian ban on Christmas was lifted. They work to the old Julian Calendar so their Christmas is 13 days late. This means there are three 'peak' weeks, Christmas, New Year and Orthodox Christmas. Happily the revellers have returned home. Today, th...