Austria - Bad Hofgastein - Skiing on the Schlossalm in April

End of the Ski Season in Bad Hofgastein
Last run of season on the Nord Abfahrt
With a late Easter in 2014 the lifts on the Schlossalm were open until the 21st April.  It has been a decent year for snow. No massive dumps but very timely top-ups throughout the season to keep things ticking over.
Only the Valley runs were closed.  A cold snap in mid April meant that conditions were perfect for our last day, the 17th April. We needed our Thermals on the 15th and 16th as the temperature was minus 10 Celsius and windy brhhh!
A cold snap in April brings new snow
A brief return to Winter on the Sendleiten on the 16th April
A balaclava and thermals day in April
H4 to the Middle
Cool run in April
Last day - waiting for the 08:26 bus
New Snow, blasting complete on the Hohe Scharte so time to ride
Nice snow on the Stubnerkogel as well
Our home piste - the Haitzinglam from the Sendleiten
Not too busy on the Haitzingalm today
Top of the T-bar and the view to the South and the Stubnerkogel
A useful T-bar for the link to Angertal

Must be getting near lunchtime

Last Lunch at the Haitzingalm
A great last day on favourite pistes in Gastein
A favourite spot - at Tom and Waltrauds place
Better get skiing again
Where pistes collide - H1 meets H2
So season over, a last beer with Berwyn at the GasteinAlm  before heading back to the apartment to pack things up and put the ski's and boots in the cellar. We certainly had a great season - 65 days of skiing and 551,353 vertical metres climbed. That was the result of 1200 lift rides which works out at around 40 cents a lift, if you don't count the 130 bus rides. Plenty of fine hospitality, particularly in the Haitzingalm with lots of good company. TW gained confidence and has now conquered all the pistes apart from the steep Sender run, maybe next year? We feel very privileged to be regular visitors to the Gastein Valley.
Do I have to go home - waiting for the train
We always get the train back to Salzburg. We normally take an early train at 08:30 and we know we can get seats in the carriage at the front. This time we were on the 12:30 and climbed on at the front only to find all the seats were taken. The train had come up from Zagreb and Ljubljana and was on its way to Frankfurt. The incumbents were well settled. Any spare seats were occupied by feet or baggage. The two biggest negatives about train travel are (a) the other passengers and (b)attempting to negotiate the corridors with baggage in hand. On a busy train, corridors are blocked by massive suitcases and progress is hampered by automatic doors that only open when you swear at them. We did the sensible thing, we went to the Buffet Car and had a coffee and a strudel! The ticket collector told us there were plenty of seats at the rear of the train but we sat tight at our dining table. Bit odd riding a train in a movable seat but hey-ho.
Location: Bad Hofgastein, Austria

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