Ski Season 2015/2016 is over.

That's it then for this Ski Season

Last day Blues on top of H5

It was a very good year. Lets face it, every year that we are able to strap on the ski's and tour around Gasteinertal is going to be good.

Only 49 Ski Days this year. We delayed our New Year trip until the 12th January and then the March trip was truncated due to a combination of illnesses and the early Easter.

As always we skied hard and ate well on the mountain. The Haitzingalm is my favourite coffee stop, Tom and Waltraud always give us a warm welcome.

Elevenses at the Haitzingalm

In Summer or in Winter the Baerstein is very hospitable. The season was no exception. Its new extension is all ready for the new lifts that we hope to see in 2017/2018. The snow person takes some beating. Johanna insisted she did not model for it!

Tough last Day?

A cold front at the Baerstein.

In the evenings, the Berglift was as good as ever. We used the Gastein Alm a few times as well as it is more lively and at Da Dinos the Pizza's and Padrone are great. We had two great nights out at the Hirschenhutte. Too much dancing for my tired knees but great company and superb chicken and Ribs.

Bring on December!

Austria - Day Trip to Zell am See

Zell am Ski - Life by the Lake

Heading for the See

Always time for elevenses

Zell is pretty close to Gastein, only about 45 minutes by car. It is a very different sort of place and is the local commercial centre with a big shopping area that sprawls along the valley. A good place to buy a TV but also, I now know, a great place to ski. We were lucky to have a bright sunny day with great snow. There were plenty of trees and nice wide slopes with plenty of space to accommodate the various standards of skier. We are fortunate that Gastein is quite a tricky resort so when go elsewhere its not too daunting a challenge. The blacks into the village were quite steep but had plenty of width. The scenery is beautiful and definitely my favourite 'out of valley' experience of the season.

Zell - good enough to be rated 94th for the season