Obergurgl March 2013

I was disappointed with Obergurgl - skied it out in the two days I visited. The standard of piste marking was dreadful and downright dangerous on an afternoon of very poor visibility.

I returned today from Obergurgl, and it was even better than last year. They had made some additions, such as adding a "ski route", the snow conditions were fantastic, both on and off piste, and the pisten bully crews did a top class job.

I do not know how anyone could tire of this area in 2 days! I could have spent that long just exploring Hochgurgl's American Run. I was chatting to one of the lift managers, and I asked why they had not installed a chairlift on the run, (it is a long steep T bar) He said it would change the nature of the slope, and I agreed with him. It is so named because the USA team train there, and I guess they get exclusive use.

Probably the best ski show I have seen. On the Tuesday, I skied from 9.00am until the lift closed, had an early dinner, then went night skiing from 7.00pm until 10.00pm.

The area is good for all standards, there is heaps of lengthy off piste ~ importantly, of differing steepness. It is terrific for ski touring, and we could witness parties doing some great limbs, followed by serious steep and deep.

I found the run marking to be adequate, (as someone who skis the skiwelt every year, I have become expert at getting lost in an area I know well!) However, I would agree that the ski post distances are too great, particularly for a high level, mainly treeless resort. This contributed to me having one of my worst ever ski accidents on the first days skiing, and one which I feel very lucky to have survived.

For an additional 10 Eu on to the lift pass price, you can ski for one day at Sölden, adding a possible 150km. All of our party did this, although my season pass covered it.

My personal disappointment was the lack of old buildings to use as painting subjects, so I did the same as last year and did some rock/snow studies.

Interesting alternative review Dave, thanks for that

As Dave brought up the drag lift in Hochgurgl a word of warning to any that might go there.

This is the only way back up if you do the Black 33 & only serves this run, its a T bar & I would you advise not to use it but if you do make sure there are 2 of you on the one bar.

Its the worse lift I have ever encountered & the group I was with all agreed, one had to cab back as he couldn't stay on it.

If you ride it alone the bar lays at a 45 degree angle & is pulling away from you constantly, the T section is not long enough to get a grip on & the larger your backside the worse for you.

Perhaps Dave would know the distance this thing travels all I know is it goes on forever & longer than the chair lift, falling off this drag will put you in unpisted areas in the middle of nowhere & would IMO mean you will have to walk some distance to get back to civilisation.

brooksy wrote:
As Dave brought up the drag lift in Hochgurgl a word of warning to any that might go there.

This is the only way back up if you do the Black 33 & only serves this run, its a T bar & I would you advise not to use it but if you do make sure there are 2 of you on the one bar.

Its the worse lift I have ever encountered & the group I was with all agreed, one had to cab back as he couldn't stay on it.

If you ride it alone the bar lays at a 45 degree angle & is pulling away from you constantly, the T section is not long enough to get a grip on & the larger your backside the worse for you.

Perhaps Dave would know the distance this thing travels all I know is it goes on forever & longer than the chair lift, falling off this drag will put you in unpisted areas in the middle of nowhere & would IMO mean you will have to walk some distance to get back to civilisation.

Brooksy, this is a different T bar from the American run, but yes, I rode the T bar serving the Black 33, Vorderer Wurmkogl.
Of course I have the daintiest of little bottoms, so I didn't experience any difficulties. I prefer to ride drag lifts alone, and if the hill is steep, I stick the T bar under the crotch ~ not to be advised if one is suffering from pil....oh, well we won't go there. :-0

My OH rode up sharing with one of the group, and if there would have been an issue, you can be sure she would have let me know....

The lift is a 2 stage, and there is a blue run joins into the middle stage.

Maybe you caught the liftie on a bad day??? -)

The only reason we went down the 33 was to meet the walkers & have lunch with then at the Mini Paradise restaurant.One of our guys came off twice in the tree area & only got up there after getting the one remaining skier left at the Mini to share with him.

I think if your OH had used it alone you would have been told of its short comings in no uncertain terms.

Just looking at the piste map & can see the Blue 32 cuts across it, but as the others were going to the top the choice of getting off was not an option. Doing it in 2 stages would have been easier as I now have one arm longer that the other. :(

One more video from Obergurgl

We did also do some night skiing, really great :)