This isn’t the kind of holiday lie-down I pictured.
I am on my belly, like a seal. The snow, and the boards strapped to my feet, make verticality an impossible dream. I have fallen and I can’t get up.
I’m in Flachau, in the Austrian winter sports region of Salzburgerland, to learn to ski with other newbies.
It’s picturesque here in the eastern Alps, where the snow lingers for longer than in other places, yet the resort’s fairly unknown to Brits, with most visitors Austrian, German or Dutch. Not that I can appreciate the picturesqueness from my current position.
My instructor, who hauls me back to standing, explains there are no set hours for a total beginners’ course like this; it depends how quickly students catch on. I have two days.
Luckily, Flachau is a good place for those to whom skiing is completely alien. The drive to Salzburg is only 50 minutes, and do-able on public transport, so if I never find my snow legs I can bail and learn about Mozart while walking on lovely, familiar pavement.
But I begin to hope escape might not be necessary. After my first lesson I am still terrified, but I can use a button lift and snow-plough.
A suitably celebratory lunch in the slope-side Restaurant Zum Holzwurm offers Kasnocken, or cheesy potato dumplings, and local speciality Kaiserschmarrn – ‘Emperor’s nonsense’ — a pile of fluffy, chopped-up pancakes with jam.
My group then tries an apparently integral part of a ski trip – Après-ski, or, in a concept familiar to Brits, drinking from mid-afternoon. No culture shock here. Hofstadtl bar is a riotous wooden nook, blaring oompah tunes as flush-faced skiers tramp about in salopettes. Beer travels up to our balcony on its own teeny tiny ski lift.
The liquid courage is needed; last on the evening’s agenda is tobogganing. The course begins atop a winding mountain path. A cosy restaurant, Possruck, waits at the bottom.
The journey down is exhilarating, the view of Flachau’s lights below gorgeous, and it all ends with more hearty local food, deep-fried egg, with limbs intact. I’m taking that as a victory.
Skiing on a budget:
Ski resorts don’t have the reputation for being the most affordable — particularly for total beginners, who face stumping up for all manner of clunky kit they might not even want to keep. Here are some ways to go off-piste when it comes to spending and have a carefree ski.
- Avoid the chalet. Hostels, B’n’Bs and more basic guest houses are the way to go to swerve some costs. There’s no need for excessive luxury when you’re spending all day hitting the slopes.
- Take advantage of flexible ski passes. In Ski amadé, the group of resorts that includes Flachau, you’re covered for 25 sites including 270 ski lifts, so you can travel without stumping up extra. Plus if a week-long ski pass isn’t a realistic spend, you can opt for a few days or just one.
- Use public transport. Ski shuttle buses take you between Flachau and other resorts for free, including some, like Radstadt, where you can change for a direct train to or from Salzburg.
- Get your gear for cheap(ish). A winter coat, salopettes, goggles, gloves… buying all the clothing you need quickly becomes a slippery slope. Many online community groups let you buy garments second-hand directly from owners, sell once you’re home, or swap if you’ve got the gear but it doesn’t fit.
The next day, more lessons await. We try exercises like hoisting our ski poles up in the air, or touching our knees, as we descend in the brilliant sunshine. Once I lose a pole. I’m going too slowly, but I’m scared to speed up.
Frustration rises. I miss horizontal ground. But then, at the top of the slope, I steel myself to go faster. I bend my knees and bring my skis closer, swooshing around a turn.
Suddenly, the fear is gone. I am on a mountain, I am skiing, and it’s fantastic.
After lunch we beginners are left to ski by ourselves. Once the piste wilts in the sun, we call it a day, wistful to be leaving. That’s it. I can — sort of — ski. A surprise for someone with such poor balance they had to remove the wheels of their Heely trainers as a kid.
Help, I’m at the resort but I hate skiing:
Perhaps you arrive only to discover the sport isn’t your cup of après tea. But it doesn’t have to be downhill. These alternatives mean you can take the plunge of booking a trip without committing to any literal plunges.
- Exploring the city: Escaping to Salzburg to see Mozart’s birthplace or simply pretend you’re Maria von Trapp is only a matter of a 50-minute drive from Flachau, or free bus 522 to Radstadt then a €16 train.
- Tobogganing: The best or wurst of times depending on your disposition, this is one for thrill-seekers that prefer sitting. Flachau and nearby resorts offer sled rides at varying prices — even at night, when floodlights and the twinkling of the resort below will guide you.
- Riding on a horse-drawn carriage: Another sit-down with the bonus of blankets, this is a tranquil way to soak in the landscape. If you start in Filzmoos, your €24-per-person trip will take you up to a traditional mountain hut .
- Taking to the water at Therme Amadé: This spa and water park — accessible on Ski amadé’s free bus — offers pools, saunas and massages, plus a climbing wall you scale sans harness, then simply drop into the pool. Even harder-core is a ‘rocket slide’ which drops the floor out from under riders. A day ticket is €38.50, less without sauna access.
- Going back in time at a medieval castle: Berg Hohenwerfen is a 1077 fortress that rises imposingly out of the rock near Flachau, and offers falconry shows. Tickets start at €10.40 — €16.90 all-in, including a ride on a funicular rail.
The evening brings a horse and carriage ride from neighbouring Filzmoos to a mountain restaurant. The village is part of the same region as Flachau — and that region is one of five in vast resort group Ski amadé — so our ski passes cover us in both places. In fact, as part of Ski amadé we’re covered for 760km of slopes and 270 lifts.
More importantly for this evening, Filzmoos has breathtaking scenery. Sitting Schnapps in hand, watching the forest and jagged mountains deepen into dusk, must be the best way to travel. Passing cars dwindle and disappear as we climb, and it could be hundreds of years ago. Warming food and hot chocolate greets us at Unterhofalm, a traditional wooden inn.
My last lesson has a twist; I’m on a bike. Two skis replace wheels. I prefer being on my feet, but ski bikes are useful for those with certain disabilities — letting one of our instructors’ students continue skiing after he had a leg amputated.
Non-skiers can take some chair-lifts, meaning newbies don’t need to miss out on views, and that’s exactly what we do to reach the last restaurant. As the lift climbs, the landscape opens up, swathes of white below and peaks rising around us.
Your Daily Horoscope
Hunger for dumplings sated, we take the same lift back down; we’re not ready to descend on skis. But there’s a different kind of hunger in me as I watch the more experienced skiers swish towards the town, surrounded by rugged beauty. One day.
Getting there:
Jen Tombs visited Flachau in the Salzburger Sportwelt ski zone in the SalzburgerLand region of Austria. The area is part of the Ski amadé lift pass alliance – a collaboration of 5 areas created to offer winter sports enthusiasts 760 km of groomed pistes over 25 resorts across 5 different regions; 25 marked ski touring routes and extensive off piste areas are also available explore.
She stayed at the Hotel Reslwirt – doubles from €120 per person per night (2 sharing B&B); a 6-day Ski amadé lift pass is €370.50 per adult; the 3-day Learn to Ski package for adults is €407 per adult (4 hours tuition [per day – 2½ in morning/1½ in afternoon).
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