Ski-Snowboard Salzburg: Saalbach
The second Salzburg, Austria, ski-snowboard day is spent at Saalbach
On Day Two, as we continue our ski vacation with the ski tour company Ski Europe, the bus delivers us to Saalbach. They call this collection of pistes on multiple mountains Ski Circus and, given the scope of Saalbach’s ski and snowboard trails, the name seems apt.
Three huge hills running to and from three towns combine to create the resort:
- Loegang
- Saalbach
- Hinterglemm
We start at Vorderglemm, a kind of substation of Saalbach, riding a gondola that crosses the road to a peak called Wildenkarkogel.
Again, these German names tie the tongue.
Our fast-paced tour takes us along the top ridges—down groomed runs, up fast chairlifts, across crossover trails and, again, down groomed trails to more fast lifts.
A full day is required to make it to all three areas' major peaks, but by the time we've reached a mid-mountain lunch break, my legs are calling for mercy. Continuous skiing on long, groomed, fast-moving runs requires a kind of quadriceps' stamina that can't be simulated nor developed on a treadmill.
About Lunch
Once again, lunch is a prolonged, relaxing yet somehow frenetic affair. This midday eating constitutes one of the major differences between North American and European skiing.
At home, we gobble and dash for more turns.
Here, we settle in to one of many on-hill "stubbes," many of which may double as hiking refuges or a shepherd's hangout in summer. They're made of wood. They're smokey and noisy and serve huge steins of beer, excellent wine and, especially in Austria, large plates of heavy fare that fills you up and fends off the cold.
And, it usually takes 90 minutes or two hours to consume this meal while sharing humorous and exaggerated tales of on-slope heroics and catastrophes with your pals.
Here, it's all about enjoying the mountain, not getting in thousands of feet of vertical or covering hundreds of miles of trails.
Mountain Life
Indeed, in Salzburgerland, as is all of Austria and most of the Alps, enjoying the snow and the mountains as playground is a lifestyle more than a pastime. Here, you can find yourself not only skiing or snowboarding, but backcountry touring, sledding (or sledging, as the locals call it), tobogganing, ice skating, snowshoeing, Nordic skiing, curling, paragliding or just walking.
Indeed, on some nights from 7 to 10 p.m. an evening run of a cable car takes people up for a free torchlit walk. At home, a resort might have a torchlit ski/ride parade for people to watch.
Here, locals and vacationers gather to participate in a torchlit walk, tromping downhill with torches.
And every Monday, something called the Grand Skishow—a unique combination of entertainment and fun-and-games—takes place at the Funparklift in Hinterglemm.
One More Run
To finish the day, we ski into Hinterglemm, doff our skis, and cross the road to board yet another gondola with an unpronounceable name: Zwölfergokelbahn I.
Which leads to yet another gondola called, you guessed it: Zwölfergokelbahn II.
Which takes us to something resembling the top of the world.
From here, you can ski into another valley completely, but we’ve run out of time. So, we dash down an intermediate piste to yet another chairlift that runs back to the top of Zwölfergokelbahn I.
Now, we have a choice: ski one long, steep, endless run back into Hinterglemm. Or download on gondola.
Half of us opt to ski. Half to ride. Me, my legs screaming bloody murder at me, I choose to save my legs and ride so tomorrow I can ski another day.
See also related articles: Skiing Austria: Salzburg and Ski-Snowboard Austria: Grossarl
