Moving to the austrain alps over the season, plase give me your advice

[Willy_The_Kid]

Title sums it up... super stoked. Planning on staying in Innsbruck from January until the end of March. Looking for a place to stay at the moment. I've saved up a good amount of money, but I'm also considering applying to some resort jobs.

I'm looking for input from someone whose moved to ski in a different country for a season. What should i expect? How to best take advantage of my time there?

Also, if anyone are Innsbruck locals and/or knows the local ski-community, I would love your input and tips!

 

[FaunaSkis]

I did my first season in Mayrhofen, just to the east of Innsbruck.

Learning some conversational german goes a long way with the locals and you'll find a lot of them like to use/show off their English anyway so a bit of language each way helps.

Finding somewhere to rent short-term can be difficult without it being tied to a job and most places don't do casual hiring and cash-in-hand payment.

As for taking advantage of your time there if you get a Tirol card (https://snowcard.tirol.at/) you can ski in 90 resorts all around Innsbruck/Western Austria and with public transport pretty good, you can do it without needing a car.

 

[b0ss]

my only advice is bring me with you. Im fit in most large suitcases and prefer gatorade so I can leave a little in there and when I pee in it it doesn't smell as bad.

 

[No-Skill-Phil]

Yeah nice. No advice, but I just moved to Vienna and while it’s a fair way from The Alps, still close enough for me. Got a Klimateticket thing so planning on training it west every chance I get. Innsbruck is sick though, and Sankt Anton is The Apre Mecca.

 

[Willy_The_Kid]

[tag=249118]@FaunaSkis[/tag] thanks for the input! I see what you mean about temporary accommodation, I havn't secured anything yet... Do you have any tips on how to get a room or bed? Been looking on typical "housing" websites and facebook groups.

 

[Willy_The_Kid]

Sure thing [tag=252341]@b0ss[/tag]. Let's get a crib together. Perhaps an old camera with a wide-lens as well, and we'll put together a sick edit afterwards.

 

[b0ss]

Sure thing [tag=252341]@b0ss[/tag] . Let's get a crib together. Perhaps an old camera with a wide-lens as well, and we'll put together a sick edit afterwards.

I can take time off in february. I prefer to fly out of seattle lmk which flight you want me on. Economy is okay but I prefer business class isle. Ima need $75 for the ski bag message me so I can send my venmo.

I can take 2 weeks in feb but please confirm with me before you buy the tickets. For hotel, Queen bed and room service please, no spa necessary I’ll stretch in the room.

 

[fabbe]

What is this boss fellow rambling on about?

 

[michael_bc]

That's awesome man. Expect to have the time of your life!

The first thing to know is that Innsbruck is a city. The local mountain is alright, but you will end up doing many day trips to better mountains. So, depending on if you want to maximize your ski time, maybe you want to look for a place to stay in a sick resort nearby like Mayrhofen or St. Anton. OpenSkiMap is great to find where all the resorts are:https://openskimap.org/#9.75/47.2716/11.3963

The second thing: look into a season pass, like this one:https://snowcard.tirol.at/

The third thing is figuring out how you will get around. The public transport is fantastic in Austria and will get you everywhere. That said, a car will get you skiing more places because you will be more flexible. To look into.

**This post was edited on Sep 20th 2023 at 8:49:51am

 

[Willy_The_Kid]

Thanks for the input [tag=80144]@michael_bc[/tag]!

I sort of picked Innsbruck because it seems like there is a good free ski community there, but I also dont want to spend my time traveling to better areas. To be honest, i thought the nearest mountains were incredible. Perhaps i will look into St. Anton (although i have the impression that it is much more touristy and centered around apres and partying). With that said... my knowledge of the alps is very limited!

A car would be sick, but I'm not sure it will fit with my budget. I'm not planning on working once I'm there, so i'll have to live off my savings.

 

[FaunaSkis]

Thanks for the input [tag=80144]@michael_bc[/tag] !

I sort of picked Innsbruck because it seems like there is a good free ski community there, but I also dont want to spend my time traveling to better areas. To be honest, i thought the nearest mountains were incredible. Perhaps i will look into St. Anton (although i have the impression that it is much more touristy and centered around apres and partying). With that said... my knowledge of the alps is very limited!

A car would be sick, but I'm not sure it will fit with my budget. I'm not planning on working once I'm there, so i'll have to live off my savings.

Freeski communities in the Alps, in general, are pretty fragmented, the size of Innsbruck helps, and there used to be freeride nights, (https://www.instagram.com/frnibk/) they might start again for this winter but I'm not involved so don't know.

The mountains around Innsbruck are good and have good parks and freeride terrain, like anywhere there are good/better spots around. Austria just has the benefit of them being easily accessible by public transport.

St Anton is known for being expensive, its party/apres scene and is touristy but the Arlberg Valley (St Anton, St Christoph, Stuben, Zurs, Lech) is one of the best fully linked up freeride zones in Austria and there's a decent park in St Anton too. There's not much of a scene though as the touristy nightlife is pretty overwhelming.

In terms of freeski scene, Mayrhofen has a pretty good one which, when I was there, was centred around the hostel/hotel Gasthof Zillertal with riders from all over Europe/the world going for the parks up and down the Zillertal valley, (Penken, Hintertux, Zell, Kaltenbach) and there's good freeride terrain around too.

Other good spots in the Tirol are the Stubai and Kauntertal Glaciers but I don't know much about them beyond their reputation for having good parks.

 

[Willy_The_Kid]

[tag=249118]@FaunaSkis[/tag] a lot of good info here, thanks!

I've been looking into Mayrhofen since [tag=80144]@michael_bc[/tag] mentioned it. Seen some great footage come out of Penken, the park looks super mellow (Dani B goes crazy in this edit). Since I'm not planning on working, it might seem a bit empty for the days i do not wanna ski etc... thats one of the reasons i went for the Innsbruck.

I am a bit worried that I'll end up traveling to other spots however. When I spend this much money, I wanna make sure i get the most out of it.

 

[michael_bc]

Thanks for the input [tag=80144]@michael_bc[/tag] !

I sort of picked Innsbruck because it seems like there is a good free ski community there, but I also dont want to spend my time traveling to better areas. To be honest, i thought the nearest mountains were incredible. Perhaps i will look into St. Anton (although i have the impression that it is much more touristy and centered around apres and partying). With that said... my knowledge of the alps is very limited!

A car would be sick, but I'm not sure it will fit with my budget. I'm not planning on working once I'm there, so i'll have to live off my savings.

Ischgl is the party nightmare.

St. Anton is the freeride hot spot. Arguably some of the best freeride in the alps. For sure one of my all time favorites.

I'm not up to date anymore with the Austrian park scene (I live in Laax). I remember Montafon and Mayrhofen being pretty sick. There's other famous spots. Kaunertal is fantastic pre and post season. Same with Hintertux.

 

[Willy_The_Kid]

Ischgl is the party nightmare.

St. Anton is the freeride hot spot. Arguably some of the best freeride in the alps. For sure one of my all time favorites.

I'm not up to date anymore with the Austrian park scene (I live in Laax). I remember Montafon and Mayrhofen being pretty sick. There's other famous spots. Kaunertal is fantastic pre and post season. Same with Hintertux.

Got you. I wanna get into freeride as well, so I'll have to check out St. Anton at least. I've been looking at accommodation at Mayrhofen, but it seems like an impossible task.