Alpbach

                                                                                                                            

Alpbach Austria!

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                     I went on my first holiday to Alpbach with my mum and some friends.  I was collected from my home in Berkshire, the car way loaded to the brim with luggage and equipment, there wasn't much room to move!  We drove to Dover and sailed across to Calais by ferry and enjoyed a lovely meal on board in one of the restaurants.  We continued on our long journey by car until we arrived at our destination at 8am the next day.  We had breakfast in Inner Alpbach in a beautiful hotel, got our gear sorted, passes paid for and I had to hire skis from Conny's and went skiing for the day!  No time for sleeping!  We stopped every day at about 11am for hot chocolate in the Hornboden, we also ate here a few times.  The first thing I noticed was how picturesque the village was,  wooden chalets, very few modern buildings,  not something I had experienced before.  Although the resort is not the biggest by far, it had plenty of challenging skiing ,  stunning scenery and great stopping places....It just seemed to have something very special that could appeal to skiers and non skiers alike.

Just below the Hornboden,

My next visit came a few years later when I was pregnant with my fourth baby.  After much thought I decided to ski but take things steady.  My other children would have missed much of their holiday if I hadn't skied with them,  I was in the early stages of pregnancy and my doctor gave his permission.  I had no problems at all.

This time we got a taxi to Bournemouth airport and flew Easyjet to Salzburg.  Here we hired a large Volkswagen People Carrier from EuroCar.  There were seven of us, we had plenty of space,   this was an excellent choice.  We had booked The Barhaus through The Alpbach Visitors Ski Club and found this to be an excellent choice for our large party of family and friends.  We were in self catered accommodation and were able to buy supplies from the local spa.

The highlight of the week was when we booked the horse drawn sleigh to take us to the Roosmoos, a stunning restaurant quite high up the mountain.  We were able to sneak downstairs the cattle in their winter accommodation under the restaurant!  The smell of their haylage was fabulous and it was amusing to see their tails strung up by a pulley system to keep them clean. The horses which had taxied us to the restaurant were also occupying part of the area.  The food was scrumptious and to finish the evening we had fantastic fun sledging back down to the village on wooden toboggans!

Route 5, a must when snow coverage is plentiful!

 The Ski Club Of Great Britain