Kappl, AT 01/30/13

jamesdeluxe

Administrator
So after the last three days at Ischgl -- which overwhelms you in all sorts of ways -- I decided to try another of the smaller, family ski areas that are part of the Silvretta region ski pass: Kappl. It's just five minutes up the road from Ischgl and has a reputation for being "modest in size," "great for families," and "the sunniest ski area in the region," which means the same thing in all languages: south-facing. Hey, they even have it in English on the trail map: "Sunny Mountain!"
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The base building is right alongside the main access road. You take a 1983-vintage Doppelmayr gondola 2,500 vertical feet to the top of the treeline:
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From there, you continue up to the summit, more than 3,000 feet higher, so that's the vertical you're working with. It's all above-the-treeline, which means the 27 miles of groomed trails (that's why it's classified as a "small" mountain) are a tiny portion of the skiable acreage and as you can see, pretty much everything is skiable, especially after Kappl got a six-inch shot of snow overnight:
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I was one of maybe 100 people on the mountain, 85% of whom weren't there to ski untracked. For the next two hours, I did lap after lap of calf-deep pixie dust -- everything was fair game and it was all available with no brutal traverses, no sidestepping, no herring bones, no skiing through trees, no complicated planning, no nothing. My tracks are the ones in the middle.
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But now back to the south-facing part -- about 11:15, the sun had begun affecting the new snow a bit, certainly not to mashed potatoes consistency but a bit heavier.
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So I did a few groomers that were like butter, absolutely perfect, then went back to the top of the mountain because I had seen a sign up there with an Autobahn icon and wanted to know what the deal was. I followed a young couple and their kid:
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Here's the father going around the top of the peak:
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... and you come out the other side with this incredible view of a groomed path going right down the middle of a valley. You can just barely make out the trail and some people further down. Like pretty much everything here, this view is far more impressive than the pic lets on.
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Here's a reverse shot looking uphill from the just below the top -- as always in Europe, you have the opportunity to grab some untracked turns along the side:
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Down you go at full speed:
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Further...
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Finally, you arrive at the bottom lift, 3,200 vertical feet later:
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At which point, I decided that it was time for a Weissbier at the conveniently located Restaurant Huiseralm:
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After the beer, I downloaded to the base and headed over to Ischgl for the afternoon. .
 
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Thanks for the TR and the photos. Looks great. I'm living vicariously through your thread, as we have had two consecutive days of 55 degree temperatures here in the Northeast and I'm looking out my office window at green grass.

Just out of curiosity, how much are you paying for lift tickets at each of the resorts?
 
berkshireskier:1z0act6d said:
how much are you paying for lift tickets at each of the resorts?
250 Euros for a six-day ski and bus pass that covers the Silvretta region. At today's godawful exchange rate, that's $330 or $55 a day. It used to be a lot cheaper, but the quality and quantity I've gotten over the last five days have been worth a lot more than $55.

I love skiing in North America, east and west, but the places I've skied in the Alps are a whole different ballgame.
 
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berkshireskier":22nqh7pj said:
Just out of curiosity, how much are you paying for lift tickets at each of the resorts?
The lift tickets are the only thing reasonably priced over here.

jamesdeluxe":22nqh7pj said:
which means the same thing in all languages: south-facing. Hey, they even have it in English on the trail map: "Sunny Mountain!"
I really don't get this. You got lucky with new snow and still it gets heavy by 11AM. Flims/Laax is also mostly south facing, and with no fresh snow 90% of the off piste is useless. Plus pistes on the lower 2/3 of the vertical are frozen granular in the morning and heavy spring snow at the end of the day. If it's like this in January, what's it going to be in March?

I had no illusions about snow conditions in the Alps having the consistency of LCC or Mammoth. But I question putting a ski area in this much south exposure, expecially a massive complex with start of the art lifts over tens of thousands of acres. I carp at Jackson's exposure, but Jackson gets way more snow and also has colder average midwinter temperatures. My criticism would not apply as much to Kappl,which is a satellite area in a larger ski region. Madrisa at Klosters was also mostly south exposure. Madrisa's pistes were in good shape, though you would not want to go off piste in the old snow there either.

That said I completely appreciate the virtues that James describes, and for those it's worth trying to work in one trip a season over here. He's also absolutely correct about lack of competition for powder, though as I've analyzed many times you still need some luck to get that on an advance scheduled trip.
 
Tony Crocker":iy75nwbh said:
berkshireskier":iy75nwbh said:
Just out of curiosity, how much are you paying for lift tickets at each of the resorts?
The lift tickets are the only thing reasonably priced over here.

Well, I found that food and beer in Austria resorts or touristy towns were pretty cheap compared to what the similar quality would be priced in North America. But I've noticed that you've moved into Switzerland, where everything is expensive, even summer lift tickets.

Tony Crocker":iy75nwbh said:
jamesdeluxe":iy75nwbh said:
which means the same thing in all languages: south-facing. Hey, they even have it in English on the trail map: "Sunny Mountain!"
I really don't get this. You got lucky with new snow and still it gets heavy by 11AM. Flims/Laax is also mostly south facing, and with no fresh snow 90% of the off piste is useless. Plus pistes on the lower 2/3 of the vertical are frozen granular in the morning and heavy spring snow at the end of the day. If it's like this in January, what's it going to be in March?

I had no illusions about snow conditions in the Alps having the consistency of LCC or Mammoth. But I question putting a ski area in this much south exposure, expecially a massive complex with start of the art lifts over tens of thousands of acres. I carp at Jackson's exposure, but Jackson gets way more snow and also has colder average midwinter temperatures.

Many ski areas in the Alps started off on farmer fields, from rope-tow to eventually lifts. Many were not designed to be a major ski area, they just developed that way.

Tony Crocker":iy75nwbh said:
That said I completely appreciate the virtues that James describes, and for those it's worth trying to work in one trip a season over here. He's also absolutely correct about lack of competition for powder, though as I've analyzed many times you still need some luck to get that on an advance scheduled trip.

From what I understood, there is more competition now than there were 10-20 years ago. One of my blog goals for the seasons, is to write a few TRs from Winter 1993 and 2003 where I had a few days in the Alps.
 
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