For Day 2 of my Paznaun Valley visit, I headed over to the Big Show: Ischgl. Since I wasn't staying in town, rather in a satellite village several miles down the valley, I may have been able to evaluate the skiing a bit more objectively. Weather To Ski correctly rates it as one of the most snow-sure non-glacial ski resorts in the Alps with most of its ski terrain above 2,000 meters. It doesn't receive huge dumps or 400+ inches of annual snow like the nearby Bregenzerwald region; rather, it has more of a Colorado profile with excellent snow preservation enabling long seasons, usually well into May.
For Americans, the total ski area feels large; however, Germans always point out how "compact" it actually is, about six miles across at its widest point (similar to Vail). If you're looking for a natural ski experience, this ain't it. There are lifts literally everywhere, adding up to 235 km/140 miles of trails. They were calling for several inches of fresh snow, and by the time I got to the upper mountain, it was coming down pretty hard. Conditions were really nice, but with everything above the treeline, visibility was poor: seriously flat light. At one point, I had to sit down for about 40 minutes to get my head to stop spinning from the vertigo:
While the groomed runs were crammed with people, virtually all of the lifts were ski-on. Regardless, it was easy to find untracked/lightly tracked snow just a few yards off-piste. Finally, around 12:30 with about seven inches down, the snow stopped and the sun came out. The groomed trails were sweetened up nicely and the bootcuff deep offpiste was fantastic:
Around 3:30, on what was going to be my final run of the day, I found a beautiful knee-deep line that I followed for about 500 vertical feet, then got greedy and unknowingly skied past an obvious exit point, missing one of these:
I finished up the day with a beautiful 1,500-vert run through a natural halfpine in the trees:
And took the village run all the way down into Ischgl:
Back in town, I got a quick look at its renowned post-skiing festivities. Here's the infamous Kuhstall (Cow's Barn):
Girls, Girls, Girls:
Miss Russia:
I stopped on the pedestrian main street for my favorite Bavarian beer:
For Americans, the total ski area feels large; however, Germans always point out how "compact" it actually is, about six miles across at its widest point (similar to Vail). If you're looking for a natural ski experience, this ain't it. There are lifts literally everywhere, adding up to 235 km/140 miles of trails. They were calling for several inches of fresh snow, and by the time I got to the upper mountain, it was coming down pretty hard. Conditions were really nice, but with everything above the treeline, visibility was poor: seriously flat light. At one point, I had to sit down for about 40 minutes to get my head to stop spinning from the vertigo:
While the groomed runs were crammed with people, virtually all of the lifts were ski-on. Regardless, it was easy to find untracked/lightly tracked snow just a few yards off-piste. Finally, around 12:30 with about seven inches down, the snow stopped and the sun came out. The groomed trails were sweetened up nicely and the bootcuff deep offpiste was fantastic:
Around 3:30, on what was going to be my final run of the day, I found a beautiful knee-deep line that I followed for about 500 vertical feet, then got greedy and unknowingly skied past an obvious exit point, missing one of these:
I finished up the day with a beautiful 1,500-vert run through a natural halfpine in the trees:
And took the village run all the way down into Ischgl:
Back in town, I got a quick look at its renowned post-skiing festivities. Here's the infamous Kuhstall (Cow's Barn):
Girls, Girls, Girls:
Miss Russia:
I stopped on the pedestrian main street for my favorite Bavarian beer:
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