Book Early

So earlier in the year Paul booked for himself, myself and Laurence to go on yet another skiing adventure. We went of course with Ski Miquel because well, we just cannot find anything to beat them. This time Paul decided that we would go to Saalbach in Austria. Saalbach had to be booked early because of it’s extreme popularity and Paul was quick off the mark so we were booked for the 3rd week in Jan 2020.

Getting There

We flew from Manchester via Jet2 to Salzberg and that was great. At Salzberg we were met by our Ski Miquel hotel manager Carol and we arrived on time as planned. The weather was wet and cold (but not freezing – it would have been better if it had been say 10 degrees colder). The trip to Saalbach took 90 mins and the temperature remained at +2C.

Our Chatlet-Hotel

Our hotel was a chatlet-hotel called Christine and it was in a great position on the through road in Saalbach. Our rooms were allocated, we dumped our bags and then off for ski fitting in readyness for the weeks skiing ahead.

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A Star is born

The above photograph shows the chatlet staff and ALL are stars. But for me , Louis ( 2nd left ) is a superstar. There were 2 groups for guided skiing and I decided to join the (slow group) which was guided by Louis and for the whole week he was absolutely fantastic. At 21 he showed great knowledge of the resort and was everything and more that a compitent ski guide should be. I am not discunting the rest of the chatley staff because they were also fantastic.

Food glorious food

This was my 2nd holiday with Ski Miquel and my expectation for the food provided for the week was high. For the chatlet guests are provided with breakfast , tea/coffee and cake (at 4pm) and a 3 course evening meal (which includes both white and red wine), followed by a cheese course then coffee. Throught the week the food was expertly cooked by Alex (first right above) and every dish was cooked and presented to a good standard. The menu was tasty and varied and I beleive that all guests enjoyed their dining experience.

Saalbach on arrival

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When we arrived at Saalbach we hit the ground running. Rooms at the hotel were allocated and we made ourselves at home really quickly. The hotel was very similar to the Tannenburg where we had stayed last year in Bad Gastein, this type of hotel arrangement is typical for Ski Miquel with good levels of comfort and everything you need for a relaxing skiing trip.

We then looked over the hotel just to make sure that we knew where everything was and then we were rounded up by the hotel manager and we walked off to the ski shop, boots in hand where we received our additional skiing gear ( in most cases skis and poles ) together with a complimentary shot of Austrian schnaps.

With our boots, skiis and poles we then walked just a short distance to the locker area where for a sum of 15 euros we could leave our skiing gear for the week, this saved us having to carry our gear to and from the hotel each day (good idea).

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Accident , What accident ?

So we were on an 8 person gondola and we were going up the mountain as we had been doing each day when Paul reached forwards and took a ball of snow from my helmet. “Where did that come from” I said and Paul immediately replied from the incident that you had on the last Red”. “What incident” I asked, I have had no incidents (falls) today. On average through the trip I probably had 1 or maybe 2 minor incidents per day (after all if youre not pushing then youre not trying 🙂 ).

Paul told me that on the last Red ( which was some 20 minutes prior ) I had been skiing down the hill when some woman shot past both Laurence and himself and she smashed straight into me. I was told that she sent me flying down the hill for about 10 metres where both me and herself ended in a bundle on the slopes and we both lost a ski each. The woman’s boyfriend located her ski and separated the two of us then admitted that she had been at fault and asked if I was ok, apparently I lay there on the floor but I did indicate that I was alright 🙂

After that we all skiied the rest of the red which then led onto a blue where at the end of which we got into the gondola. The problem I had with this is that I knew NOTHING of what had happened and I still have no recollection. All I can remember is skiing down the Red and then talking to Paul in the gondola when he took the ball of snow from my helmet. At the time I took off my helmet and there was no damage and I also checked the back of my head but there were no bumps, I also felt fine and I skiied the rest of the day as though nothing had happened. Later in the hotel the story was told to a person in the ‘faster’ group who was a doctor and she indicated that I may have post traumatic amnesia and that I may recall what had happened at some later date. I can state that over the past 60 years that I have been here I have never ( to my knowledge ) had such an experience.

So would we go again – You Bet Ya

The skiing area at Saalback is huge. I doubt that we skiied the whole area but someone stated that we did cover abut 70%. Most of the runs are Red and Blue though there are some Blacks. On our trip I think that we only did 1 black and we mainly stayed on the reds. I did hear that someone in our party did actually do a black and slid from top to bottom as their ski failed to bite into the ice but NOT on their skiis.

The problem with Ski Miquel is that they have quite a few skiing resorts covered and each offer good value for money and guided skiing. Some in our party have been talking about Spain for next year and Ski Miquel have a hotel in Bacherra so that may be interesting …. mmmmmmm