Garmisch-Partenkirchen-Zugspitze 6 Day Snow Forecast

Martin from United Kingdom writes:

I went to Garmisch-Partenkirchen for skiing in February 2010 and had a great time.
There are two separate ski areas, Classic and Zugspitze. Classic is closest to town: 8-10 minutes to most chair lifts and cable cars on the Zugspitze bahn. The lower couple of hundred meters on the Classic area is covered by snow cannon. Zugspitze is located on top of a mountain glacier at over 2400 metres. To get there you have to take the Zugspitze mountain railway and the journey takes 1 hour 15 minutes. The first train is at 8:15am and then at hourly intervals. To get in a good day's skiing you really have to get on the 8:15 train. On my first day I turned up to buy my lift pass at 9:15 and had to then wait an hour for the next train, so it was 11:30 before I started skiing... lesson learned. If the weather is clear on Zugspitze it makes for an excellent day's skiing. On mountain prices in both areas at Garmisch-Partenkirchen for food and drink are reasonable for ski resorts... 6-10€ for a main course and 3-4€ for a beer in cafeteria service places. Zugspitze also has an a la carte bar which is 10-20€ for main courses. Both ski areas are aimed squarely at intermediates. There's only 2 black runs, and they are both do-able for intermediates like myself. The skiing standard of other guests is not as high here as it is over the border on Austria so you won't feel like too much of a clown. If you buy the “Happy Ski Card” (99€ for 3 days but there are longer duration passes available) you can also ski in nearby resorts of Seefeld, Reith, Grainau, Ehrwald, Lermoos, Biberwier, Bichlbach, Berwang and Heiterwang; some of which can be reached by the “Schnee Express” train from the main station and is free for those staying at hotels, guesthouses and apartments in Garmisch-Patenkirchen. It's best for a short break than a main holiday. I managed to ski all the pistes of Classic and Zugspitze in 3 days.
Garmisch Partenkirchen is a regular German town but with skiing nearby so you're not locked into skiing for your whole holiday if you feel like doing something else. It's very well connected to Munich and Innsbruck by train. Overall, it was a great all round experience and good value and I'll definitely be back.

2010-04-23