An old city of stately buildings, Zell am See is a delightful place to stroll in, when you are not skiing. The town sits on a mini-peninsula that juts into a pretty alpine lake. Above the town of Zell am See is the Schmittenhöhe (Schmittenhoehe) ski area, with 46 miles of groomed slopes in open snowfields at the top and trails through the trees on lower sections. But this is only part of the attraction. Zell (Zell am See) is partnered with Kaprun and marketed with the smaller village as the "Europe Sport Region". Kaprun (10 minutes away by bus) has vast snowfields on the glacier under the Kitzsteinhorn mountain. Statistics for the overall region include 80 miles of marked trails, 56 lifts, a highest vertical of more than 2270 metres and a longest run of six kilometres. The nearest airport for Zell am See is Salzburg.
Just got back from an interesting week of skiing in Zell, Jan 20-27. This is the second time I've been skiing here. Last year the snow was fantastic. Went the week of the 21st and it was totally amazing, there was even snow at the airport, the first time in ten years apparently. The trip via the coach to the resort was snow all the way. Then Zell its self was covered. All the roofs had snow. The village was covered. Stayed last year at the Waldhof (http://www.derwaldhof.at/). A very nice 4 star hotel up the valley and away from the main centre. A great hotel with excellent food and a very friendly staff. Plus the best part was the ability to ski right to the door.
This year, however, was a complete different take. After arriving at the airport it was warm. There was no snow anywhere! The coach trip up the resort didn't look great either. The resort was clear and none of the roofs on the hotels had any snow. The centre looked completely different, still very nice, but not as nice as it was when covered in snow. This year we stayed at the Zum Hirschen (http://www.hotel-zum-hirschen.at/). A very different hotel near the centre and about 50m away from the city express lift. Food was good, but we all felt that the staff could have been a bit more friendly. Rooms were very clean and facilities were great. Just the friendliness let it down and the amount of smoke.
As for the skiing, last year was great, all the runs were open and the snow was well over 170cm. The sun was out and it couldn't have been any better. Yhis year 75% of the runs were open. A lot of the slow easy blues down to the centre were closed and had NO snow on them. Only one of the blacks was open but covered in ice and a real danger to ride. Later in the week the temperature dropped and they could start to run the cannons, which cover 90% of the slopes. By the end of the week a few more runs had opened and the snow was beginning to cover the lower runs. On the Saturday we left it snowed all day and we could see the lower runs were open back to the city express.
So in summary, if they have snow it's a great place with something for everyone. However, if the snow is limited, then the beginners will struggle as the easy blues will be closed and the experts will miss the black runs as the ice and lack of lower snow will close them too!
For a better view of the snow, a webcam and some more info have a look here - www.schmitten.at
Would definately go back again and again.
