Just back from the perfect family trip to Galtür. Staying in the Hotel Marangun before it becomes the only collection of luxury apartments in Galtür by the end of December 2015.
We had 4 days in Galtür where the children were incredibly well looked after in the ski school. I have never known a ski resort that is so well organised around the little ones. For 15 Euros, they can be taken off for lunch at the Wirlerhof too.
This enabled the grown-ups to venture out for the occasional lunch on the mountain and to take advantage of the conditions.
We had everything in those 4 days: blazing sun, cold temperatures and lots of fresh snow.
Best run in Galtür: I can recommend the offpiste under the Birkhahnbahn through the powder. A quick journey on the chairlift to the top and then almost straight off the piste and away from the other skiers.
This is real bird-nest skiing through the trees with snow that flies up in the face on the steeper, faster turns. Very nice to see a pair of Birkhahn (Black Grouse) one morning too.
Of the 4 days in Galtür, we had 3 mornings of powder skiing. The last one was in beautiful sunshine with a dreamy view down the valley to Galtür. Note the colour of sky, which here they call Paznaun blue.
Although we had to share the deep snow with fairer weather powder skiers, we still found a few spots for our fresh tracks, which is what it’s all about.
For the last 3 days, we hopped on the bus and took the whole family down to Ischgl where we spent most of the time on the long blue runs from the top of Zeblasbahn down to bottom of the 23 where the Höllkar starts. Easy enough for the whole family with a couple of powder opportunities to the side whilst the ladies chaperoned the Kinder down.
Then something amazing happened. The children and the wives packed in at 3 … just as the clouds disappeared leaving a big blue.
Within the hour, we had made it to the top of the Piz Val Gronda: the mother of all cable cars and far away from the Idalp so it’s strangely quiet bar a few serious, ABS-wearing types with powder and touring skis (not sure the ice picks were necessary).
From the top, we had the last run down under the cable car and made turns under the blue sky through steep, untouched snow that had fallen over night.
Deep enough to control the speed of descent and long enough to make a few dozen turns without stopping.
All on our own too.
