Skiing — Day 4: Back to Auffach/Inneralpbach Ski Area — back on the ski bus
More fun skiing the Auffach/Inneralpbach Ski Area
January 2015
On day 3 of my ski trip to Niederau, Austria, I skied the Auffach/Inneralpbach Ski Area. I enjoyed it so much that I returned for day 4 of the trip.
Ski buses — red or yellow?
As I waited for the ski bus outside the Hotel Harfenwirt, one thing was noticeable — the slopes of Niederau were much quieter. The Austrians had gone back to work after the public holiday.
In Niederau, there are two types of buses: yellow and red.
The red buses go to Worgl and the yellow buses to Auffach. You know when a yellow bus is coming as it has to go up the valley to turn around at the end of its route. If you see it going up the valley, you have 5–10 minutes to get to the stop. The buses to Auffach ran every 15 to 29 minutes from 8:20 am to 9:55 am, and then every 30 minutes or so.
Auffach/Inneralpbach Ski Area
Back at the Auffach/Inneralpbach Ski Area, it was quieter than on day 3. There were fewer cars in the carpark and fewer people on the slopes.
The weather was sunny, and the snow conditions were good.
No crowds, sunshine and good snow — can it get any better?
Mystery solved — Board covers
On day three, I got on a lift, and there were a lot of large plastic covers on the seat. I wondered what they were. They looked like hats for giants.
Today I discovered they are snowboard “condoms”.
Snowboarders have to put them on top of their snowboards to prevent the boards from scratching the inside of the windows on gondola lifts.
So now I know.
Lunch stop at Hornboden, Alpbachtal
I stopped for lunch at Hornboden, just below the top of the Wiedersbergerhornbahn gondola.
Hornboden has two floors and ample outside seating. It is a big place with some good views.
The upper floor is a restaurant, and the lower floor is a self-service café.
The self-service café had a good range of foods — pizzas, soups, desserts, traditional Austrian dishes etc. All the food was at mountain prices.
There were two open Wi-Fi stations — neither of which worked.
An alternative lunch stop at the top of Wiedersberger Horn
I saw this at the top of Wiedersberger Horn.
A novel use for shipping containers — a mountain top restaurant.
