Austria 

Spotlight On Sölden

(Originally written for OnTheSnow.com)
by Ted Heck

People who ski fast and play hard are the target market for this lively village in the Ötztal, a valley 50 miles southwest of Innsbruck, capital of the Austrian state of Tyrol.

Tyrol has 119 ski resorts and Sölden would rate high on any skier’s Top 10 list. It is certainly a favorite for those who are young or act young. It is a place where egos flourish. Nobody is here to hide. A noisy crowd comes to ski or snowboard and make the resort one of the largest in the country in the number of skier visits. But they come to sing and dance, too. Non-stop for some, from late afternoon until discos close in early morning.

Ice bars are common in the Austrian Alps, often at mid-mountain. But in Sölden several are on the main street, along with pubs so crowded that a line forms outside with people waiting to get in. The sound has no trouble getting out and can be heard a block away. Inside, with a beer or hot wine glass in hand, patrons roll with the music, but you can’t tell who is dancing with whom.

And this is all before dinner.

Konrad of the tourist office was of the right age for reveling and offered to show me some nightspots. But I demurred. I heard enough disco during the day high up at Giggi Treff, one of 22 mountain inns and restaurants. Plus he had worked me too hard.

We had gotten an early start on a Saturday morning, the turn-around day in resorts. Slopes were uncrowded as he led me across huge expanses of snow. We rode new lifts to the Golden Gate, a bridge to new terrain on, over and around the Rettenbach and Tiefenbach glaciers. Snow was firm but groomed, so edging worked when I gave up trying to catch Konrad.

We sped along blue and red boulevards and found better snow on the Schwarzkogel, a black diamond slope with a continuous spiral. Lighted at night, it ends at a stunning restaurant, a modern, high-ceilinged building with spectacular vistas. It was just one of many places to see or be seen.

One of our runs was on a ledge on the face of a glacier, with a high wall of blue ice that Konrad thinks I should come back to climb in summer. No dice, I told him, but I might come back for summer skiing.

From a vantage point he waved toward another valley where the Ice Man of Similaun was found in 1991. The discovery of the 5,000-year-old body excited archeologists around the world and ignited a jurisdictional dispute between Austria and Italy over which turf the man died on. The Italians won, because the Ice Man is now being studied in their country and is the main attraction of the museum in Bolzano..

Konrad and I only scratched the surface of this domain that has 89 miles of prepared slopes, 17 of which are considered difficult. Off-piste possibilities abound in a space that accommodates a mile-high vertical. Thirty-five lifts include an eight-passenger gondola. The resort has recently dug a ski-through tunnel for skiers between the two main glaciers.

Cross country skiers have 10 miles of tracks; winter hikers have 18.

Vacationers can hire a bed for as little as $40 a day or stay in a three-star hotel with half-board for under $100 in high season of February to mid-March.

Sölden is a family resort, too. Guests will find the Leisure Arena has a different après ski scene. It is across the river that cuts through the town and is a remarkable edifice for a village. Parents can work out on fitness equipment, while kids swim, shoot baskets or bullets and serve aces.