Tami

My husband and I are considering a trip to Austria, the middle of February. However, in scanning messages on Austria, I noticed a comment on the lack of snow last year in February. I never considered the lack of snow to be a problem, in Austria. Anyone out there with experience skiing in February have any comments?

Dick

Many of the Austrian resorts are at somewhat lower elevations than other places in the Alps and can have snow problems in bad years. We were at one of the more snow-sure resorts in early March last year (Ischgl), and even there things were a bit scratchy until a nice snowfall arrived on our second day there.

Sue

After a family ski trip to Fr. Alpes (Serre Chevalier ski domaine)in March, 2000, I have watched snow patterns online throughout the Alpes since then. Certainly not a long time, but I think I can safely say that that Alpine snow is variable as to where, when, and how much. We were in the southern Alpes, and up until 2 days before we got there, they were still on snow that had fallen end of Dec. The next year, the so. Alpes had early and best snow for most of the season. This makes it hard, esp. when you are coming from USA and need to make plans early on. Good luck, much snow, and happy skiing!

Ann

Tami, the others who have commented about the lower elevation in Austria and the iffy snow conditions are correct. However, if it helps, February IS high season in the German and Austrian alps, so unless it's a very unusual year (which the 2001/2002 season was), you should have the best ski conditions by going that month. I'm always troubled when people think they will be able to ski in December or even January... now THAT's iffy! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you to have great snow; it's a wonderful place to ski, esp. if you like cross-country as well as downhill.

Ingo

The previous posters are correct, as far as I know from my own experience. Many Austrian resort (also famous resort like Kitzb&uuml;hel) are at lower elevation. They had serious problems with snow over the past years.<BR><BR>I highly recommend to choose a resort at higher elevation (preferrably with glacier) and close to the Alpine main crest. So you can be sure that the resort gets snow, no matter if there is snowing at the southern or northern side of the Alps. Such resorts are e.g. Obergurgl, Stubai valley, Hintertux.<BR><BR>I hope we get a better winter season this year!<BR><BR>Ingo

liz

Hi,<BR>We skied St. Anton and Lech the first week of February last year. Lech and Zuers are higher resorts and very snow sure, but much more expensive than St. Anton. St. A was also very crowded with tons of British tourists, we hated the crowded slopes and no snow at all in the town, and a slushy run back. But we LOVED the Hotel Post and the deal we got there was amazing. So we hopped in our rental car every morning and drove 25 gorgeous minutes to Lech to ski their exclusive, uncrowded, snowy slopes. The restaurants in Oberlech are amazing -- we had the best cream of lobster soup ever! On a mountain! And beautiful people. If you want sure snow, go for Lech or Zuers but consider staying at the Hotel Post in St. Anton, which has a gorgeous pool-spa area, great food and very nice hospitality. St. Anton is also a more hopping town than Lech, the local disco was just downstairs from the hotel.

Steve

I have tried to ski the Alps in Dec, Jan, Feb, and Mar in different years. The first year we reserved a room for 10 days at the St. Anton Post Hotel in late January and there was lots of snow. (We flew to Vienna and took the train to St Anton.) However, several locals we met on the slopes told us we were lucky to have the conditions we had.<BR><BR>The following years, we watched / tracked Alpine snow coverage from home (Dallas) and gave up on trying to make advance reservations because the snowfall seemed so unpredictable -- even though the resorts claimed to have "great conditions". So for the last 5 years we have flown to Munich, rented a car and hoped for the best. If you are adventurous and are content to spend some time driving . . . you won't be disappointed. We've had the best luck in late January, early Feb, all within about 2 hours drive from Garmisch.<BR><BR>Steve