The family has come up with a high level idea to fly into Austria, ski for a few days and then either drive or take a train to Venice and finish out a 10 day holiday next march. My task is to figure out where to ski - what is closest to the Italian border and then get the flights and hotels reserved. Has anyone here skied in Austria with recommendations on resort areas, etc? thanks!

Ski in Cortina,Italy then on to Venice, this itinerary probably best done by car. Or ski in the Stubaital area outside of Innsbruck and take train from Innsbruck to Venice. There are busses to Stubaital from Innsbnruck. Or ski in the Groednertal/Passo di Sella north of Bolzano (Italy), and again take train from Bolzano to Venice. (Can't think right now of the Italian name of Groednertal,but most maps of the area are German/Italian bi-lingual) You can get to the Passo di Sella ski area by bus from Bolzano.

Ski Innsbruck.

Thanks for the suggestions. I guess the next question would be: is it better to fly in/out of Venice or do some kind of open jaw if we ski Innsbruck. According to mapquest, its a 4 hour drive from Innsbruck to Venice (don't know if that is correct either). How far is Cortina from Venice??

Open jaw is always preferable. Anything that lets you spend more time vacationing is great Cortina to Venice would be a 2-3 hour drive.

To clarify, two hours being good weather, three being bad.