Conditions Report
Report from January 3, 2024
Started off this morning in Kitzbühel. I walked about five minutes to the lift in ski boots.
The issue here is small rocks are used for traction when it snows in town. In a dry period like now, these destroy the bottom of boots. I even noticed some damage to my GripWalk soles.
It’s hard not to notice the innovative lift infrastructure. It seems every other lift is a heated six/eight pack bubble.
Although with upgraded lifts, Europeans still do not have structure when it comes to lift lines.
The more crowded it became, the closer people decided to get. Skis were getting stepped on and people packed together rather than forming a line.
Sometimes, we take line structure for granted in North America.
What really surprised me was the crowds staying on piste. According to a Kitzbühel local, it is technically not allowed to ski off piste. This has to do with insurance and liability reasons where skiers are not covered on any off-piste runs. In Europe, this typically means anything not groomed.
Despite this, most lift-accessed terrain was skied out.
On a typical run, local skiers were crowding any groomed pistes. Most had on-piste skis with waist widths ranging from 60 mm to 80 mm underfoot. It was easy to get away by simply skiing off-piste.
Lift D8 is a four-seater older chair on the backside from Kirchberg. The lift didn’t see a line more than a minute long all day. I was able to get quite a few laps here and found some untouched snow from the previous storm.
There were people hammocking above me on avalanche fences.
The last run down to town included parts of the Streif downhill course. The mountain is currently in preparation to hold the most dangerous downhill race in less than two weeks January 15-21, 2024.
To learn more about the race, here is the Red Bull race overview and some historic crashes. Seeing the Mausefall in person was quite daunting. This jump comes after the second turn only eight seconds into the race and averages 30m-60m (~100ft-200ft).
The run is pure ice, and parts of it today resemble the blue in glaciers. Here is a video of hobby skiers attempting to get out of the start gate.
Despite the ice, the sun and an uncrowded off-piste made for an enjoyable day. Thanks, Kitzbühel!
Snow Numbers
Forecast
