Winterpark Postalm

There is no hiding the fact that Postalm is not an exclusive place to ski. What it does have is a peace and quiet rarely found in other alpine resorts. The area is well off the beaten track, above the valley of Lake Wolfgangsee. You get there on the Postalmstrasse, a toll alpine road that delivers a fair dose of adrenaline. On the pass there is nothing but lift equipment, garages for the piste bashers and a few inns. Life follows the rhythm of the pistes opening and closing. Fortunately, it must be said, they are groomed in true Austrian fashion, and the pass is known for reliable snow. The central point is at 1,200 m. Our first impression on arrival was that we were not in Austria at all but somewhere in the Polish Tatras or Beskids. Even the surrounding mountains are not very high. The peak above Postalm, the Braunedl, is exactly 1,900 m high. Getting onto the lifts also feels homely. Not that there are queues (we did not come across any), but there are no magnetic card readers, and you simply show your ski pass to the staff. Note that if you have an SLS, you must present it at the central ticket office, which then issues a local, rather basic card. In total Postalm has fifteen pistes with a combined length of 20 kilometres, served by 9 T-bars. The ninth, however, is some distance from the rest and is used mainly by guests of the Gasthaus Thoralm. The other T-bars and pistes form one linked system. On the right-hand side of the resort the pistes are fairly flat, and although some are nominally red, they really deserve to be blue. They are definitely more about enjoyment and views, and ideal for beginners. Postalm's real highlight is the slopes of the Gschlössl (1,452 m), reached by a curving T-bar. The three pistes from this summit are properly steep and great fun. Slalom and giant slalom races are often held on them. We ourselves watched the Austrian Championships for younger juniors in these very events. The races were extremely frustrating, in fact, because those kids (fortunately not all of them!) skied far better than we do. The leaders wore the distinctive Power Team race suits worn by the Austrian national team. All in all, Postalm is a very pretty and quiet place, tucked away somewhere among the mountains. Although it advertises itself as the largest alpine pasture in Austria developed for skiing, there is nothing special about it. One day here is the maximum. It is not worth driving several hundred kilometres for one mountain (the Gschlössl). Unless you have an SLS anyway...