Alpenostrand is the German word for the eastern fringe of the Alps ranging from the Vienna region in the North-East to Graz and Maribor (Slovenia) in the South.
Some time ago Wade, an American student on his nouveau grand tour in Europe, sent me an e-mail asking for some beta on skiing possibilities in Austria. He was honest, explaining that he initially wanted to go to Switzerland for his university studies because he expected to find better skiing there. However, he missed a deadline and ended up in Vienna.
Of course I was happy to assure him that going to Vienna would not lead to a dead end skiing wise. When the storms got rolling in again in late March Wade, my buddy Gernot, Wade and myself left Vienna early in the morning for a skiing outing near the Semmering. We intended to use the new powder snow for some ski touring and lift-accessed freeride.
Wade was with his Bros from PMGear, a widely acclaimed independent ski manufacturer based in Reno. We were pretty sure that it was a world premiere for Bros being skied at the Alpenostrand near Vienna. Our day started with a skin up over the backside of the Stuhleck (1782m). We got in some really nice turns in fresh March powder before noon. The runs around the Stuhleck were fun. Some steep and open slopes, some treeskiing and some hidden gullies guaranteed a great variety of skiing.
Skiing powder near Vienna
However, the initially cold but sunny weather started to turn sour – rising temperatures and beginning rain quickly turned the snow into ‘mashed potatoes’. It was time for a change.
Skiing in a gully, Stuhleck
We left Stuhleck and headed towards the Niederalpl, a rather small and somewhat overlooked ski resort with nice tree lines. The snow was rotten here as well, but we managed to enjoy the resulting slush fest anyway. The rising temperatures were a sign that the corn time was near and soon we would ski the many couloirs in the limestone massifs of Eastern Austria.
