jamesdeluxe
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2020
After yesterday's sun-drenched visit to the two sectors on the right side of the map (Walmendingerhorn/Heuberg and Ifen), Day 2 had a virtually identical forecast for the middle circuits: Fellhorn/Kanzelwand and Söllereck. I could've made a point of hitting the fifth sector on the far left, Nebelhorn (covering 4,600 vertical feet) just to say that I skied the entire region but decided to listen to my tired legs and called it a day at 3:30.
A three-minute shuttle ride from my hotel dropped me off at the Kanzelwand gondola base in the village of Riezlern:
For a weekday during an alleged non-holiday week, it felt pretty busy with a 15-minute wait to get on the 2,900-vert gondola; however, once up at the top of Kanzelwand, all was forgiven with gorgeous views (the sign says "make it your territory"):
-- and silky spring snow:
On my way across the 2.5-mile-wide sector, I admired this attractive bowl. You can see a skin track halfway up:
At the far skier's left, I went below treeline to the valley with the snow in various stages of corn and sugar:
Fellhorn gondola base:
I went back up to the top and did the circuit in reverse:
I took the valley run to the bottom of Kanzelwand and caught a bus for Söllereck, which is known as Kleinwalsertal's family mountain with views of the valley near Oberstdorf:
From the gondola, that's Ifen in the upper left corner:
Söllereck has a handful of long, perfectly pitched low-intermediate trails and -- check this out -- a six-seat heated chair covering 590 vertical feet!
Around 2 pm, I stopped for lunch near the top of the gondola, cheese spätzle:
I had a quick chat with the dog of the manor, he didn't seem to be bothered by his missing hind leg:
Impressive, they have a beer (first in the world, they claim on their website) brewed specifically for ski tourers: Abfell-Saft
They even have a branded poem on the brewery's website (my translation below -- better in German because it rhymes). Poems were very typical in American advertising up through mid-century, but fell out of favor during the 1960s. I really should have ordered one of these beers; unfortunately, I didn't see the sign until after I'd booted up following my meal.
Die Ski am Fuß, darunter Felle,
so steigst du in die weiße Welle.
Mit ruhigem Schritt den Berg hinauf,
das Herzlein pumpt, die Lunge schnauft.
Du spürst den Körper wohlig schwitzen,
dein Blick folgt deinen Skier-Spitzen.
Der Gipfel ist noch nicht zu sehen,
es bleibt ein gutes Stück zu gehen.
Doch schließlich hast du es geschafft,
belohne dich mit Abfell-Saft®.
Skis on the foot, skins underneath
You climb into the white wave
With a calm step up the mountain
Your heart is pumping, your lungs are panting.
You feel your body sweating comfortably
Your gaze follows your ski tips
The summit is not yet visible, there's still a long way to go
But finally you made it
Reward yourself with Abfell-Saft®
So that's it from the Kleinwalsertal region, which I can without reservation recommend as a large-resort experience both for the skiing and the atmospheric villages. With only two days at my disposal, I barely scratched the surface of the available terrain -- there's easily enough here for 5+ days. The majority of the license plates I saw in town were unsurprisingly from Germany (including many who'd driven from the north of the country), followed by Austria and Switzerland, and a fair number from Belgium and Holland.
Arriving late-afternoon back at my lodging, the comfortable and convenient Sport- and Familienhotel Riezlern, which features a apartment-style format (includes a full kitchen).
Looking out from my balcony window, a small sled hill with an impressive view:
A three-minute shuttle ride from my hotel dropped me off at the Kanzelwand gondola base in the village of Riezlern:
For a weekday during an alleged non-holiday week, it felt pretty busy with a 15-minute wait to get on the 2,900-vert gondola; however, once up at the top of Kanzelwand, all was forgiven with gorgeous views (the sign says "make it your territory"):
-- and silky spring snow:
On my way across the 2.5-mile-wide sector, I admired this attractive bowl. You can see a skin track halfway up:
At the far skier's left, I went below treeline to the valley with the snow in various stages of corn and sugar:
Fellhorn gondola base:
I went back up to the top and did the circuit in reverse:
I took the valley run to the bottom of Kanzelwand and caught a bus for Söllereck, which is known as Kleinwalsertal's family mountain with views of the valley near Oberstdorf:
From the gondola, that's Ifen in the upper left corner:
Söllereck has a handful of long, perfectly pitched low-intermediate trails and -- check this out -- a six-seat heated chair covering 590 vertical feet!
Around 2 pm, I stopped for lunch near the top of the gondola, cheese spätzle:
I had a quick chat with the dog of the manor, he didn't seem to be bothered by his missing hind leg:
Impressive, they have a beer (first in the world, they claim on their website) brewed specifically for ski tourers: Abfell-Saft
They even have a branded poem on the brewery's website (my translation below -- better in German because it rhymes). Poems were very typical in American advertising up through mid-century, but fell out of favor during the 1960s. I really should have ordered one of these beers; unfortunately, I didn't see the sign until after I'd booted up following my meal.
Die Ski am Fuß, darunter Felle,
so steigst du in die weiße Welle.
Mit ruhigem Schritt den Berg hinauf,
das Herzlein pumpt, die Lunge schnauft.
Du spürst den Körper wohlig schwitzen,
dein Blick folgt deinen Skier-Spitzen.
Der Gipfel ist noch nicht zu sehen,
es bleibt ein gutes Stück zu gehen.
Doch schließlich hast du es geschafft,
belohne dich mit Abfell-Saft®.
Skis on the foot, skins underneath
You climb into the white wave
With a calm step up the mountain
Your heart is pumping, your lungs are panting.
You feel your body sweating comfortably
Your gaze follows your ski tips
The summit is not yet visible, there's still a long way to go
But finally you made it
Reward yourself with Abfell-Saft®
So that's it from the Kleinwalsertal region, which I can without reservation recommend as a large-resort experience both for the skiing and the atmospheric villages. With only two days at my disposal, I barely scratched the surface of the available terrain -- there's easily enough here for 5+ days. The majority of the license plates I saw in town were unsurprisingly from Germany (including many who'd driven from the north of the country), followed by Austria and Switzerland, and a fair number from Belgium and Holland.
Arriving late-afternoon back at my lodging, the comfortable and convenient Sport- and Familienhotel Riezlern, which features a apartment-style format (includes a full kitchen).
Looking out from my balcony window, a small sled hill with an impressive view:
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