dossier
Snowshoeing in Austria
TravelInformation
Season: January to March with limited departure dates. 8 dayholidays can start on; 18th, 19th or 20th Jan; 8th, 9th, or 10th Feb; or 1st,2nd or 3rd of Mar. Other dates may be possible but a supplement would bepayable.
Start of Tour: The first Hotel: in Bad Goisern.
End of Tour: The tour ends on Day8 in Gosau. If you are flying out of Vienna in the early afternoon, you willhave to take a taxi to the train station in Bad Goisern to take the 06.30 or 07.30train to get to Vienna airport in time. The train back to Vienna and transporton to the airport: takes 4 to 4½ hours.
(Note that thetrain/shuttle bus transfers are not included in the holiday price.)
What's Included
The price is based on two people sharing a twin or doubleroom and includes good Bed & Breakfast accommodation and evening meals on 6evenings. There is no meal included on the third night in Bad Goisern asthere are many local restaurants to try or perhaps an evening in Bad Ischl orHallstatt.
Six days snowshoe and pole hire is included. These will bedelivered by the guide when he arrives to take you out for the day on day 2 ofthe holiday.
Two days guiding for approx 5 or 6 hours in included. Thiswill normally be on day 2 and day 5 but may be postponed in the event of unsafeconditions.
Not included: Train, bus or cable car serviceswithin Austria Packed lunches, snacks and drinks, entry fees etc.
General Information
Baths: it is not normal for your room to have a bath, themain reason being that it takes up a lot of space, some hotels/guesthouses mayhave a separate room in the house where a bath is available to guests, but inthe main expect showers.
Breakfast: in countries such as Austria they are usually buffetstyle, please don’t offend your hosts by making up a picnic lunch from thebreakfast buffet unless it has been specifically organised for you. It isimportant for you to tell us if you have any dietary requirements when you bookyour holiday so that we can inform everyone that you are staying with.
Single Supplements: are payable on most of our tours. The singlesupplement guarantees the privacy of your own room, however, rooms can at timesbe small and in some places may not enjoy the same facilities as double/twinrooms.
Language: When in this part of Austria you will not necessarilycome across people speaking English. Remember you have left home to find thingsdifferent.
Luggage: When moving hotels your luggagemay be taken to you room awaiting your arrival. However don’t be surprised ifyour luggage is waiting for you in reception for you to take up to your room.
Twin Rooms: A twin room in this part ofAustria often means two mattresses within 1 wooden frame together with twoseparate duvets or one large mattress with two separate duvets. The two bedscannot be separated.
Accommodation & Meals
Accommodation is on a half board basis for 6 nights (6evening meals included); in hotels of 3 star standard. All rooms have ensuitefacilities. Lunches are not included in the tour cost. However,picnic materials can be readily bought on weekdays in each of the towns. Or youcould eat a prepared meal at one of the restaurants, inns or Mountain Huts thatyou pass on the way on a couple of days. Packed lunches for an additionalcharge, can also normally be provided by the hotels if requested the eveningbefore. It is regarded as improper to prepare a picnic from breakfast materials.
Please note that we are not able to guarantee theaccommodation exactly, but the descriptions of the hotels and guesthouses beloware the ones normally used.
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Night: 1, 2 and 3 In Bad Goisern. A WarmWelcome awaits you at our 3 star hotel; located near the center of town. It isa comfortable hotel located within walking distance of the railway station andthe start or finish of quite a few of the routes. Rooms have regional characterand there is a great bar/restaurant and terrace. It is a good place to enjoythe feeling of getting away from it all!
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Night: 4, 5, 6 and 7 In Gosau. We use anattractive, efficient modern hotel in the great rural setting of the broadGosau Valley. Lovely mountain views over to the Gosaukaum mountains from thedining room and south facing bedrooms and great forest and village views inother directions. Once again you have a friendly and attentive service and goodcooking from sister act Brigitte and Anna who run the establishment. Anna makessome great desserts everyday in the best Austrian tradition! There isalso a drying room.
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Levelof Difficulty
Fitness: We grade this tour as moderate; anyone used to hillwalking with a daily height gain/loss of up to 500m should find the tour withintheir capability. Snowshoeing is harder than walking but makes walking on snowpossible, you have to lift your feet higher for each step, which gets harder assnow gets deeper or softer. You will generally go more slowly than you wouldwithout snow. The program can be tailored to your needs after the first day withthe guide when you can judge how far you can manage each day. You may traversesome steep hillsides but there is not really any element of exposure.
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Day Stages: A good selection of routesinvolve 4 to 6 hours of snowshoeing but in discussion with the guide you may beable to shorten routes or try something a little more challenging if required.It is possible to hire the guide for further days if required. This can be donewhilst in resort and is especially easy from the second hotel as the owner of theguiding organization is the cousin of the hotelier and lives next door.
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Waymarking: As one would expect in Austria,the trails are generally very well marked and often signposted, but in wintermany of these marks are covered in snow. It is therefore essential to bothcarry and be able to use a map and compass for route finding.
Equipment
The most important equipment for this tour is a good pair ofsemi-rigid waterproof boots with good ankle support. Add to these winter socks,gaiters and your normal winter walking clothes, including the waterproofs, andyou should be fine. The layering system is the best, i.e. a number of thinlayers of warm clothing rather than one thick coat. You need to be able tocontrol your temperature by removing or adding layers when required. You willalso need a good pair of sunglasses or goggles, sun hat and warm hat, a goodpair of gloves, a high factor sun cream and lip protection.
A mobile phone is recommended for use to call for help in anemergency.
Outline Itinerary
Please note that the routes mentioned below are the routesmore likely to be confirmed as safe by the guide. Please be flexible in yourapproach to route selection and take note of the information about snowconditions issued locally.
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Day 1: Fly to Vienna and take the airport shuttle buses,then trains to Bad Goisern. There are trains more or less hourly throughout theday. For dates and times you could look at the Austrian railways site at:www.oebb.at. Type in the dates of your arrival to prearm you with thebest trains to coincide with your arrival in Austria.
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Once arrived, settle into your hotel, you can stroll aroundthe town and down to the river if you want to go out before dinner at thehotel.
Day 2 and 3: From Bad Goisern thenormal 2 routes are to Hutteneck and a walk on the cross-country skitrail called ‘Panprama Nova’. These take about 4 or 5 hours each depending onconditions with a climb of up to 300m. The guide will meet you at approx9.30 in the morning of day 2 and bring your snowshoes and poles with him. Atfirst you will be shown how to walk in snowshoes if you have not done thisbefore, then the guide will take you on your first walk. This may be one of theabove-mentioned routes or another local trail. During the day with the guide hewill talk through the other routes in your notes and perhaps suggest othersthat suite the prevailing conditions.
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Day 4: You need to have your bags packed and in reception inthe morning so that they can be transferred to the second hotel. The choice ofwalking destination is however yours. Stay in the mountains around Bad Goisern,visit Bad Ischl, go to Obertraun and up the cable car, visit and snowshoe fromHallstatt or go to Gosau and try a walk from their. It will be necessary to usethe good local bus services whichever option you take. These fares are notincluded.
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Days 5, 6 and 7: The guide will meet you on themorning of day 5 and take you on a route to introduce you to the mountainsaround Gosau. Routes from Gosau include an easier route from Gosausee toEbenalm, which has just 200m of ascent and takes abort 3½ hours with greatviews of the rocky spires of the Gosaukamm. A longer route heads to the AustrianAlpine club Goisererhutte, which involves a 6 hour return trip and 900m ofascent but this can be cut short at Iglmoos Alm, reducing the climb to 500m butstill delivering fine views of the Hoher Dachstein. Another route rubsshoulders with the alpine skiers, following the Panoramaweg along the Gosautal.Hallstatt and Obertraun are also accessible from Gosau by regular bus services.
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Day 8: Depart. After breakfast return to your pointof departure. Allow enough time for the bus or taxi to Bad Goisern and yourtrain journey to arrive for your check in time. If you are on the internet, youcould look at the Austrian railways site at: www.oebb.at. Type in thedates of your departure to match your flight.
On this Tour we provide you with
Route notes and maps and the essential advise of the localguide. Please be sure to ask advise about snow conditions before undertakingany route and we will ask you to leave a record with the hoteliers about whereyou are going and when you expect to be back.