Auffach Sneeuwverwachting

Been in Auffach since 14th Dec (18th Jan now). Auffach is easily the best resort in the Wildschonau. It has a great mountain restaurant in the Gipfo-Hit where service is rapid and the food, normally, way better than anything you'll find in the Alps (and not just in Austria) and at a very fair price. You'd even have to say it's good value and much cheaper and better than offerings lower down in other nearby resorts. The Gruttin Stadl bar, in Auffach village, itself, and at the foot of Red 2, is also perfect: an architect variation on the vernacular circular bar, it's actually oval. Filled mostly with German, Austrian and Dutch clientele, the atmosphere is always very friendly and lively without being intimidating. The staff are all very local and are very welcoming. The snow, this year, has been the worst for twenty years, they say. In fact, there is enough skiing, if you get tactical on the mountain and arrive for first lifts. This year, with higher temperatures, it's mostly done by 1pm-1.30pm but if you ski hard and avoid the congested pistes and lifts (below the Gipfo-Hit), you can get four hours of skiing in without having to fight for space on the snow. Before Christmas was great: snow from November still hanging about, perfect blue skies and empty slopes. The bigger issue is snow coverage generally: you would be advised only to book once you know the snow is there and deeper than the reported 60cm which amounts to minimal coverage, in reality. But, Austria isn't really about gym-skiing, or the pounding of congested slopes, it's about a pace of life that includes eating, drinking, talking to the locals, the other foreign skiers in the lifts and bars and enjoying the really pretty countryside and architecture, whether there's blanket snow coverage or not. All of that is very seductive.