Start of the ski season Ischgl 2011-2012

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In November 2011 the Myslopes.com team was present at the official opening of the 2011-2012 ski season in Ischgl. This year the official opening concert was given by the international pop band Roxette.

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The Journey
While our photographer made the journey by car, we went to Austria by plane. A flight to the nearby Innsbruck can be booked at amongst others British Airways, Easyjet, Austrian Airlines and Airberlin. (Bookable from London with Easyjet or British Airways ).

The Concert
The 'Top of the mountain concert' in Ischgl took place down in the village, close to the Silvretta ski lift. An estimated 15.000-20.000 people were treated to Roxette-classics like Joyride, The Look and Sleeping in my car. Although the band Roxette hasn't had much success in the last years, the apres-ski atmosphere was great at the concert grounds and had the whole village was full of apres-ski fun after the concert.

This shows once again that the atmosphere and apres-ski entertainment are at least as important as the state of the slopes at the season opening and closing in Ischgl (we were here previously in 2010).

Skiing, snowboarding, the slopes
Before we came to Ischgl, we were a bit concerned about the amount of slopes available for skiing. There hadn't been much snowfall at all in the Alps, so we weren't sure we would be able to ski at the end of November this year.

When taking he gondola up the mountain, there wasn't much snow to see, but with the work of no less than 1000 snow canons (and most certainly a lot of hard work) our expectations proved to be entirely wrong. We came to enjoy 71 kilometers of slopes!

On Saturday morning many of the snow making machines were on at some times, so you got sprayed by the snow sometimes while skiing down, but this is something we happily accepted as part of the early season conditions.

Especially the slopes surrounding Alp Trida were in good condition, and situated perfectly in the sun. The descents towards the Palinkopf and immediately next to the funpark were also ideally groomed, wide-stretched and not too busy. All in all very nice to make our first ski kilometers of the season on this snow and in this area!

When mother nature brings Ischgl real snow in the coming weeks, we do expect the remaining of the in total 210 kilometers of slopes will be added to this great ski area. (click here for the up-to-date weather forecast and snow information in Ischgl)

Restaurants, apres-ski and nightlife
Eventhough this wasn't our first time in Ischgl, we discovered new and fun apres-ski bars and restaurants. Besides the apres-ski bars that are always great like Niki's Stadl, Trofana Alm and the Kuhstahll , we found two more nice bars that we hadn't been to before: The Schatzi Bar and the Romanticas Champagne Bar. In the Schatzi Bar your drinks are made more fun by a large amount of dancing girls on top of the bar, and in the Romanticas Champagne Bar you can enjoy a more quiet cocktail or of course, champagne. Both are nice bars to enjoy a drink or two after skiing.

In the village we enjoyed a good dinner at Bärafalla, the restaurant located above the Kuhstall. Nice pizzas from their own stone oven as well as local Tirolean specialities like Tiroler Rösti, Käsespätzl and delicious Apfelstrudl.

On the slopes we have tried the more expensive as well as more affordable lunch. The best according to us in the higher segment were the service restaurants of La Marmotte on Alp Trida and the Alphutte at the Ideralp .

If you are looking for a more affordable lunch there is plenty of choice in Ischgl as well. You will find local favourites like Schnitzel and Germknödel in all self-service restaurants on and around the slopes. We can recommend the Paznauner Taja. To get here, you need to ski a bit further into the ski area, but it is worth the trip.

Conclusion
People who also want to try skiing outside the main season for a possible extra ski-trip, there are more and more great options like Ischgl and Val Thorens (Dutch week), which both make the opening and closing of the season into one big party. According to us Ischgl really stands out and is one of our absolute favourite ski holiday destinations!