Family holidays can go downhill quickly – but that’s OK if you’re on skis, says NIGEL HEATH
THEY thought I was crazy. Jetting off on a family skiing holiday to Austria via busy Heathrow with a party of six adults, a five-year-old, a four-year-old and a 15-month-old baby in a buggy – and on the first Saturday of the Easter holidays.
Add to that nine suitcases to be checked in together with three bulky child car seat bags and the buggy, not to mention the hordes of people everywhere even though it was only 7am.
The situation called for a measure of calm, I told myself.
But the friendly man at check-in wasn’t at all phased by five trolleys piled high with luggage and nine passports. In no time at all we were all safely through to the relative calm of Terminal Two’s massive departure lounge.
But then, to our surprise, the size of our party proved an advantage at the departure gate. With baby buggy in the lead, we were all priority boarded onto our Lufthansa flight to Munich.
At the other end, my wife Jenny’s son James and his wife Fiona, who arranged the trip, had hired two people-carriers. Four hours and some stunning Alpine scenery later, we drove into the picturesque village of Obergurgl. At nearly 2,000m above sea level, it is one of the highest ski resorts in the Austrian Alps.
Better still, our Hotel Pirchhuett was almost opposite a ski school and, despite it being early April, there was still plenty of fresh snow on the ground.
This friendly hotel was built in Alpine style 30 years ago by husbandand-wife team Martin and Andrea Gruner, and they have run it ever since.
Martin, who was born in the village, was also a ski instructor until two years ago and both their son and daughter have followed in his footsteps.
No sooner had we arrived and checked in then everyone, excluding Jenny and I, and baby Elvy, went off to buy lift passes and get kitted out.
After early nights all round, 10am next day saw us joining dozens of other parents delivering their offspring to ski school.
While five-year-old Archie had lots of previous experience and was soon off up the mountain by gondola with his group, it was the first time on skis for his four-year-old cousin, May. We spent the morning watching as she and 20 other tots made their first cautious moves.
So the pattern was set for the next few days, with mums and dads swishing down to join their children for lunch, then taking to the slopes again until it was time to collect them at 3.30pm.
Being so close to the end of the season there were no tiresome queues for the gondolas, chair lifts and button tows. However, come the evening, we found it necessary to book an early supper in the hotel restaurants where the choice and quality was excellent.
One morning Jenny and I, with baby in buggy, arranged to meet the rest of the family at a mountain-top restaurant for lunch and I found the charge of €46 for just one trip up and down for two just a bit hard to swallow.
It became a little more palatable when I learned that all the revenue from the lift companies in Obergurgl and neighbouring Hochgurgl is reinvested in improvements to the ski areas.
Anyway, there were lots of delicious Tyrolean dishes on the lunchtime menu at reasonable prices and all was forgotten when I tucked in to a hash brown that covered my plate like a pancake, accompanied by a healthy portion of cold smoked salmon with cress and cream.
Après ski was in full swing when our family reassembled in a busy outdoor café near the gondola station at the bottom of the mountain, some members of the party having skied all the way down. It was definitely time for glühwein.
The mulled wine tasted especially good as we listened to some lively music and it started snowing for the second time that day.
Just across the street we visited the small shop run by Bernhard Scheiber who, like our host Martin, was born in the village. He is a ski instructor in the winter and turns wood-carver during the summer.
The last Thursday morning of our holiday turned out to be the special time when all the proud parents assembled on the slope beside the ski school to watch their youngsters compete in a series of group time-trial races.
It was amazing to see just how many youngsters took to the junior slalom course like ducks to water.
Obergurgl is really only a winter ski resort, with most of the hotels closing between the end of April and mid-November.
The proof of its popularity lies in the fact that many families make reservations for the following year when they leave, and early booking is wise.
It is not unusual for 700,000 room nights to sell during a single season.
After our family visit, I can