Photo: VRoig

Actually, I don’t really want to be writing this article at all, for secrets are best kept if you keep them to yourself. But on the other hand I make a living of writing advice on skiing and ski holidays, and for that reason I’ll have to disclose a secret, well-kept so far, about the Danish skiers’ favourite region in Austria, Wagrain.

The secret has a name: “Die Rote 8er” – “The Red Eight”. The name refers to a gondola lift complete with piste, restaurant and hotel. The piste is wide, beautiful and quite varied. The restaurant at the halfway station is called Edelweiss Alm. It’s a cosy place and the food is really good – they serve so much more than just schnitzel. The hotel, also called Edelweiss (variation in names has never been a strong point in Austria), is just fine and richly deserves its four stars. And both piste, lift and hotel are integrated parts of the skiing area of Wagrain/Flachau. The Red Eight is actually situated right in the middle of the skiing area.

Photo: Randomduck

Most of week 7 was spent in the vicinity of the red-painted gondola lift. And we couldn’t help smiling at the paradoxical fact that our piste most of the time was significantly less populated than the main pistes in Wagrain and Flachau – even though everything is connected.

It seemed weird to us that a big part of the skiing area apparently isn’t known to the majority of the 12.500 Danes who visit Wagrain each year. The explanation is perhaps found in the prevailing zeitgeist. We’ve become so spoiled and restless that we constantly demand options. The more the better. That’s why we refuse to run down dead-end pistes. If the run doesn’t automatically lead to other pistes, we’re simply not interested. Maybe it’s because we nowadays are more concerned with quantity than quality. Apparently our demands correspond to those of the fox in his burrow: we want several exits. A piste that ends in a car park and a lift that merely takes us back to the summit don’t have the same appeal as the over-crowded piste next to it, just because the over-crowded one has three different lifts to the summit. And to be perfectly blunt, that’s plain ridiculous.

Photo: Randomduck

So allow me to strike a blow for the area around the red gondola lift: the next time you find yourself in Wagrain or Flachau, choose one of the many lifts to the summit. Once you’re up there, position yourself facing Flachau and with your back towards Wagrain. A bit below to the left you’ll see a sign with the words “Die Rote 8er”. That’s what you should aim for. Here you’ll find a long and rather beautiful woodland piste. And at the halfway station you’ll be able to choose from a range of eateries, blue pistes, a nice and well-run children’s area with a conveyor belt lift, igloos, a tepee with a bonfire, ski carousel and a kind of bobsleigh track, on which the bobsleighs have been replaced with swimming rings and inflated inner tubes.

If small children are part of your holiday entourage, you will naturally be concerned with questions of security, restroom facilities and child-friendly lifts. Those are all present in the vicinity of the middle station of the red gondola lift, and especially after the children’s area have been significantly extended in an attempt to make the area less of a secret.

Photo: Randomduck

Close to the halfway station, halfway up the mountain side between Wagrain and Flachau, you’ll find Hotel Edelweiss. 30 years ago, the building provided the daily framework for a farmer and his cattle. He did, however, have a couple of guest rooms available to tourists passing through, as per tradition in Austria. But space for the cattle was reduced each year, while tourist space was increased. And today the family has no cattle, but rather 35 rooms with room for 70-100 guests.

The young couple who took over the hotel from their parents in 2003 has managed to create a great balance between relaxed luxury and informal cosiness. Because the hotel is situated on a remote mountain, a certain natural calm descends over the place once the lifts close. Then you’re left with the swimming pool, the sauna or the common room with the fireplace, where free cake is served. During the week you’ll get acquainted with the other guests, and nobody raises an eyebrow if the children play rambunctiously in the corridors.

If you decide to drive there, be sure to remember snow chains. When we where there, it snowed every day and only 4x4’s and vehicles with snow chains had any hope of getting up the mountain – and down again. The prices for a stay with half-board varies slightly according to the size of your room and time of year, but expect a price of 70 to 120 euro per adult per day – and compared to 2-star hotels in Flachau and Wagrain, that’s very good value for your money.

There is only one problem. Many of those who checked out last winter immediately booked for the following winter, so it gets sold out pretty quickly. But don’t give up. It is still possible to find lodgings close by, for instance with some of the mountain farmers who still maintain a more equal distribution between cattle and tourists.

Written by Thomas Uhrskov

Go further: Read here about extreme attitudes towards extreme sports click here to find out skiing in Jasna, Slovakia.