Kitzbuhel and Westendorf Ski Photo Trip 2015

Kitzbuhel

Between the Sunday 1st and Friday 6th February 2015 Jan and I skied the Kitzbuhel and neighbouring Westendorf ski areas. There was a travel day either side of these dates and Jan booked everything independently. We flew with Jet2 from Manchester to Salzburg.

Jan pre-booked taxis from the airport to Kitzbuhel at the start and for the return. We stayed in the Hotel Tiefenbrunner in the centre of Kitzbuhel. In the event we had to use the Hotel taxi for the return because the one we had booked was stuck in traffic after a road accident on the main road to Kitzbuhel. The Hotel taxi driver knew the local roads to avoid the crash and we made it to the airport in plenty of time.

The centre of Kitzbuhel had lots of Christmas lights even though it was February and it felt a lot bigger than a village and is in fact a small town. Jan had booked us in the hotel for bed and breakfast so that we could try the local restaurants and bars for evening meals. We ate out every night except one and found some good places for food and drinks. There was quite a bit of snow in the town, not just on the mountains.

Kitzbuhel has 2 main ski areas, the Hahnenkamm and the Kitzbuheler Horn, and is split in two by a major road and the railway line with a ski area on each side.

Ordering Black and White Fine Art Prints

If you would like a black and white print as a memento of your trip, all of the black and white images are available. They were taken with a Mamiya 7 camera on Ilford 120 film and are available as high quality hand made darkroom prints in a range of sizes from 40x30cm to 70x70cm (size refers to mount and frame, image is a few cm smaller).

They all have a 6 digit number at the end of the title to uniquely identify the negative to help ordering – just type this number into the search box in the World Landscapes Gallery and it will show the image and ordering information. Not all images are included so if you can’t find the ones that interest you just send me an email using the Contact page form on this website and we’ll sort out the details between us.

Kitzbuhel Skiing

Sunday 1st February 2015: It was sunny for our first day of skiing in Kitzbuhel as we headed up the Hahnenkamm lift and over to Pengelstein. I Took a while to get used to my new Salomon boots and hire skis but we were surprised how quiet it was for a Sunday. Hopefully even fewer people tomorrow as it’s a weekday! There was decent light for photos for much of the day.

Monday 2nd February: We had steady snowfall from late afternoon Sunday 1st February. It was still snowing for this morning but eased off mid-afternoon. I didn’t carry my Mamiya 7 camera as I had some muscle spasms in my back yesterday. Thought we’d have an easy day. Put my gps in my pocket to measure the distance that we travelled, including lifts and skiing. I was surprised that we travelled 35 miles, Jan wasn’t amused. So much for an easy day!

Tuesday 3rd February: We had sunshine all day and lots of fresh snow everywhere. I started the day taking photos in Kitzbuhel for an hour or two using my big film camera, Mamiya 7 with Ilford FP4 120 film and light red filter. I took a few phone photos too for my blog on my Samsung Galaxy S3. Then it was up the Kitzbuheler Horn for our ski day; it was so quiet. Took some photos of the snow covered trees, should be good for Christmas cards.

Found some with fresh untracked snow in the foreground, snow-covered trees, then mountains in the background. I took a few wide-angle shots and was just changing lenses to take some more when 2 thoughtless skiers trashed my beautiful fresh snow. The whole mountain was covered in deep fresh snow and they had to ski through my photo. From there we skied all the way down to Kitzbuhel. An hour or two later we were out again taking twilight and night shots. This included an 8 minute exposure of 2 poorly lit churches. Not sure why I bothered, it was perishing cold. Easy day though, gps said we only covered 19 miles including lifts. Probably 1/3 is lift distance, rest is what we skied and walked. 

Thursday 5th February: The forecast was a bit iffy for today, but we ignored it and went to the farthest part of the Kitzbuhel ski area anyway.

We started with the now familiar Hahnenkamm and other lifts to reach the gondola from Pengelstein to above Jochberg. From there we worked our way across to near Hollersbach, about as far as the Kitzbuhel ski area goes. Despite the weather there were some good shots to be had. I didn’t have my proper Mamiya 7 camera and my Samsung Galaxy S3 packed up at lunchtime so just one phone photo. From there we made our way to Pass Thun, caught a bus to Jochberg and then ski lifts up the mountains behind Kitzbuhel. Late finish today, we took our skis off at 5pm, gps measured 42 miles including lifts.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we return to the Ki-West side of Westendorf, with cameras!

Westendorf Skiing

Wednesday 4th February: We decided to visit the neighbouring ski area of Ski-Welt, above Westendorf and Brixen, but it’s not entirely linked with ski lifts and involved some vehicular assistance.

We started by taking the Hahnenkamm lift at 10am followed by the Steinbergkogel lift. From there we could ski all the way to the valley floor at Pengelstein, a long run. From here we needed a bus and were just checking the timetable when it turned up. Stroke of luck and 3 minutes up the valley we were dropped off at the Ki-West lift, pronounced Key West. This took us to the Ski-Welt area with lots of runs and we skied Westendorf runs and one to Brixen. Found a nice little mountain restaurant for light refreshments sitting outside in the sunshine for a few minutes. I took a few phone photos but no proper photos as I didn’t carry my Mamiya 7 camera.

We made it to Brixen by 2.45pm and needed a ski bus back to Kitzbuhel. Unfortunately, the next one wasn’t until 4.30pm. Linking neighbouring ski areas clearly isn’t that important to them despite the marketing claims! We are not that patient so we splashed a few Euros and took a taxi to the next village of Kirchberg which is part of the Kitzbuhel ski area. From here it was a long lift from Kirchberg but it took us right to the top so that we could ski down the other side to Kitzbuhel. We took our skis off at 4.15pm just by the Hahnenkamm lift where we started.

What a great day of skiing! GPS showed that we had travelled 39 miles. Another easy day! Ski days where you travel around several ski areas used to be called ski safaris, maybe they still are. It was a jolly good day though, whatever you call it.

Friday 6th February: This was our sixth and final day of skiing from Kitzbuhel. We went back to Westendorf so that I could take some photos as I didn’t carry my Mamiya 7 camera the last time. There was low cloud for most of the day so I really only took photos when we managed to get above it. Just one roll of 120 Ilford FP4 film with 10 exposures for the day. Very flat light for skiing too but we both stayed upright all day!