I will do a report… have a video and the ATC sound track.
LOWS is ultra slick and professional; ATC and everyone on the ground equally. Rarely have I seen anything like it. I got mixed in really nicely with Easyjets etc, vectoring me through the LOC (and telling me they will do that) etc. GA-affordable too, for occassional trips, at ~€80 for a TB20, IFR approach, landing, 3 nights’ parking (no hangar; they do that for €40/night). Loads of parking. Would be good for a fly-in if there is something to do around there. They have only one major issue: they would not put up the EuroGA leaflets 
As for Obertauern and skiing, I would not pay to go there. Admittedly it was some country’s half term holiday so millions of kids everywhere, but also loads of snowboarders were having sitting conferences in the middle of the slopes. The problem is the slopes are mostly narrow. The blues are “quite red” in some places (lots of “tourism development” going on) and these bits get badly churned up very early in the day. Even if the place was empty I would not bother because there are much better places to ski and develop one’s skiing. But lots of people like that sort of thing. I could understsand it if it was cheap, but it isn’t; it is more or less Zermatt-priced. And next week the prices hike up, we were told because it is the German half term and they pay more. A good aspect of Obertauern is that you can muck about going up one lift after another and work your way all around the slopes in perhaps one day – because they are joined up. But basically they took some random terrain and built a ski resort there 
An update to my previous posts.
After some stressful last minute communications with the front office of the FBO providing ground services and initially yes then no to electric outlet for plug in engine heating service. I found that upon arrival the ground staff knew all about my need for a plug in. I stressed that I wont need a plug in if the temps the night before departure were forecast to be above freezing and 3C+ the day of departure. I set up the system so all they needed to do was to plug the extension chord into the outlet. I explained the system to the line guy. He gave me a phone number which I was to call if I wanted to be plugged in. Luckily the temps stayed above 0C at night and 5-6 C during the day. So I did not call. When I arrived at the plane for departure I found the plane plugged in and nice and toasty warm. I was so surprised by the initiative, I readily gave the guy 4 Euros for taking the initiative and using common sense in the continent of “No”.
Here are some specifics, I was charged:
Landing fee 31.10
Parking Charge 4x 6.22= 24.88
Approach Control Fee 19.38
Transportation GAC fee 9.30
TAX @20% 16.93
Total 101.59
The Airport and FBO are up to US mid sized airport standards. Helpful front desk with a smile although I did not see free coffee or donuts. The Pilot Lounge is up to US standards as well as a large briefing room. The Met office was closed when I walked in. The ground personnel where already described as great.
Obertauern for Skiing was perfect with 4 stars. The entire town is surrounded by ski lifts and ski slopes. So walking out of the hotel and turning right or left within 100-200 meters there is a lift. The slopes are more challenging than for the average intermediate skier. The easiest Piste were more intermediate than beginner. Although there were lots and lots of beginners taking classes. I skied a few Reds they were steep well groomed but by 1030 a lot had mounds of snow build ups which you would normally expect to see that by mid afternoon.
I specifically picked that weekend cause neither the Austrian or Germans had a school holiday. Never knew the Duch were so into skiing as the whole resort town was taken over by them. For my taste way too many people.
Hotel Samson was billed as a 4 star but I would barely give it 3. There was nobody at the reception and had to walk across the street to a partner hotel to get someone to walk back with us and give us keys. Basically a self serve hotel. The breakfast was OK but started at 0800. way too late for breakfast. Should have started latest 0730. That was my biggest complaint. The Spa area was spartan. But I did have a sauna show with an Austrian couple whose wife used scented water while using a towel to circulate the air in a “natural” fashion. I asked the husband if, his wife was able to stay so slim by doing sauna Master duties? He said, no, she is just an Austrian housewife. Gee I have a German Frau I told him but she doesnt do this. He said well next time come to Austria first. Its difficult to laugh when the air is searing hot.
Had a great time conversing about planes and GA travel with Peter. Too bad more people did not join us because the weather was perfect as can be seem by Peters link.
I stayed at the Hotel Taverne which at some €80/night was half the price of anything else at Obertauern, probably due to the pole dancing which ran downstairs till about 1am (only partly kidding ). Even wax earplugs didn’t do the job. But going to bed 9pm sorted it…
In my ~13 ski trips I have never seen such crowds. If this was in Britain, there would be fighting to get onto the lifts
My next trip will be to Obergurgl, though with Justine and thus not in the TB20. This will be interesting because the videos suggest it is rather like Madonna, with huge wide open slopes and no overcrowding
and it quite driveable from Bolzano
I thought Salzburg was a great airport. Really well organised – by European standards.
Well, if you though you could cross the Timmelsjoch in winter (by car), then you better check that .
Gurgl is not accessible from Bolzano. It is from Innsbruck.
Salzburg has always been a good airport. The only problem for ski trips is the saturday “ban” for GA.
Actually Obergurgl is not accessible from Innsbruck either, under about €300 which is outrageous for such a short distance No evident shuttle buses. There is, in theory, public transport, at several hours. The taxi firms are printing money…
I googled on Timmelsjoch. Interesting how a road map can be misleading.
I don’t think LOWS will stop you parking there over a weekend. There is plenty of GA there which obviously parks all the time, and they have lots of parking in the open. The problem is the AIP…
And Innsbruck is definitely not usable for GA at all, due to prohibited overnight parking.
What road could be used for Bolzano to Obergurgl, in the winter?
None, short of driving to Innsbruck first.
Obviously, most people take a rental car from the airport of arrival to the ski resort. It’s 1:20h from Innsbruck to Obergurgl (I went for skiing there many times).
On Salzburg, there was this famous article by Jan Brill (in German obviously, but it might be possible to google translate it) in the winter of 2015. Things might have improved a bit (and it was just a moment’s snapshot anyway), but winter Saturdays are in fact quite crazy in terms of traffic in the south of Germany and in Austria, as I saw again last weekend…
That article describes what I once got at La Rochelle. Another totally mad airport manager. “We have [some huge number, like 20] of business jets arriving tomorrow, so you can’t park on the tarmac”. Actually only one jet arrived (I got a photo of it).
As noted earlier (in this thread I think) I spoke to the LOWS manager and he said over-weekend parking (but not arrivals or departures) is doable provided it is arranged in advance. He said they have room to push a plane out of the way, to the edge of tarmac, and this was massively self evidently true from this week’s visit. They could park perhaps 50 GA planes there.
I have a friend who actually wanted to come along this week but has all his equipment at Obergurgl. I checked about going there and unless you fly into Innsbruck which is 1.5 hrs it is a 4 hr car ride car ride from LOWS. I think flying into and out of Innsbruck is problematic for a single engine Non Turbo’d aircraft. Perhaps Im wrong. But if IMC and ice Im not so sure it is doable (Missed approach also).
Thanks C210_flyer for your report from a US POV.
I am sure the line guy appreciated ;)
LOWS seems an amazing destination, it is in fact my plan B if weather is not great in Venice.
