Wiski

As the coach pulled in to town, it was clear that Zell was going to be refreshingly different to the majority of ski destinations I'd been to recently. Yellow souped-up MGs were cruising the streets. Girls in inappropriate attire mixed it with wizened locals in the bars. Moonlight glinted off the still waters of Lake Zell, the absence of stars until high up in the sky hinting at seriously brooding mountains. Zell am See is a town with character and vibrancy, ringed by real mountains. You know what I mean - mountains that rise from the valleys, with jagged peaks and forests and bears and wolves and long-lost tribes...well, I'm getting carried away, but there is beauty mixed with exuberant life in this corner of Salzburgerland.

I'm almost getting tired with a ski trip that's bathed in perpetual sunshine. Well, obviously not really, but a bit of fresh snow would have been nice to take the edge off the bulletproof pistes as we headed out the next day. This was late April, and at this time in the season at low Austrian altitudes you expect the snow conditions to suffer. Early in the morning I did find myself using some colourful language as the skiers in the group used two edges to control themselves while I slid down the slopes on one edge, praying my balance was good enough to stay upright. I'm sure most snowboarders will understand. (It didn't stop a local Eurocarver, of which you do get a few in most Austrian resorts, from showing off with some ridiculously tight carves. I could, however, console myself with the fact that he looked like a muppet). I should have learnt by now, but it always catches me by surprise sometime around mid-morning when suddenly conditions are brilliant, and you remember just how good spring snow can be.

Maybe it was this same feeling of surprise that one particular car driver felt as the ice cracked, and he suddenly found himself sitting in a car full of water. Zell used to host sports car races, which preceded the World Touring Car Championship, on the frozen lake in the winter, and at one of these meetings a car went through the ice. I know, I could have told them too. Zell has long had a strong association with sports cars, as Ferdinand 'Ferry' Porsche, the son of the founder of Porsche, Ferdinand Porsche, Snr) was born in Zell, and, indeed, died there, in the family farm, in 1998. In 1981 he had been awarded Honorary Citizenship, or Freedom of the City - although whether he chose to drive a flock of sheep through it as Andrew Flintoff threatened to do in Preston is not known.

For a while the rumour was that it was a Porsche that had gone through the ice, which would have made a pretty good story. Unfortunately it wasn't, and they even dredged up the car, so it's not even there if you fancy donning a wetsuit and having a go. No sense for the dramatic, the Austrians.

Which is why it's lucky for them they live in such a stunning landscape. The pistes at Zell might be for dedicated followers of cruising, with mellow gradients that are perfect for laying out big turns and caressing your black run ego, but you'll be marvelling at the scenery all the way down. For the ideal cruise simply take the Schmittenhöhebahn up, bear left at the top, left past the Breiteckbahn chair and scream right down to the Schmittental base station. We finished our second day with this run, managing to time it after a piste basher had groomed the snow on the way up. There really is no better run home than on corduroy spring snow with nobody around, trying to make eights with the person in front, going as fast as you possibly can.

The glacier at Kaprun is similar - big, wide, open pistes in a dramatic setting that you can't help but fly down, with some very easily-accessible off piste runs you can map out from the lifts. That is of course, if you're able to negotiate the t-bars. The nightlife on offer in Zell is of a magnitude that can create next-day problems for even the most experienced rider, as one of our party discovered. 'No', was the simple but firm instruction from the t-bar operator as our hero attempted for the fifth time the relatively basic operation of being pulled up a mountain. The sunny piste suddenly seemed like an apt place for a 'little lie down'.

Like the majority of Austrian resorts, Zell was a town well before there was any such thing as skiing. And its beautiful lake ensures that it's a true all-season resort. With the result that it does have its fair share of bars. Our hotel, the Grünerbraum, had a public bar attached that did literally stay open until we had finished drinking, while down the road was the B-17 Hangar bar, doing a mean line in cocktails, and Crazy Daisy's, well known on the resort band circuit. By day it's a classy, quiet bar downstairs, at night the upstairs opens and if you're a fan of a lively atmosphere whilst listening to covers of Crowded House, Oasis and the Proclaimers then you're in for a treat. If not, well, you're probably better off not going to a winter resort, as that's a pretty common theme...

Two nights out of three our evenings progressed to Viva, the nightclub still open, for some stylish dance moves. This was the place to blame for any reduced ability the next day. How can one refuse the dancefloor charms of such air guitar classics as Sweet Child O' Mine and Money for Nothing... It takes a stronger man than I. And when there's a kebab shop down the street that lets you sit at a table and serves you a beer, the evening is pretty well mapped-out. No choice. How may resorts are able to offer this luxury?

Of course, that's not for everyone. Some people prefer actually skiing, which is not to be looked down upon. I, and two of my colleagues, preferred the serenity of crazy golf in the sunshine by the lake in Schuttdorf. But we had already experienced superb cruising pistes, some nice challenging off piste in Kaprun and knew exactly what else Zell am See - Kaprun had to offer.

By Ben Letham

For more info visit - www.zellamsee-kaprun.com