D That is no longer my Sölden, some skiers might think as they feel the new rules the municipality has laid out for this winter season. Since September there has been an alcohol ban on the streets in the Ötztal behind the scenes. Is skiing without a noticeable amount of Jägermeister in the blood even possible? One might ask this in light of this shocking news from Sölden. But there is reason for relief. The après-ski circus will continue with unabated intensity in the major Austrian winter-sport regions – including in Sölden.
On the website of the 3,000-inhabitant municipality, there is even explicit advertising. “You step in: there are no questions. Even reason can stay outside. Because what awaits you here, you have never experienced: après-ski on a level never before seen.” This is how the Almrausch bar is described, which like Fire & Ice in Sölden’s Bermuda Triangle lies on Dorfstraße.
On December 21, the ball-mannered Matty Valentino will certainly sing one of his finest sportsman songs, which he produced together with “Jägermeister DJ Alex”: “Up to the mountain and up with the skis / One into the hut and hands high / Off with the hat and with the Jäger tea / Old man, this is nice, eh.” From 3 p.m. in the bar, which has appropriately ribbed the alcohol ban in Sölden on its Instagram account, drinking is allowed daily.
World Stars of Yesterday
Tickets for the big ski-opening events in the not-to-be-underestimated for its après-ski qualities Schladming are already sold out for the coming weekend. No wonder – real world stars are coming to the Planai ski stadium: the Backstreet Boys. Fifty thousand tickets and VIP packages were sold for the shows of the boy band, which was heard around the turn of the millennium, to ski enthusiasts.
Such acts can, on the slopes well covered by tireless snowmakers, head directly in front of the Schafalm on the weekend after, to the sounds of the Styrian entertainment group Endlich Krawall, formerly Party-Mafia, and treat themselves to a few beers.
Marteria has also made it into the Opening program of Saalbach-Hinterglemm
Naturally, the winter sports season can also start with dignity in Ischgl, the Kuhstall – Home of Wahnsinn, world-famous as a virus-spreader. The ski season there was already opened last weekend with the “Top of the Mountain Opening Concert” featuring Rita Ora – also a world star – in front of thousands of athletes. In the valley bar, Matty Valentino, already known from this article, put on his glacier sunglasses and, with the guests, delivered his music with his usual stylishly pure force. This will continue until April.
The opening weekend program of Saalbach-Hinterglemm is also impressive. There Los Brudalos will play in the Gasteiner Stadl and Brew Berrymore will surely perform a few tracks from their debut album “Have A Beer in Stratosphere” at the Hinterhagalm.
The Rostocker rapper Marteria has also made it into the Bergfestival program of Saalbach-Hinterglemm – for whatever reason. His opening act on the Schattenberg stage fits better with the skiing scene; it’s Turbobier. Nearby, meanwhile, the Austrian gesamtkunstwerk Fenzl will perform, whose “Bierdringa” is likely one of the notable cover versions of a Bob Marley track. In this sense: Ski Heil! And: Prost!
