7 Summits Ski Challenge

Overview

Ski the 7 summits is an exciting ski holiday providing you with a great opportunity to ski the equivalent vertical height of the highest mountain on every continent. For this challenge you will be based in a quality 3 star hotel in the heart of Austria’s world class Ski Welt region, which offers 280 km of beautifully groomed slopes in stunning mountain scenery. The event is designed so that all skiers will achieve something, whether conquering a few of the worlds peaks or achieving all 7, including Mount Everest in a single day. One thing is for sure, when you go home you will have had an exhilarating and memorable time.

Detailed Itinerary

Day 1 Meet at Hotel in Itter
Day 2 Kilimanjaro, 5963m, Africa
Day 3 Mount McKinley, 6195m, North America
Day 4 Vinson Massif, 4897m, Antarctica. Carstenz Pyramid,
4884m, Indonesia
Day 5 Elbrus, 5633m, Europe
Day 6 Everest, 8848m, Asia
Day 7 Aconcagua, 6962m, South America
Day 8 Depart Itter

Dates & Prices

Date	Prices	Book
21 Jan - 28 Jan 2012	£437	How to book

How to book

For more information about this trip and to book your place please email trailblazers@rockuk.org or call 0844 8000 222.

Photos

Important Information

The Skiing

The SkiWelt is Austria’s largest interconnected ski area click here with 279km of pistes and 91 lifts and cable cars. Itter’s 4-seater ‘Salvista’ gondola is one of the fastest ways up to the top. Other linked resorts include Söll, Ellmau, Hopfgarten and Westendorf.
A new lift now connects skiers directly from the SkiWelt to Kirchberg, accessing the entire Kitzbühel to Pass Thun network. It’s also possible to buy a lift pass that covers over 1000 km of piste!  The Kitzbuhel ‘All Star’ card is valid in the SkiWelt, Kitzbühel, Saalbach Hinterglemm, Leogang, Zell am See, Kaprun, Wildschönau and other resorts.

Beginners – 63 runs
Intermediates – 57 runs
Advanced – 8 runs

The SkiWelt ski region also gives a ‘snow guarantee’ with over 1000 snow-making machines working on over 210 km of pistes that can provide snow cover within three days in cold weather.

The Hotel

‘A traditional Tyrolean chalet in a postcard-perfect Alpine village’
The Independent on Sunday

You can either take the free ski bus from directly outside the hotel to the gondola or ski to the gondola via the nearby nursery lift. And at the end of the day, either take the bus from the gondola bottom station or ski back to the hotel on the longest run in the SkiWelt at 8.5km. For beginners, there’s a nursery slope with ski school less than 100m away linking to a number of blue runs in the village.

The family run hotel has a relaxed and friendly atmosphere which very naturally encourages guests to mingle as much or as little as they would like. There are 16 guest bedrooms capable of accommodating over 50 people, a large restaurant, separate bar, lounge, sauna, internet and ski room. The hotel is non-smoking and offers a warm welcome and great hospitality to all guests.
There are large comfortable double, triple and family rooms. The family rooms have a double bed and bunk beds, and can sleep up to four people. There is also a family suite which comprises two rooms, sleeping up to six people, and one bathroom.  A cot can be provided in your room on request at no extra charge.
All bedrooms have private en-suite shower and toilet facilities. Rooms also have cable TV, plenty of wardrobe space, superb mountains views and almost all have a balcony.

The Restaurant

There is a large, attractive restaurant with picture windows. A breakfast buffet allows you to choose from a selection of cereals, breads and local preserves, breakfast cheese and meat platters, along with fruit juice, tea, coffee or hot chocolate to drink. The lounge bar and sun terrace are open from 4pm serving hot and cold drinks and light refreshments.
Then in the evening, enjoy a four-course meal in the restaurant followed by a drink in the lounge bar or Keller Bar downstairs.

Costs not included (approx):

• Area lift pass (peak season):
  Adults 198 euros
  Age 17 – 19, 156 euros
  Age 7 – 15, 98 euros
  Under 6, free
• £80 ski equipment hire
• Ski Lessons
• £100 flight
• £60 airport transfer (train)

Other Activities

Night tobogganing, snowshoeing, ice skating, bowling alleys and a large leisure pool, curling, paragliding, horse sleigh rides, and much more. There’s an illuminated 3km toboggan run nearby that is open in the evenings with easy ascent using the 8-seater gondola.
The village of Itter has 20km of winter walking paths and there is a network of over 300km of winter trails in the whole SkiWelt. The area’s 11 gondolas accept walkers and provide easy access to the top of the mountain. Itter is also ideally situated for exploring the Tirol by car, bus or train. The picturesque villages of Söll, Hopfgarten, Ellmau and Westendorf are very close by, and the larger towns of Wörgl and Kufstein, excellent for shopping, are just 10-15 minutes away by car. Kitzbühel is approximately 25 minutes away and the Tirol’s capital city, Innsbruck with its famous golden roof and Olympic ski jump, is under an hour. Day trips to Salzburg and Munich are also possible, with many attractions for tourists at all times of the year.

Independent Ski Resort

Ski Resort Service International has made awards to the best winter ski resorts and, out of the 70 resorts inspected in eight countries, SkiWelt has come first!

The ‘best ski resort in the world’ is the only way to summarise the award given by this independent service. It is an award which recognises the continuous improvements and modernisations as highlighted by the inspectors: ‘Year on year, SkiWelt continues to extend and modernise the already almost perfect facilities with new lifts and improvements both to the ski runs and to connections within the ski resort. Last season alone three new eight-seater gondola lifts and a new six-seater lift with hoods have been brought into service and Westendorf has been fully integrated into SkiWelt.’

Furthermore, no fewer than six of the top 10 ski resorts in the whole world are Austrian: after SkiWelt Gröden/Val Gardena (I) and Ski Optimal Kaltenbach-Hochfügen were also given the ‘Top Resorts 2009’ award, followed by Mayrhofen, Mammoth Mountain (USA) and Val d’Isere (F).
In addition to winning the overall ‘Ski TOP Resort 2009’ award, SkiWelt also gained further awards for ‘Best Information’ & ‘Best Lift System’

Ski Lessons

Austrian ski instructors are very good and there are many lesson options from group lessons, specialist courses and private tuition. All snowsports lessons can be arranged with the local ski school. The nursery slope is just 100m away, and you can ski/snowboard to and from the SkiWelt ski area directly from the hotel.

Equipment

We have arranged rates with a local ski hire shop and can help you arrange ski or board hire. Exact prices will be quoted in resort. Ski and boot hire – approx £80 paid in resort in euros.

Lift Passes

Advice can be given about lift passes on arrival at resort. Please click here to see more detailed prices

Independent Transfers from the Airport to Itter

By Train:
There is a train station in Munich airport (beneath the arrivals terminal). The train stations in Salzburg and Innsbruck are in the city centre and there is a bus connection between the airport and the station.
Take the train from the airport to Wörgl and then either a bus or taxi to Itter (taxi should cost approx. 12 euros).
For information on train times, look at www.oebb.at and type in your airport name and ‘Worgl’ – this website is available in English. The train to Wörgl will cost approx. 53 euros adult return from Salzburg and Munich and 20 euros adult return from Innsbruck.

By Taxi:
120 – 210 euros each way (depending on airport) for up to 4 people.

By Car:
Car hire is available from the airports and is best booked over the Internet. It costs from approx £130 (or 200 euros) for a week.

Directions to Club Hotel Edelweiss by car:
To locate Itter on a map of Austria, look for Wörgl, which is the nearest big town. Wörgl is on the main A12 motorway and lies directly south of Munich and half way between Innsbruck and Salzburg.
Driving to Itter is simple as it is possible to use motorways all the way from the Channel. Itter is just 10 minutes from the A12 motorway at exit Wörgl Ost.

From the A12 motorway:

Take the exit Wörgl Ost and then follow signs for St Johann in Tirol. (At one point, after about 5 minutes, the signs say Itter right AND Itter straight on – if you see this take the ‘straight on’ route to Itter). Turn right to Itter (opposite a big garden centre) and follow the road up to the village. Club Hotel Edelweiss is on the left hand side just after the fire station