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I love me children Honey, but they’re rarely more annoying than they are talk about skiing;How they loved running down the black snow trails and then immediately retelling the story of how our ski instructors all called me mom, followed by “Come on, mom” and then unfortunately, “Where is mom?”.
As a kid, it was great to learn to ski at an early age – it took my kids about three hours and I never quite got the hang of it. So when the opportunity arose to leave them and their overconfidence behind and get back to basics with like-minded friends, I jumped at the chance.
Our destination is Sellexist Austria’s Ötztal Valleythe beautiful Das Central, a five-star hotel run by the Sölden family. The resort itself is 1,377 meters above sea level, but the ski slopes reach an altitude of 3,340 meters, making it one of the highest ski areas in the world Austria. This means snow is almost guaranteed from October to May.
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Arriving just before the school holidays in mid-December, the ski slopes were pristine with barely a child in sight.
The resort’s Giggijoch cable car is a state-of-the-art cable car that takes us from the base station in the center of Sölden to an altitude of 2,283 meters in just 8 minutes – a popular meeting point for ski schools and the base for lunch parties where even the most inexperienced skiers will feel instantly on top of the world.
We met Leena, our instructor from the Solden Ski School in Sölden-Hoch, who reminded us that skiing should be fun, then took us back to the basics – perfecting our shovels, stopping on the gentlest slopes and turning early, before taking us into the real learning zone.
Here, on a nicely groomed slope that was long and steep enough to start mastering controlled parallel turns, I started to feel confident positioning my weight down the hill.
That moment made me feel like I had cracked the code that my kids instinctively understood—when they were too young to understand all the ways it could go wrong.
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Over the course of two mornings, I gradually achieved seamlessly connected parallel turns, my body relaxed, facing downhill, accelerating forward—which meant I was well-equipped to avoid a three-year-old plowing snow alone at 20 miles an hour, arms raised, oblivious to the joy.
For those confident enough to move beyond the learning slopes and really get those ski legs in, Sölden offers the Schwarze Schneid, Austria’s longest ski run that starts at the top of the Rettenbach glacier.
Starting at 3,250 meters above sea level, it is the highest point reachable by cable car in the Ötztal Valley and offers stunning views Dolomites, Italy.
The track is 15 kilometers long and consists of connected slopes all the way to the bottom, with blue and red routes throughout and, for the more experienced, a World Cup slalom slope.
There’s plenty more for those precocious child ski experts out there.
The resort’s three areas – Giggijoch, Gaislachkogl and the two glaciers Rettenbach and Tiefenbach – have 146 kilometers of pistes suitable for skiers of all abilities, including 76 kilometers of easy pistes, 38 kilometers of intermediate pistes and 23 kilometers of difficult pistes, accessible via 31 lifts. Other attractions include a snow park, cross-country trails and illuminated toboggan trails.
But there’s obviously more to a ski trip than just skiing, and for our group the food and wine at the resort was a big draw. The menu at the mountain restaurant goes well beyond standard family meals and focuses on local ingredients. My first lunch was a giant schnitzel, followed by dulce de leche – a dessert similar to bread and butter pudding, served with a pot of custard.
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For lunch the next day, we took two gondolas to the resort’s Ice Q restaurant – a spectacular glass cube made famous for its appearance as the fictional Hoffler Klinik Medical Center in James Bond ghost Movie.
Here we enjoy a two-hour lunch with stunning views of the Alps GermanyItaly and Austria, enjoy mahi mahi, beef cheek and desserts made with plums, tonka beans, black currants, almonds and olive oil.
The restaurant even has its own wine – PINO 3000 – made at the Sölden Das Central hotel across the three mountains seen from the window and aged in more than 3,000 meters of oak barrels.
I loved relaxing in Das Central’s spectacular outdoor rooftop heated swimming pool and adjoining jacuzzi, as well as the newly installed cryotherapy room.
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Sessions here include 30 seconds in a “pre-chamber” at around minus 30 degrees Celsius, followed by two and a half minutes in an adjacent chamber at a (literally) breathtaking minus 110 degrees Celsius.
I can’t describe how pleasant an experience it is to stand here in a bathing suit, hat, socks and gloves to protect my limbs from frostbite – even with Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” playing in my headphones – despite the euphoria we were promised it would bring. However, we all slept soundly the next night and woke up without any muscle soreness, despite our hard work on the slopes.
Our first dinner was a tasting menu at the hotel’s Otztaler Stube restaurant, which was awarded 1st place in Sölden Michelin 2025 star, followed by a nightcap in front of a roaring fire. Our second dinner was also at the on-site Feinspitz restaurant, which served an equally impressive multi-course meal using local ingredients, followed by a tour of the two-story wine cellar, which houses 30,000 bottles, and a final glass of champagne.
children Das Central is very welcoming to them and the hills are no doubt packed with them during the school holidays. But Sölden can provide a place for adults who can go out during term time to find their own ski slopes in five-star luxury whilst dining in the restaurant. MichelinStar restaurants and tasting pinot vintage. Who needs to be a ski expert when learning is so much fun?
How to do it:
Josie Clarke and her family were traveling as guests of the Das Central Hotel in Sölden, Austria.
The hotel offers double rooms from €250/£218 per person per night, based on half board for two people sharing central-soelden.com.
A one-day ski lift pass in Sölden costs €78/£68 for adults.