(Above: ski boots are OK on the slopes of Ischgl but should be removed when back in the resort before 8pm. Below, acceptable evening footwear modelled by Muse)
Ischgl, which is known as one of the top apres ski destinations in world skiing, has taken steps to curb over enthusiastic revelry through the evening, or at least make it safer.
The issue the Austrian Tirolean resort is seeking to tackle is the wearing of ski boots through the evening and in to the night.
The problem is that thousands of people finish their days on the slopes by heading in to one of Ischgl’s famous slopeside apres ski bars. Many, it seems, don’t even attempt to return to their hotels to change later, but instead just continue on through the evening in their ski gear and boots.
Some apparently remember they’ve left their skis at the base of the slopes late in the evening and clatter off to get it, swaying back through the resort centre late in the evening swinging their gear.
In a new ‘Guest Information’ letter this season, signed by the resort’s mayor as well as the head of the tourist board and the head of the ski lift company, the resort says a new policy to offer a new “high quality apres ski offer” is the focus this season.
To that end a fine of up to 2000 Euros (£1800) may be levied on anyone caught in ski boots in public after 8pm until 6am the next morning. They note that in the past those in ski gear after 8pm have sometimes proved, “a danger to themselves and to others.”
