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Austrian Culture: Skiing in Austria

Robert Easton

Austria's alpine scenery will take your breath away, so what better way to enjoy the mountain air than hurtling down a snowy mountain on two planks?

The Alps account for about two thirds of Austria's area, and so skiing is naturally a big thing. Austria has about 22,000km of pistes in 800 winter sports resorts- and this is in a country with about the same area as Ireland, or which could fit into Texas almost nine times.

Apart from skiing there's snowboarding, snowshoe hiking, ice climbing and ice golf. You can even try sailing or skiing on frozen lakes, or go for a ride on a dog-sleigh.

Unsurprisingly a country with amenities like this has produced a lot of good skiers, and Austria took 14 of the 30 skiing medals available at the last Winter Olympics in Turin.

The ski season runs from December to April. It is usually below freezing for much of January and February. During the summer the mountains fill up with hikers. The skiing 'high season' is from Christmas until New Year, and February until March, although the exact dates vary from resort to resort.

Skiing is not particularly expensive in Austria. A ski pass typically costs about 35-60 Euros per day in a good resort. Most resorts have excellent apres-ski facilities, and will offer ski hire, skiing and boarding lessons, tobogganing, cross country skiing, snowshoe walking etc.

Almost all resorts have reduced price tickets for children, and most offer half day or even hourly tickets.

Tirol and Salzburg are the states with the greatest abundance of ski resorts.

The Arlberg mountain range, which straddles the Western Austrian states of Tirol and Vorarlberg, is one of Austria's best known and biggest ski resorts. The resort incorporates five towns and around 85 ski lifts.

The highest peak is the Valluga at 9216 feet. The pistes around Lech and Zürs are arguably the most picturesque, whilst the most challenging skiing can be found around Stuben.

In the area you can of course find all the usual activities associated with large ski resorts, as well as spas, swimming and paragliding. A six day ski pass covering the whole area will cost around 200 Euros.

Kitzbühel in the East of Tirol represents some of the best value skiing in Austria. The resorts of SkiWelt, Kitzbühel, Wildschönau, Alpachtal and Schneewinkel offer a joint ski pass which covers virtually all of the skiing in the Kitzbühel Alps. Prices start at 40 Euros a day for adults, or 460 Euros for the season ticket. The area covered by this pass has 247 ski lifts and 676 kilometres of pistes.

Bad Gastein is a resort located in the Hohe Tauern National Park in the south of the Austrian state of Salzburg. There are five mountain ski areas in the valley, and around 200km of pistes. A two day ski pass will cost around 70 Euros for an adult.

Bad Gastein is also famed for its spa-waters, and was visited by German and Austrian emperors and empresses in bygone days. There is also a very impressive waterfall in the centre of town. This resort would best suit visitors with their own transport. While there are buses linking each of the different ski-areas, they are not ideal.

Zell Am See is a lakeside town not far from Salzburg with lots of intermediate-level runs. Ten kilometres away Kaprun (which shares the same ski pass) offers high-altitude glacier skiing and is famed for being one of the few places in Europe still able to offer skiing 365 days a year.

Zell am See and Kaprun are also hosts of the World Skiing and Golf Championships, where competitors must show their skill in both disciplines separately. The winners' rostrum is invariably dominated by home-grown talent, but anyone can enter.

In the area of the Tirolean vilages of Ischgl and Galtur by the Swiss border there are around 200km of good high altitude pistes. If you want to you can also ski down and over the border to the Swiss village of Samnaun. In the high season a six day pass covering all the local skiing will cost around 215 Euros.

In Carinthia, Austria's southernmost state, you can pick up a ski-pass which includes access to all of Carinthia's approximately 30 ski resorts. It costs around 180 Euros for a six day pass.

The main areas are Bad Kleinkirchheim, which has around 100km of pistes in the stunning Nockberg Mountains, Sonnenalpe Nassfeld (110km of pistes, all with snow machines), Mölltal Glacier (53km of pistes) and Heiligenblut (55km of pistes).

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