Austria's Ski Regions
Arlberg Valley
The Arlberg Valley of Tyrol is located in the south-west of Austria and consists of a vast terrain of three separately linked areas; St Anton, St Christoph and Stuben, Lech, Zurs and Warth Schrocken and Klostere Sonnenkopf. A bus service links the areas and together they form the largest ski region in Austria providing fantastically maintained slopes with spectacular views, all covered by the Ski Arlberg lift pass.
Intermediates and advanced skiers will love the superb terrain of St Anton. The Schindlerkar, the Kandahar (on the Galzig) and the Gampberg (on the Rendl) are particularly challenging and there is plenty of backcountry on offer, especially from the top of the Valluga. Beginners may prefer to take the bus round to Lech which provides wide and long cruising runs to enjoy and build confidence.
Oztal-Valley
The Oztal Valley of Tyrol is located in the south-west of Austria and includes the main town of Solden and the hamlets of Hochsolder, Zwieselstein and Vent. Solden is Austria’s only ski area with three mountains higher than 3000m, known as the 'Big 3', which provides a large connected glacier terrain and enables a longer ski season stretching from Autumn through till early May. The resort offers a varied choice of slopes for all abilities with wide open and perfectly groomed runs, stunning Alpine scenery, great off-piste, an excellent park and ungroomed areas for moguling.
If you’re staying in Solden for some autumn skiing on the glaciers, a free shuttle bus (with a valid ski pass) will take you 14km from the resort to the glaciers along the highest panorama road in the Eastern Alps. Both glaciers are connected to each other by a 1.7km road tunnel at 3240m, providing skiers with a quick and easy transfer between the two. The glaciers alone provide 33km of immaculate ski runs (25km blue, 5km red and 3km black), with 10 lifts and gondolas transporting an average of 20,000 people per hour. With its gentle rolling and broad slopes, Tiefenbach glacier is ideal for beginners or more leisurely paced skiers whilst Rettenbach glacier offers a more challenging terrain for the advanced.
Zillertal Valley
The Zillertal Valley of Tyrol is located in the south-west of Austria and consists of Fügen-Spieljoch, Hochzillertal-Hochfügen, Zillertal Arena, Gerlos, Mayrhofen, Finkenberg and the Hintertux Glacier. Parts of the valley are interlinked or you can catch the free ski bus to get between the different resorts, and all are covered by the Zillertal Super Skipass.
Mayrhofen sits between the Penken and Ahorn mountains, and is close to the Hintertux glacier where you can ski all year round. The Penken ski area is interlinked with Finkenberg, Rastkogel and Eggalm resulting in one of the largest and most varied ski regions in Austria.
All levels of skiers and boarders are catered for in the Zillertal. Ahorn offers mainly easy and intermediate quieter runs. The Penken mountain is home to Austria’s steepest piste Harakiri (which has a 78% gradient) as well as a large range of ski runs at different levels of ability, and there is good off-piste to be found in the Zell am Ziller, Horbergjoch and Hintertux areas.