Skiing in Austria

Disclaimer: the views expressed herein are those of a teenager and, as such, may be affected by attitudes of angst, ennui, and narcissism. We all had a lovely time skiing at the ski areas surrounding Innsbruck! -ed.

In March, we were in Austria mostly to ski, so I thought I would do a review of the skiing. There were many different resorts, but I thought I would review four of the biggest ones that we visited. There were many more on the ski pass that we visited, but they only had a few lifts on the slope, so they aren’t worth a review.

The first resort that I will review is Stubai Gletscher. Large, with good snow, Stubai seems like a good resort, but it is terrible. Overcrowded, with awful skiers and poor terrain, Stubai is one of the worst resorts I have ever been to. The cafeteria food isn’t something to brag about either. The menus are wrong in addition to the food being terrible. One menu error is that they say that they serve Pepsi when in fact they serve Coca Cola. It isn’t difficult to print out new signs; LAME.

My opinion on Stubai is harsh but some people liked it.

The third-largest resort happened to be the best. Axamer Lizum had some stunning views. While it lacked in size, it had every amount of terrain imaginable, from easy and hard groomers to steep powdery tree skiing. Not to mention, the food was amazing, and the restaurant had an amazing view. Axamer Lizum was a great resort, and was well located in the middle of the Innsbruck city resort area. Axamer is a great resort for intermediate and advanced skiers. For beginners who want to ski bunny slopes, there is a small area for beginners, but is not great for first or second time skiers My personal favorite, Axamer is the place to ski. 

The biggest ski resort that we went to was Mayrhofen, boasting the steepest run in Europe at 78 degrees. This run, “Harakiri”, was packed with skiers trying to get down the icy steep. Mayrhofen was huge and was my second favorite. Mayrhofen was part of a huge ski area an hour from Innsbruck. With many lifts and terrain of all sorts, the only problem was how full it was. More of an American style resort with almost everything groomed and controlled, I loved skiing there, but I would recommend going on a Saturday because that is when people check out of their hotels from their week long ski vacation. Saturday is the slowest day of the week. Saturday is the best day to ski in Austria.

The smallest of the four that I am reviewing was Schlick 2000. The smallest of the big commercial resorts on the pass, Schlick is a perfect resort for a family because there is lots of easy terrain. That being said, because of that, there wasn’t a lot of difficult terrain, and the advanced terrain was not well rated. I also felt that the resort could have done a better job developing the mountain and opening more restaurants (all but one of the restaurants were private). Overall I liked Schlick, but was disappointed in the execution of the resort.

Skiing in Austria was great, but I can’t wait to get back on the slopes in the states. Austria was amazing and fast but the American style resorts are better because they are more clear and fun and exciting where as In Austria all the runs are just numbered not named. I cant wait to be back on the slopes hopefully soon. Until next time Swish Swish Splomp.