Snow cover is one of the most important aspects of a ski holiday. There's nothing worse than arriving at your skiing destination after a long summer and finding the hills still green and covered in flowers! It's a little hard to ski without snow, and since we've all experienced this horrorshow at least once in our lives, we've learned to scope out ski resorts with guaranteed snow at the moment of booking our holidays. If you're planning on going skiing in Austria this year, here are 10 Austrian ski resorts with guaranteed snow.
Thanks to a favourable microclimate, the villages of St. Anton am Arlberg, Stuben, Lech am Arlberg, Zürs am Arlberg, Zürs am Arlberg and Schröcken that make up the Ski Arlberg ski area enjoy particularly reliable snow cover. What's the deal? The ski area is well-placed to catch precipitation coming from the Atlantic ocean, which turns into snow when the temperatures are low enough.
Turracher Höhe is located at 1800m above sea level and consists of a cosy ski area with 40 km of slopes. The ski area enjoys abundant snowfall every year, leading to a risk-free ski season and making it possible to embark on a variety of ski tours through the region. Especially beautiful is the 12km long route around the Turracher Lake.
If there were a prize for the snowiest ski village in the world, this would be a strong contender. Oh wait, that prize actually does exist! In 2007, Damüls was literally awarded the title of Snowiest Village in the World. The Damüls – Mellau – Faschina Schneereich ski area receives a shocking average of 9.6 metres of snow every year - so no worries about brown slopes here!
As every skier and snowboarder knows, the higher the altitude, the more likely you are to have decent snow cover. At 2020m above sea level, Kühtai is one of the highest ski resorts in Austria, which is a virtual guarantee of powder snow. This is another fantastic destination for ski touring.
Gargellen is a small, idyllic ski village that lies at 1423m above sea level in the Austrian province of Vorarlberg. It's one of the villages that make up the Montafon ski area, which boasts a total of 235km of pistes. Gargellen gets an average yearly snowfall of 3 metres, largely due to its altitude and its fortuitous geography.
As the saying goes, in Obertauern skiers will find what they're looking for. Nestled at 1740m above sea level in the Austrian province of Salzburg, Obertauern was found to be the snowiest winter sports resort in all of Austria by a scientific study. It's got some strong competition, but there's definitely no lack of snow here: Obertauern has a yearly average snowfall of almost 3 metres.
Fieberbrunn merged with the Skicircus Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang Fieberbrunn back in 2015, bringing with it heaps and heaps of powder snow and correspondingly excellent freeriding terrain. On average, Fieberbrunn has received 4.3 metres of snow every year over the last ten years. Fieberbrunn is an annual host of the Freeride World Tour, which brings the best freeriders in the world to compete at the Wildseeloder.
Although not even glaciers can offer absolute snow security in times of climate change, Solden comes pretty close. With slopes as high as 3340m in altitude, Sölden-Hochsölden offers ideal snow conditions during almost 6 months of the year on the Rettenbach and Tiefenbach glaciers.
The first thing that comes to mind when you think of Ischgl is undoubtedly the wicked après-ski scene, but Ischgl also has a top-notch ski area. The ski season is long, stretching into May thanks to the perfect snow conditions. If you arrive during high season, you can generally expect a snow base of at least a couple of metres.
Kitzsteinhorn/Maiskogel – Kaprun enjoys guaranteed snow thanks to the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier, which is now easier to reach than ever with the newly inaugurated 3K K-onnection. There's something for every level of skier and snowboarder here, from the lower-down beginner slopes of the Maiskogel to the high-altitude glacier skiing up top.
Born and raised in the ski paradise of Vancouver, Canada, I learned to ski before I can remember, balancing precariously on my parents’ skis as they sailed down the hill. I started snowboarding in my teens and am now delighted to be exploring everything Europe’s ski scene has to offer!
