If you’re in that awkward phase where you’ve mastered the green and blue slopes but aren’t quite ready to fling yourself off a cliff edge yet, you’re probably interested in finding ski resorts with a lot of red pistes. Red pistes generally have a gradient of less than 40%, ideal for practising your short turns before heading to the steeper black slopes. We’ve scoped out ski resorts in Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy and Germany where you can be sure you’ll find a great offering of red slopes for advanced skiers.
Located in the Zillertal, Mayrhofen is one of the most popular ski resorts in the Alps. This Austrian ski resort has over 110km of red pistes, just perfect for advanced skiers. A highlight is the XXL ski circuit, which lets you discover the entire ski area via red pistes.
Kleinwalsertal & Oberstdorf straddles the border between Germany and Austria and boasts a large proportion of blue and red slopes. You’ll find longest run in Germany here: the 7.5km descent from the Nebelhorn is a red piste starting at an altitude of just over 2200m and snaking its way down the mountain.
It’s not surprising that one of the largest linked ski areas in the world is also home to endless kilometres of red pistes. France’s behemoth Les Trois Vallées ski area has over 200km of red pistes, including the 3.6km-long Combe du Vallon, which takes advanced skiers and snowboarders down from the top of Méribel at 2950m.
Likewise, the largest linked ski area in Italy has around 200km of red pistes for advanced skiers. The ski resorts of Alta Badia, Val Gardena, Arabba-Marmolada and Val di Fassa-Carezza make up this beautiful ski area on the Sella Massif. A highlight is the extra-long red slopes at the Porta Vescova.
This one might just take the crown: Zermatt has more than 225km of red slopes, which means red slopes here comprise more than 60% of the ski area. Advanced skiers and boarders will particularly enjoy the Kleinmatterhorn, which has panoramic views of the surrounding mountains in Switzerland and Italy.
Ski Arlberg became Austria’s largest linked ski area in the 2016/17 ski season, and its four ski resorts offer a total of 145km of red slopes. The White Ring ski circuit will take you on a selection of these. Advanced skiers looking for a challenge can head to St. Anton am Arlberg, where the red slopes are the most challenging.
Ischgl - Samnaun - Silvretta Arena might be best known for its après-ski, but this Austrian ski area is also home to some of the best skiing in the Alps. With 140km of red pistes advanced skiers will have no shortage of terrain to choose from. Don’t miss the Schmugglerrunde ski piste into Samnaun or the Velilltal valley run down to Ischgl.
The “Home of Lässig” which spans the Austrian states of Salzburg and Tyrol boasts a high number of blue and red slopes, making the Skicircus Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang Fieberbrunn the perfect ski resort for intermediate and advanced skiers and snowboarders. The Hinterglemm ski circuit will take you on some of the most interesting red slopes.
More than half of the pistes at Skicircus Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang Fieberbrunn are marked red, for a total of around 120km of pistes that are ideal for advanced skiers. Skiers looking for a thigh burn will find it on the red slopes at the Masnerkopf, near the back of the ski area.
Nestled in the Ski Amadé ski area, Schladming-Dachstein has around 100km of pistes for advanced skiers and snowboarders. The red piste #1 is perfect for practising your short turns. When you get tired of carving, take a break at one of the ski area’s many mountain huts.
Once you’ve mastered carving on the blue pistes and you feel confident that you can fully brake even on steeper slopes, it’s a good move to try your skills on red slopes. Steeper and with fewer flat bits, these aren’t for novice skiers, but they’re the perfect test for your technique. Even expert skiers and snowboarders use red slopes to master a new technique ahead of trying it out on the black slopes.
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Ski areas with a lot of
blue pistes >
Ski areas with a lot of
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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!
