Pitztal - Wilderness

After passing the Vorarlberg tunnel, you leave the motorway at Imst to drive up the Pitztal valley. Direction: the glacier and its ski area. Culminating at 3440 meters, it is the highest glacier in Austria. Maybe that's why the valley has a little austere air. But it reveals its beauties to those who take the time to stop and look around. If the hamlets, along a winding road, are home to small hotels and inns where hospitality and friendliness are not empty words, we are desperately looking for shops and other small tea rooms. What does it matter! Here, skiers may not find the largest ski area but three distinct areas with very varied slopes. The first, and the most family-friendly, is that of the Hochzeiger which ranges from 1450 m to 2450 m.

Most of the slopes are wide enough and so well prepared that, even if they are steep, skiers of all levels will find what they are looking for. It is also here that the multiple Olympic and world champion in alpine skiing, Benni Raich made his first descents. It is impossible to ignore it since one of the black runs bears his name. The Hochzeiger area is vast and the panorama breathtaking. Far below, the world disappears under a sea of mist. Sometimes you can see the Inn valley with the highway. It seems so far away!

After exploring all the possibilities of the Hochzeiger area, the glacier calls. A funicular takes skiers from 1470 m to 2840 m. After a short break to acclimatize a little to the height, we take the Pitz-Panorama Lift to reach the summit at 3440m.

From there, the view is breathtaking. The cold too! Minus 29 ° that day! The wind is so strong that you have to ski on a schuss to move forward! Several red slopes allows you to fully explore this formidable area. Thanks to a blue slope, beginners too can ski on the glacier, while the athletic ones climb, in ski touring, to the top of the Wildspitze at 3774m, Austria's highest mountain. Despite the cold at the top, the sun is already inviting you to relax on the terrace of the glacier restaurant. Why not come back later, in the spring, since you can ski there until May with the glacier pass. The third ski area is that of the Rifflsee with its slopes requiring a certain technical mastery. Enough to enjoy a week of skiing far from mass tourism.