Winter Activities

Few British winter sports enthusiasts stray outside the Tyrol or the Ski-Amade region around Salzburg, when they come to Austria each year. Apart from Obertauern and Bad Kleinkircheim, the big ski travel companies seem to focus just on these two areas. This is a shame as there is a huge expanse of skiing/boarding available elsewhere in Austria, which is just as accessible - and Stadl is no exception.

This part of Austria has produced some the most famous names in the history of Alpine downhill skiing. For example: Hermann Maier – the ‘Herminator’ was born in Altenmarkt in the Pongau valley just a few miles from Stadl, and now lives in the town of Flachau near to Radstadt. Renate Goetschl was born in Judenburg, Michael Walchofer was born in Radstadt and attended the Schladming Ski Academy, Marlies Schild was born in Admont, east of Schladming. One of the most famous of all – ‘the Kaiser’  - Franz Klammer – was born in Mooswald in Carinthia and now lives and works in Bad Kleinkircheim - BKK, which is 40 minutes away from Stadl by car.

The closest ski resort to Stadl is the resort of Kreischberg. It’s just a 10 minute drive from the Chalet to the gondola station at St Lorenzen. For the 2008/09 season, work has started on a new 6 man covered chairlift from Stadl to the top-station – making access to the slopes even easier. Kreischberg has 29 km of skiing of which 72% is either easy or intermediate and it is a fantastic family resort – please see the feedback section from our guests. All the normal facilities can be found here with ski hire, servicing, ski schools and mountain restaurants available. There are 6 other ski resorts in the Mur valley, and they are all covered on the same lift pass – with the resorts of Frauenalpe and Grebenzen both of which are near to Murau, being the closest to Stadl.

A little further away only 20 -30 minutes from the Chalet - lie the ski resorts of St Margarethen and Katschberg (west of Stadl) with 60km of piste, Grosseck-Speiereck at Mautendorf and St Michael with 40km of piste and Turracher Hoehe (south west of Stadl) with 38 km of piste. Turracher is unusual in that the resort is spread over two mountains which are connected by taxi (a skidoo) which transports you across the frozen Turracher See from one mountain to the other.

Further away again, just 30 - 40 minutes from the Chalet, are the resorts of Obertauern (north of Stadl) with 100 km of piste and Bad Kleinkirchheim –BKK (south of Stadl – a little further on from Turracher Hoehe) which has 103 km of piste.

Obertauern and Turracher Hoehe are both high resorts, with the bottom lift station at 1740m and 1400m respectively. As a result, they are almost guaranteed to have snow, when lower resorts are suffering – including those in the Tyrol!

Overall in the Carinthia, Salzburg and Murtal areas, there are 111 official ski resorts to choose from. To give you some idea of what is available, types of slopes and cost of local and area lift passes etc, we have prepared a spreadsheet for you to have a look at, showing a selection of just 10 of these ski resorts which together total almost 600 km of piste. The spreadsheet also gives the website for each resort, as well as website addresses for area  passes and other useful sites. There is no doubt that winter sports enthusiasts are spoilt for choice here, with the hardest decision being where to try next!!

You'll find details of some of the particular places of interest to drive to and visit in Styria, Carinthia and Salzburgerland