The conventional advice when looking for the place most likely to have good snow is to aim high – either in altitude or in latitude.
Austria’s Tirol region is well equipped in this regard, with five glacier ski areas which are open from late summer to late spring, and in the case of Hintertux year round – that’s more than any other region on the planet. If you look at any snow reports today, you’ll see these glacier areas top Austria’s snowdepth tables. But research by tourism expert Günther Aigner examining 30 years of average annual snowfall data from Tirol’s climatic data centre has come up with some interesting results. It seems that to find Tirol’s snowiest area, you need to go low. Mr Aigner’s research found that Hochfilzen in the Pillerseetal Valley, a ski area close to Kitzbühel that’s more famous for its biathlon than its downhill skiing and is only 960m above sea level, was by far Tirol’s snowiest village, on average, between 1983/84 and 2012/2013, receiving 671cm of new snow per year. The figures were higher, according to Mr Aigner’s study, than resorts like Obergurgl, which is nearly twice as high at 1930m. Average maximum snow depth during the 30-year record at Hochfilzen was 134cm and it usually has snow in the valley for 143 days.
