Winter Experiences

There’s lots to do besides skiing or snowboarding in Ski Juwel Alpbachtal Wildschönau.

Firstly there are several toboggan runs to enjoy. Simply take a ride up on a lift, jump on your toboggan and whizz down one of the prepared tracks to the valley, its fabulous fun.

Tobogganing

There’s one toboggan run from the Lanerköpflbahn that leads through alpine pastures to Niederau and another, the Schatzberg toboggan run, that starts at the middle station of the Schatzbergbahn. This one offers a choice between the fun family run or the more challenging Holzhacker descent. But both lead through the forest to Auffach. You will find a toboggan rental shop directly at the Schatzbergbahn bottom station.

Night tobogganing is also held at a third location on Wednesdays and Thursday evenings. At the Roggenboden Oberau special toboggans are hooked on to the lift and the run downhill is along a wide piste used by skiers in the daytime.

There’s another scenic run – the panorama path in Reith in Alpbachtal – that starts from the Reitherkogelbahn top station and leads back down to the valley.

Besides toboganning you can get back on your skis or snowboard on selected evenings and enjoy night skiing in Reith in Alpbachtal as well as in Oberau.

First Tracks

At the other end of the skiing day you can get on the slopes before everyone else by booking in for first tracks and being the first to ski the freshly prepared slopes in the morning. In March, every Saturday The Wiedersberger Horn lift in Alpbach opens at 7 am at no extra cost so you can be the early bird on the slopes, justifying the need to then rest and enjoy a delicious breakfast in the mountain hut while everyone else is still clipping their skis on for their first runs of the day.

Slope Grooming Tractor

For something a little different, on three evenings a week you can enjoy an hour as a ride-along in a slope grooming tractor (or ‘piste basher’ as we like to call them). Two piste bashers weighing 10 tonnes and with over 400 horsepower can take co-pilots when they smooth the snow on Reither Kogel.

Igloo Building

Another different thing to try is learning how to build an igloo. The snow course construction site is located at the top of the Markbachjoch lift. Once there you walk with your guide Hans Hotter – igloo builder extraordinaire – to a remote spot to build your igloo. Hans then teaches you the basics and in a couple of hours your home in the snow will be ready for you to move in. A minimum of four people are needed for this activity to take place.