Kitzbühel Alps snow forecast

Skiing in Kitzbühel Alps

The Kitzbühel Alps are a range of rounded, grassy mountains in eastern Tirol with three big ski areas: KitzSki around Kitzbühel, the SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser-Brixental, and the Ski Juwel Alpbachtal Wildschönau. Their character is the same throughout: lots of friendly blue and red cruising, attractive traditional villages, and short transfers.

KitzSki has about 233 km of slopes between roughly 800 m and 2,000 m, including the Hahnenkamm and the Streif, the World Cup downhill that drops about 860 m over 3.3 km. The Resterhöhe sector above Pass Thurn, at around 1,900 m, has heavy snowmaking and often opens early. The SkiWelt links nine or so villages, including Ellmau, Scheffau, Söll and Westendorf, for about 275 km of pistes topping out at about 1,860 m, one of the largest linked areas in Austria. Alpbach shares the Ski Juwel with the Wildschönau, with about 114 km of mostly easy and intermediate runs from about 830 m to 2,030 m.

The low altitude is the main thing to plan around. Grass meadows hold snow well once it is down, and the areas rely heavily on snowmaking, but in a mild spell the lower runs and village links can turn wet and patchy. Higher sectors such as the Resterhöhe and the tops of the SkiWelt keep better snow.

The main season typically runs from early December to early April. Kitzbühel and Wörgl are on the main railway, and Innsbruck, Salzburg and Munich airports are all within easy reach.