Austria Considers First Indoor Ski Center With Carinthia Pitching Location

Austria has hundreds of ski areas, some of the world’s most successful ski racers, and a ski industry deeply woven into its national identity. Yet it has never had a full-scale indoor ski hall. However, that could be about to change. Austrian Ski Federation (ÖSV) sports director Mario Stecher has called for Austria to develop an indoor ski facility, arguing that increasingly difficult summer conditions are leaving the country’s national teams too dependent on glaciers and overseas training centers.

Carinthia’s state sports director, Arno Arthofer, has put his region forward as a potential home for the project. There are no concrete construction plans, approved sites, or financing commitments yet. But the discussion marks one of the most serious public pushes yet for Austria to build an indoor ski hall.

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Stecher raised the issue publicly in an interview with the Tiroler Tageszeitung as Austrian teams prepared for their annual South American training camps. Austria’s alpine teams traditionally rely heavily on glaciers for summer and early-fall snow training. As temperatures rise and snow conditions become less reliable, however, Stecher says the limitations of that model are becoming increasingly obvious. “We’re being shown just how dependent we are on our glaciers. Something needs to develop in a certain direction now,” Stecher said.

The alternative currently means traveling abroad. ÖSV athletes, including younger racers and Europa Cup groups, use indoor facilities in Wittenburg, Germany, as well as facilities in Latvia and Oslo, Norway. Austrian racers were again training at Wittenburg this summer, with three-time Olympic champion Matthias Mayer now coaching an ÖSV Europa Cup group.

Stecher believes Austria needs its own facility. “We need a ski hall in Austria for the near future. If we want skiing to remain a national sport, and if we want to continue being successful in elite competition, there’s no way around it,” he told the Tiroler Tageszeitung.

The proposal is not necessarily limited to an indoor ski hall with man made snow. Stecher has also suggested artificial ski surfaces as a cheaper way to keep young athletes connected to skiing during the summer. Scottish Kitzbühel slalom winner Dave Ryding has trained on such surfaces. “It’s not the same as skiing in winter, but it’s important to stay connected to the sport and to your equipment,” Stecher said.

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Carinthia was quick to put its hand up. Arthofer said the southern Austrian state should be considered if the ÖSV moves forward with the idea, particularly because of its position in the Alpine-Adriatic region. His preferred concept would place a facility near the three-country border area where Austria, Italy, and Slovenia meet. That location could give the hall a potential market beyond Austria, attracting ski teams, clubs, and recreational skiers from neighboring countries. Arthofer has even suggested the cross-border nature of the project could potentially make it eligible for European Union support. “If Austria is thinking about a ski hall, then Carinthia absolutely has to be at the table,” Arthofer said.

For Carinthia, the argument is not solely about elite racers. Arthofer points to shorter winters, declining snow reliability at lower elevations, and increasingly expensive lift tickets as barriers that can prevent children from getting into skiing. He argues that an indoor facility could provide a reliable place for children to learn regardless of the weather while also giving competitive skiers a year-round training option.

Carinthia is not the only potential location being discussed. ÖSV president Roswitha Stadlober has previously argued that Austria needs a snow facility in the east of the country, particularly to give children in and around Vienna easier access to winter sports. In a 2025 interview with Der Standard, Stadlober said Austria needed a low-barrier winter sports facility in the east and argued that an indoor ski hall could help bring skiing to people who no longer have easy access to snow. Tourism State Secretary Elisabeth Zehetner has also been associated with the idea of a facility in or around Vienna. Zehetner currently serves as Austria’s State Secretary for Energy, Startups and Tourism.

That creates two distinctly different arguments for an Austrian ski hall. Carinthia sees an opportunity for a major Alpine-Adriatic training and tourism facility. The eastern Austria proposal is more focused on accessibility, particularly getting children from urban population centers onto skis.

Regardless of the potential location of the suggested indoor ski facility, the idea has already attracted criticism in Carinthia. One social-media response summarized the opposition bluntly: “Carinthia has other problems in times like these, and already has enough overpriced ski resorts.”

Arthofer said he understood the criticism but defended the idea, arguing that Austria cannot assume its skiing tradition will continue automatically. “If you want skiing, if you want the great successes of our athletes that are anchored in our DNA — do we want that in the future, yes or no? If we also want children to learn to ski, then you should at least be allowed to think about it,” he said.

That argument reflects a broader concern within the Austrian ski industry. Indoor ski centers are increasingly being used around the world as both training facilities and entry points into skiing. SnowBrains previously reported on the global growth of indoor skiing, with more than 150 indoor snow centers operating across 35 countries according to Patrick Thorne’s 2025 World Indoor Snow Centres Guide. China has become the dominant market, while countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom have developed extensive indoor ski networks.

Austria, Switzerland, and Italy, despite being among Europe’s great alpine skiing nations, have so far gone without a full-scale indoor downhill ski center.

The biggest obstacle is obvious: cost. Arthofer estimates that a facility with a slope approximately 300 meters long would cost between €75 million and €100 million ($87–116 million). That figure is an estimate rather than a project budget. There is currently no finalized design, site, or construction proposal.

Arthofer also believes the ÖSV and Austrian government could not finance the project alone. He has called for cooperation between the ski federation, private investors, tourism organizations, mountain railway companies, and other businesses. “It’s quite clear that the ÖSV should work through this concept together with the private sector — with investors who are interested, with tourism officials, with the mountain railway companies, and so on — and then come forward with a concrete proposal,” Arthofer said.

Stecher has similarly argued that the Austrian government needs to recognize the value of sport and participate in the project because the ÖSV cannot finance an indoor ski hall by itself. As a benchmark, Arthofer points to the Alpincenter Hamburg-Wittenburg in Germany, where Austrian teams already train. The facility has approximately 30,000 square meters of skiable area and has been operating for around two decades. It is not the first time the ÖSV is floating the idea of an indoor facility and it certainly won’t be the last time, given training access is becoming increasingly difficult for athletes.

The proposal would represent a major shift for a country that has historically had little reason to look indoors for snow. Indoor ski centers have traditionally been associated with countries without significant mountain terrain or with large urban populations seeking accessible skiing. But that is changing as climate pressures make reliable summer snow increasingly difficult even in the Alps.