Conditions Report
The ski season started in Austria with two glacier resorts opening on Friday, October 3. In case you are wondering why they would start on a Friday: Germany celebrates its reunification day on October 3 each year, and with the public holiday falling this year on a Friday, that meant a long weekend for Austria’s largest incoming tourist market: German skiers and snowboarders.
To test conditions for our readers, yours truly ventured out to Indy Pass’ latest addition to its offering: Kaunertaler Glacier. Kaunertaler Glacier is located in the Austrian state of Tyrol and offers 61 kilometers (38 miles) of groomed runs serviced by 14 lifts. The glacier ski area has three runs of more than 3,000 feet of vertical.
For the first weekend, the glacier ski area was only operating the Karelsjoch gondola to 3,108 meters (10,197 feet). In order to reach the bottom gondola station, visitors have to make the thrilling pass drive to 2,750 meters (9,022 feet), where the glacier ski area is located. Climbing from the valley at 1,273 meters (4,177 feet) is the winding Kaunertalergletscherstraße.
The pass road is open 365 days of the year, and I will admit I was pleased it had not snowed as the road climbed in rather tight turns and in a narrow path up to the bottom gondola station. That would have been a rather scary drive with snow on the road! The pass road carries of toll of €28 ($33) per car and passes can be purchased online or at the toll booth at the start of the glacier road.
Parking was easy as it was not busy. The car park was littered with the vans of various racing teams and schools from Switzerland, Italy, and Austria. In fact, we may have been the only non-athletes on the Kaunertaler Glacier that day. Unfortunately, after a sunny day on Friday, it was overcast on Saturday and we did not quite get the vista we had wanted—but such is skiing: you get what you get and you don’t get upset. The snow, however, was much better than I had anticipated. It was soft and well-groomed. While there was only really one way down from the Karelsjoch, you could time it so you were away from the race teams.
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The view from the Karelsjoch was still spectacular: you are right on the border to Italy and can stand with one foot in Italy and one foot in Austria! I cannot wait to see the ski area in winter when it is covered in snow down to the valley.
Crews were hard at work prepping for the season. Three snow groomers were grooming another run while another set of mountain ops guys were busy readying the t-bar and adjacent run for the coming week. The t-bar is now operating and more terrain will be added each week as snowfalls keep coming as we approach winter.
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