Hochzillertal-Kaltenbach, Austria

Paul from BELGIUM writes:

Have been going to Kaltenbach for a number of years. The resort has invested considerably in a number of new lifts (to ease congestion from the valley and queues at the Sonnenjet and Krossbichlbahn lifts.)

The connection with Hochfugen makes this an area in which families and intermediates can easily pass a week, without the need to head to other resorts in the Zillertal. There is a nice variety of runs, and easy cruising pistes. The limited off-piste however, gets tracked out very quickly in high season.

The run down into the valley is good, but should be avoided at the end of the day and end of the week as it is extremely busy mostly with skiers who would have been better off taking the gondola back down into the valley. Best time to do the run is early morning and with the second gondola from the valley. This means that the wait to get back up the mountain has been considerably reduced.

When snow conditions are poor, Kaltenbach can be very busy as skiers take advantage of the number of pistes above 1800m, and its proximity to the Inntal Highway. The resort could take some lessons from the French in queue management. Most of the lifts simply have funnels resulting in a lot of pushing, shoving and aggravation to try and get a few places ahead, normally then stopping to allow the rest of the group to catch up, or push their way through. Queuing for lifts with small children is not pleasant, and hopefully something the resort will work on in years to come. There is a general lack of singles rows to allow all places on the chairlifts to be filled in peak periods.

The Sonnenjet lift can be susceptible to closure in high winds, which considerably restricts the skiable area. There are sufficient mountain eateries with enough variety to suit all tastes and budgets.

We enjoy the resort enough to come back every year

2007-12-25