Obergurgl Ski Area

Skiing in Obergurgl

The Gurgl ski area surrounding Obergurgl and Hochgurgl has excellent easy cruising on high, wide, snowsure pistes with lots of nice mountain huts nearby. It’s not a big area though so keen skiers should ski in Solden too.

Gurgl Ski Area Overview

The Gurgl ski area has about 112km of high snowsure slopes, divided more or less equally between Obergurgl and Hochgurgl, which are connected at mid-mountain by the Top Express mountain gondola, and along the valley road by buses.

The Gurgl ski area is renowned for the quality and reliability of its snow. It’s a high ski area (1800m to 3080m) with north-west facing slopes, and 90% of them are reinforced  by snow cannons.

The ski slopes are usually wider and have a lower density of skiers and snowboarders on them than in most ski resorts. As well as minimising congestion and crowds, this makes them safer, providing an excellent environment both for carefree cruising and for learning to ski.

Most Obergurgl lift passes also cover Solden, which is a similar but slightly larger ski area, so more than doubles the amount of skiing available. The bus service between the the two resorts is not only free but also fast (about 25 minutes’ journey time) and frequent (departures about every 30 minutes).

Obergurgl Ski Area

The Obergurgl side of the Gurgl ski area is dominated by two mountains: Festkogl and Hohe Mut.

From the lower end of Obergurgl the Festkoglbahn rises to 2,630 metres from where it meets the Roskarbahn originating from the upper end of the village. From both, you can reach the Plattachbahn that takes you to the Festkogl sector highpoint (2,898 m). Coming down from here, the mountain flank above the Ferwall valley on skiers’ right has mostly red and black pistes and ski routes; whilst the front face is mostly blue piste territory. You can descend all the way back to the village, or catch the Top Express at midmountain to cross over to Hochgurgl, or use blue piste 6 to cross over to Obergurgl’s other mountain – Hohe Mut

From the upper end of the village the Hohe Mut Bahn gondola goes all the way to the top of the Hohe Mut (2,670 m). Hohe Mut means ‘high courage’ and below it are mostly red runs and ski routes, although there is a small blue run area and family park near the bottom around the Bruggenboden lift.

Hochgurgl Ski Area

Hochgurgl’s sector is about the same size as Obergurgl’s. The easiest way to reach it is to stay in Hochgurgl, which lies near the middle of it, but you can also get to it from the valley floor where buses from both Obergurgl and Solden stop at the bottom station of the Hochgurglbahn I lift; or from the Top Express gondola linking Hochgurgl with Obergurgl.

Most of the slopes above Hochgurgl are easy blue runs, so it’s a great area for beginners, novices and nervous skiers. But the red and black runs that do exist, are some of the best in the whole of Gurgl, including the World Cup Hang, black runs 34 and 35 on either side of the Grosse Karbahn, and the lovely scenic red runs 21 and 30.

Hochgurgl is also home to the highest lift in Gurgl, Wurmkogl II which ascends to 3030m and gets you to its iconic Top Mountain Star restaurant and viewpoint. There is an excellent steep black run down from here (28) but there is also a much easier blue run. Those who want to test their endurance can ski all the way down from the Top Mountain Star to to the bottom of the Hochgurglbahn, over 1200m below.

Beginner Skiing in Obergurgl and Hochgurgl

Gurgl’s wide, gentle, treeless runs are perfect for beginners to build confidence on, so once the basics have been mastered on nursery slopes close to the villages, ski school groups are soon exploring the wider ski area.

Obergurgl has a small practice slope/nursery slope just outside the village and another up the mountain around the Gipfellift at the top of Festkogl. There are also Kinderclubs for small children.

But beginners are encouraged to start exploring the wider ski area as soon as possible, starting with the easy blue pistes on Festkogl (6, 6a and 10),

Beginners in Hochgurgl tend to start off on the small nursery slopes on the lefthand edge of the village than move to all the other blue runs above the resort – there are more than a dozen of them.

Ski Schools & Ski Lessons in Obergurgl-Hochgurgl

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Intermediate Skiing in Gurgl

The Gurgl ski area is a small paradise for intermediate skiers who like motorway pistes: long, gently undulating, blue pistes on open mountainsides far above the treeline. And when they exhaust them, there is more of the same in bus-linked Solden.

For intermediates who want to be tested, there are three principal red run areas above Obergurgl. The shortest is red 7/7a from the top of the Festkogl, the highest point above Obergurgl, but this is split in the middle by either a black run (8a) or a blue run (6), so you can make it either a very steep, or very gentle red piste, depending on taste. The other two red runs are long, fast and a good test on thigh muscles. From the top of the Festkoglbahn, red run 12 descends the full length of the gondola on the Ferwalital valley side down to the lift start. At the top end of the Otztal valley above Obergurgl, red runs 1,3 and 5 drop from the top of the Hohe Mut all the way to the bottom of the Steinmannbahn, and more importantly the lively Zirben Alm hut.

Hochgurgl best runs for stronger intermediates include red run 33 from Hochgurgl down to the bottom of the Hochgurglbahn gondola with its mixture of twisting turns through the treeline. For those wanting to measure their stamina, the blue runs from the top of the Wurmkogl connect with this red run to provide a varied descent of 1,200 metres.

The other treats are 42 and 44 around the Kirchenkarbahn 1 and 2 which include blue piste sections and have amazing views. They also tend to be very uncrowded. If you ski from top to bottom, it’s a good workout with a vertical of about 800m.

Intermediates who like easy blue runs have even more choice, with 60 km  to choose from. The area above Hochgurgl, with lots of easy, sunny slopes is particularly good.

Advanced & Expert Skiing in Gurgl

For advanced skiers there are only 19km of black runs and ski routes in Gurgl but they include some good ones. And there is good off-piste skiing and excellent ski touring with mountain guides as well.

Gurgl’s main assets for advanced skiers are its high lifts, reliable snow conditions and remote location which opens up lots of off-piste skiing and ski-touring for which you will need a mountain guide.

But there are a few challenges within the avalanche-secured ski area as well. Highlights near Obergurgl include the black run down Festkogel into the Ferwalltal (13) which has an even harder ski route (14) beside it; and ski route 2 from the top of the Hohe Mut down to near the Nederhutte which is steep.  There is also a special mogul run for those who like bumps nearby – ski route 1a.

Over in Hochgurgl, the black run from from the Wurmkogl summit is steep. Black pistes 35 and 34 which descend all the way back to the resort are longer but not so steep. And on the far left hand side of the Hochgurg ski area is the World Cup Hang which has testing sections (even for experts, when they ski it fast and turn sharply), whilst on the other side, black runs 22a and 22c are tricky enough to deserve respect.

Boarding & Freestyle in Obergurgl and Hochgurgl

Obergurgl has no snowpark for freestylers and snowboarders, just a Familypark for children. Frequent high winds can also whip off the powder, leaving the slopes hard and fast for carving on skis, but not so good for boarding.

Mountain Restaurants in Gurgl

The mountain restaurants in Obergurgl and Hochgurgl typically provide a high standard of food for prices that are above average for Austria, but not unreasonable given the quality. Table service restaurants, with smiling staff dressed in traditional Tyrolean clothes, vastly outnumber self-service cafes, and most of the restaurants have sun terraces.

Obergurgl Mountain Restaurants

The restaurant at the top of the Hohe Mut provides good typically Austrian food, outdoor seating and a majestic view over the top of the Alps.  At the summit of the Festkogl lift, the Festkogl Alm has a restaurant and separate umbrella bar which booms out music across the slopes. The busiest times are the night-skiing evenings (currently Mondays) when the bar is packed for floodlit night skiing and fireworks.

But the real stars of mountain refreshment are located lower down at Zirben Alm and the Nederhutte. The former is full of character and boast some of the best glühwein on the slopes. The Nederhutte is larger and more modern, but the food is equally good. It’s mostly famous, however, for its lead role in Gurgl’s apres-ski, which usually starts around 2pm. By the time the lift close, there are usually people dancing on tables. If you cannot face skiing back to Obergurgl, snowmobiles normally run at regular intervals to take you down in a trailer, but check this service is operating before getting too drunk to ski!

Hochgurgl Mountain Restaurants

For views, you can’t beat the state-of-the-art designed rotund Top Mountain Star restaurant on the pinnacle of the Wurmkogl whilst enjoying a hot chocolate or gluwein. Perched on top of the mountain the views are spectacular with 23 alpine peaks stretching out over the Oztzal Alps and the Dolomites.  The Top Mountain Star restaurant closes when the lifts do but is available for private hire in the evenings, with access up and down by piste groomers.

Over to the left, just away from the top of the Kirchenkarlift is the unpretentious, rustic, Kirchenkarhutte which makes a great contrast to the aggressively modern Top Mountain Star.

Lower down, the Hochgurgl Hotel has a sunkissed outdoor patio restaurant with views down towards Obergurgl and the top end of the valley. Similarly the Wurmkugl Hotel’s veranda (a real suntrap), is a short walk from the bottom of the steep piste.