Ski Lifts in Solden
Solden’s many high-speed lifts will impress anyone, but it can take a while to get up the mountain in the morning on busy days, and when everyone heads towards the glacier at the same time, lift queues form.
Solden Ski Lifts
Solden’s ski lift equipment should impress just about anyone. At nearly every turn, shiny modern Doppelmayr lifts await to whisk you upward. The two-stage Gaislachkogl lift is particularly efficient at getting skiers from the valley at 1,363m to over 3,000m in record time.
But there are some pinch-points in the network, including at resort level, where there are just two lifts to carry not only everyone staying in Solden up the mountain, but also all the day-trippers who arrive at the resort having driven up the valley. Gaislachkogl and Giggijoch are two of the most powerful feeder mountain gondolas in the world, so generally they cope with the demand, but on busy weekends or holidays when the sun is shining and everyone wants to ski at high altitude, even they can get overwhelmed for a short period in the morning when they first open. Giggijoch has the higher carrying-capacity (4500 people an hour, which is huge) but it attracts more people, so is more likely to have a queue.
And on warm days everyone knows the Glacier sector has the best snow, so everyone tries to head to it, which produces queues at the D51 chair and D53 gondola, and sometimes at the C31 chair from Gaislachkogl too. The good news is that the carrying capacity of these lifts limits the amount of people who can enter the glacier sector, so it usually doesn’t get unpleasantly crowded.
Solden Ski Lift Passes
Solden’s lift passes vary in price depending on whether they are for low season, high season, peak season or pre and post season, when only the Glacier ski area is open. And passes for three or more days also cover five other resorts in and around the Ötztal valley, including Gurgl and Hochoetz-Kühtai.
Buying a Solden lift pass is very simple because there is no choice, but the price does vary enormously depending on when you go skiing. Early autumn (up to late November) and late Spring (end of April and May) is the cheapest time because only the glacier ski area is open. Low season is from late November to early December, and the rest of the winter is high season apart from specific weeks (usually Christmas and New year, middle of February and sometimes Easter too) which are peak season.
All lift passes for between three and 14 days cover five other resorts in and around the Ötztal valley, including Gurgl/Obergurgl (which everyone except beginners should visit) and Hochoetz-Kühtai (which is also worth a day-trip for strong keen skiers).
Beginners don’t need to buy the normal lift pass. They have special cheaper passes which cover just the nursery slopes at Innerwald, or those at the top of Giggijoch. The Giggijoch pass also includes the lifts you need to take to get to this beginners’ area from either Solden or Hochsolden.
Full details and prices at: https://www.soelden.com/en/search-book/ski-mountain-lift-tickets/