Obertauern in Austria Resort Guide

Obertauern has established its reputation despite a maximum skiable vertical that is less than you would expect for such an internationally well known resort. And you can travel 200 times as far in a horizontal direction as you can on the vertical, a remarkable 120km (75 miles) of trails. The resort is part of the Top Tauern Ski Check pass scheme which includes more than 30 ski resort areas in the Tauern, some of them lift-linked to one another, although not to Obertauern. Some of the better known resorts in the scheme, which opens up over 700km (440 miles) of trails and nearly 300 lifts, are Altnmarkt, Schladming and the Dachstein glacier lifts. Although Obertauern's terrain is best suited to the all-round intermediate, this is a very good choice for beginners with the wonderful wide nursery slope by the village virtually guaranteed snow through the season. The added bonus then is Obertauern's almost unique and rather ingenious scheme of colour coding circuits around the ski area. For near beginners this means the 'green circuit' (anti-clockwise, incidentally) which takes in 5 lifts including the Zehnerkarspitz cable car and trails specially selected for their gentle gradients. The Gamskar lift, reached by a chair ride, is a particular favourite for first-times. Oh and the resort has a reputation for seemless grooming of its piste, thanks to a dedicated fleet of 16 trail grooming machines, which means you're less likely to get your skis stuck in a rut as you'e trying to master that first snowplough /pizza pie turn. Intermediates are spoilt the most by Obertauern's snowy expanse, with two thirds of the terrain graded at that level. The 'Pink Circuit' (clockwise!) takes in a vast amount of blue and red graded trails and its 30km (19miles) can be skied by three different routes, making a total of 90km (57 miles) going around it alone. Although not famous for its expert level skiing, none the less 20% of terrain is graded black and Obertauern's powder bowl skiing is very highly regarded. The five black pistes include testing mogul fields (check out Garnsleiten II). Guides will take you on the many off-piste routes, including the ski excursion down to the nearby town of Untertauern. There is also a self-timed slalom course. Cross country skiers have 7km (5 miles) of trails. Incidentally, if you want current information on conditions, check out the pictures at 8.30AM every morning on ORF FS 2 channel. Or, if you're really dedicated and handy with your German, there's an hour long 'info session' run by the lift company every Wednesday evening from 4.30 to 5.30pm in the Spakasse Bank building.

Accomodation & Après Ski

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Resort Statistics

RESORT HEIGHT	1740	VERTICAL DESCENT	673	OPENS	Dec - Start May
TOP STATION	2313	DRAG LIFTS	15	EXPERT RATING	6
BOTTOM STATION	1640	CHAIR LIFTS	11	INTERMEDIATE RATING	7
				BEGINNER RATING	7