Mountain Layout — Skiing

Here is a larger, more detailed map.

Here is the interactive Olympia SkiWorld Innsbruck trail map.

Olympia SkiWorld, the major ski areas ringing the city, is made up of (in descending order of difficulty), Nordpark Patscherkofel, Axamer Lizum, Mutteralm, Kühtai, Rangger Köpfl, Glungezer, Schlick 2000 and (in a class of its own) the Stubai glacier. Altogether, nearly 285 kilometers of trails are prepared for downhill skiers.

Experts should strike out north across the Inn River to Nordpark-Seegrube, which is the gateway to the great black trails of the Hafelekar. Wend your way down the mogul-studded steep black run from the 7,658-foot-high summit. It’s one of the most challenging in Austria and a good test of expert status.

Of the Olympic slopes, the Axamer-Lizum is best known. The slopes of Axams, a village about six miles outside Innsbruck, start at the 5,192-foot level. Here you can find every major resort amenity short of lodging.

Even though it’s considered heresy in Axams to say, we liked three other runs better than the famous Olympic course, the Hoadl (7,677 feet). The first two, from the nearby 7,336-foot Pleisen and slightly lower Kögele, take you all the way back to the valley floor. The Kögele is the better of the two, with a great four miles of skiing. The run down the Birgitzköpfl on the opposite side of the valley was the demanding in the area. The moguls pound a skier’s thighs and the steep slopes test an intermediate’s courage.

At Tulfes-Glungezer, nearly eight miles from Innsbruck, trails start at 7,557-foot. For powder and off-trail skiing, we highly recommend the area around the Glungezer summit. The hardcore climb half an hour to enjoy the best off-trail variations.

Igls, at 3,024 feet, is in the shadow of the Patscherkofel, the 7,658-foot summit for the FIS men’s downhill run. You can take the new, panoramic, 1,200-meter-long, 4-seater chairlift up and ski the same 2.4-mile course traveled by Franz Klammer to win a gold medal at the 1976 Games and you have the added advantage of new snow-making equipment that will keep the entire descent white, no matter what the weather. The bobsled run is also at Igls and visitors are allowed to try bobsledding on the Olympic course for €30 per person.

Stubaital, home of one of Europe’s top summer skiing areas, guarantees Innsbruck skiable terrain throughout the year. This area, about an hour from downtown Innsbruck, is one of the best glacier skiing areas in the world. It offers something for every skier from beginners to experts as well as a chance to experience some of Austria’s most beautiful countryside.

Mountain rating
As a twice-Olympic city, Innsbruck offers plenty for the expert. Each of the major ski areas will give the intermediate countless tests.

Beginners need have no fear. All those Austrians had to learn how to ski too and the beginner and training lifts are at the bottom of the longer chairlifts. The moment you’re ready, so is the mountain.