Photo: © Stubai.at
There are four ski areas in the Stubaital, rather bitty, but fast and fun in places. The highlight is the Stubai Glacier, 20 minutes’ drive from Neustift and served by twin gondolas that form part of a network of 21 lifts with 130km of piste. It is a good summer ski area popular for out-of-season training area among racers (although it closes from the middle of June until the last week in September), and it’s home to plenty of wide, fast (but not too steep) pistes – the perfect place to work on your carving. The only problem is the cold – with icy winds and some runs above 3000m, it can be bitter.
Neustift has its own little ski area – the Elfer – that stretches over undulating pastures (“runs not exceptionally challenging, but great for the less experienced,” said a reporter).
There are more pistes at Schlick 2000 above Fulpmes is in a sheltered bowl on the 2230m Sennjoch, and has some good gentle blue runs for improving beginners, but in limited numbers. This takes you down to Schlickeralm 1600m and further pistes. Complete beginners will find the nursery slopes at Froneben and Schlickeralm.
The fourth area is Serlesbahnen in Mieders, which offers some good pistes, cross-country tracks and toboggan runs.
The glacier is good for on-piste boarders and freestylers
Freeriders should look elsewhere as this is not an area for off-piste addicts. For intermediate riders, who want to stick to the pistes, the glacier is a reasonably attractive proposition, because of the quality of the snow. It’s too high and cold to suffer from the freeze/thaw cycle that creates the icy runs so hated by snowboarders. There is also a good snowpark and half-pipe.
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