Nov 2023 – For the last few years, I’d known about this extremely unique high alpine location called Hintertux. I had heard and read about it mostly due to the fact that it is oftentimes advertised as offering up year-round skiing or snowboarding 365 days per year. Anywhere in the world this is an interesting fact, but aside from Zermatt, Switzerland, Hintertux is the only other place on the European mainland I’ve read about to offer up endless ski and snowboarding days. Generally speaking, we take our first trip of the season to Sölden, Austria 🇦🇹 due to the guaranteed conditions, great moderate weather, and familiarity with the city…not to mention we go during their Krampus festivities…but this year my Spouse asked if we could go somewhere different.
Naturally Hintertux sprang to the forefront of my mind. So as late November came, so did our departure time and date to hit the road for Hintertux, Austria…a chance to see another new corner of the Austrian Alps that we had yet to discover. We set out on our journey to the Zillertal valley where we would be staying for a few nights. A few hours later, after dealing with the insanity that can be the German A8 and A81, we found ourselves perched above the village of Hintertux, Austria.
Hintertux is situated in the deepest portion of the Zillertal valley and, coincidentally, the Hintertux glacier ski area is a part of the larger Ski and Glacierworld Zillertal 3000 ski region: a collection of slope regions with a total of over 200 kilometers of groomed runs which reach altitudes between 650m to 3250m (nearly 300m higher than the Zugspitze) That doesn’t even take into account the other dozens of off-piste kilometers to be taken advantage of. The primary regions that compose the region are Hintertux (naturally), Eggalm, Rastkogel, Finkenberg, Mayrhofen, and Ahorn. I’m positive that the ski and snowboarding experiences vary at all locations, but as it was late November, we wanted the guaranteed snow that Hintertux offers up.
WARNING TO ALL: as is with many many alpine villages, if you have done your homework and expect a heavy dump of snow during your travel, DO NOT FORGET YOUR TIRE CHAINS. Also, make sure you’ve practiced installing them before being out on the road. You don’t want to be putting chains on for the first time in a blizzard; however, the worst thing you can experience is ending up on a mountain, sliding down a hill, and potentially getting into minor or life-threatening accident. Then of course is the law (at least in Austria) that you’re required to have a pair in winter. Do not drive up the Alpine hills unprepared!
A quick word of wisdom to any of you considering traveling to Hintertux…and this is by no means no insult to the ski area or the village, but if you need something regarding food, drink, and anything else, make sure you’ve already brought it or you buy it at a neighboring village (like Mayrhofen) before you know you’ll need it. The only place offering sundries or staples is a small mini market next to the village Fire Station. It’s well stocked considering the size, but it doesn’t have everything. There isn’t even a bakery in the village nor the surrounding villages. That’s my only disclaimer to Hintertux and the deeper Zillertal 3000 region…just ensure you plan ahead to keep your costs and inconveniences down.
Anyways…back to the entire reason you might be here reading this. In preparation for our first few days on the slopes, and to ensure I had an opportunity to ride a slope or two alone with my wife as well as have a drink together unencumbered by nagging kids, I did the wise thing and threw the girl and the boy into a two-day morning session of ski school at Skischule Tuxertal Hintertux so they could get their ski legs back under them to start the season. There is no greater feeling in the world than giving them a hug, telling them to have fun, and immediately running away as fast as possible.
The kids’ ski school meeting time was at 9:45. Since we’d never been to the area before, and we knew there were no bakeries in town, we figured we would get down the hill from our apartment and over to the main lift area early and maybe grab breakfast next to the lift. After parking (free of charge and with plenty of space at 8AM) we caught a glimpse of the lines which scared the hell out of us; however, at around 9:00 (well after the lift had begun operation), the lines were completely gone. This was the case both Friday and Saturday morning even with all of the new snow that fell THE ENTIRE WEEKEND.
Reference my above comment on grabbing a quick breakfast at the lifts…that didn’t really exist. Hotel Neuhintertux was the only real place open during the mornings to grab a bite to eat next to the lift…but it was a full-scale restaurant; not the quick pretzel or croissant bakery that we were looking for. So shelling out 30 euros for breakfast (yes I know dumb) was not what we had planned on doing. Following cappuccinos and kaiserschmarrn, it was time to walk over to the lift.
There is only one main gondola that one can take that gets you from the villages into the main ski area and that is the 10-minute ride up the Gletscherbus1 gondola. It’s a massive lift with a large capacity…so if you’re trying to get up there first thing in the morning, expect a crowd in each car since the lifties don’t want any space being wasted. I felt that the cost of two days for my family was steep coming in at over 300 Euros. Having said that, there are likely a few reasons for this. First, your ticket works for the entire Zillertal 3000 region and not just the Gletscher ski area. Second, as I initially mentioned, Hintertux offers up skiing and snowboarding year round so I believe this gives them sort of a “right” to charge more than another ski area of its size since that’s such a unique benefit of skiing or riding the glacier ski area.
Skischule Tuxertal’s meeting point was just outside of the Gletscherbus drop-off (above Googlemaps snippet). Finding the instructors was completely stressless and easy; we ended up with lots of free time to relax. Since both of our kids are essentially old enough to just ski with Mom and Dad, I opted to only book them for two 2-hour sessions for the morning so we could ride with them after lunch. Total cost was only €138 for them both together 👍. From what my memory tells me, I felt as if this was actually pretty reasonable.
From what I could tell from the kids meeting area, I don’t think this Gletscher ski area is a place where you take kids who are complete beginners. There was no magic carpet anywhere in sight and a T-Bar was the only type of lift, save for normal chairlifts going farther up, available for the kids. This wasn’t much of a problem for us, but it would’ve been an issue about 4 years ago while our kids were still learning the basics. You should take this into account if you’re considering a visit, here.
The instructors split the morning session between working on some paralell turning skills at the T-Bar as well as taking them to the top of a much longer slope next to the Gletscherbus to work on a few other aspects of skiing. As we usually do, we tried to catch a glimpse of them during their course. When we did, the girl was learning some controlling edge work alongside her other two classmates and I was glad I was able to snap a picture or two of her during her course.
I love and hate catching them on the slopes. They recognize my jacket easily so they tend to get distracted easily if they see us. Nothing like watching your daughter’s ski class leaving her because she wants to ensure I hear and see her waving and yelling, “Hi Dad!!!” for the tenth time.
During one of those moments of being without Spouse or Kids, I took the chance to take the lifts to one of the highest portions of the ski area I could: towards the Gefrorene Wand (Frozen Wall) topping out at 3250 meters or just over 10,500ft. The moment I stepped off the lift, I felt like I was on Mars. The wind was strong and the air temperature alone was at -20 Celsius. On the journey down from the wall, it was the first time I’d ever experienced very intense whiteout conditions…what an uneasy experience. When you have to stop right where you are, hunker down to shield yourself from the wind, and hope the air clears enough for you to spot a trail marker…it’s a very strange moment that leaves you realizing, “Makes sense that people died left and right from this back in the day!” I was a happy Dad just barely spotting markers and slowly making my way down from 3250m. I’m glad I did it, but it was sketchy riding and bad weather near the top of the ski area.
I managed to convince my kids at least one afternoon to head towards the same slopes with me; however, due to the windswept conditions and hard pack of the snow and slopes, both let me know at least once, “Why did you bring us up here?!?!”
So that was fun. If yours can’t handle Red slopes and extreme cold, keep them on the slopes next to the Gletscherbus gondola.
Sadly, as it wasn’t a super lengthy trip, and the kids got weirded out by the strong weather conditions near Gefrorene Wand, I didn’t end up with the available time to go exploring the rest of the summit area. I did manage to get lost once because I was so in the zone going off-piste, but I wouldn’t exactly call that exploring…more like…accidental finding of lifts I didn’t mean to find 🙃. There is apparently a terrain park near the top top of the ski area but I just didn’t make it there…so nothing to report on hitting jumps or boxes.
The initial references I made at the beginning regarding snow chains was heavily tied to the lodging we stayed at: Fernerblick Apartments. The complex itself was fantastic, roomy, and had a huge ski room to store your gear and allow for overnight drying; however, it was perched high above the actual village of Hintertux on a hill, so the only way up and down was via a pretty steep road. In heavy snow, not having chains may get you seriously hurt or, at the very least, get you into some liability trouble because your car slides into a building or other vehicle.
The cost of the Apartment felt a bit high coming in at around €800 for 3 nights; however, the family that owns the building lives in it as well and are about as friendly as you’d want a hotel owner to be. They were great people and helped out with every possible question I threw at them (which was a lot). Also, similar to my note about the lift ticket cost, I think the cost may be what it is because a lot of folks flock to the area in November to snag the first runs of Winter. The apartment was extremely modern, had a full kitchen (saving us €100 on a night out easily), and was a 2 minute drive to the Gletscherbus. Fernerblick is completely outstanding and I’d recommend it to anyone.
Since we generally try to cook in-house and reduce cost when possible by doing so, we only ate out for dinner a single time and that was at the village’s base at Hotel Kössler’s pizzeria: Reasonably priced good run-of-the-mill pizza and pasta in the middle of the Alps. There aren’t many places to eat in Hintertux so consider calling ahead for reservations or eating an early dinner.
For you apres ski fans, the only place I saw that resembled a typical Berghutte-turned-discobar was Hohenhaus Tenne: strategically placed directly next to the Gletscherbus base as well as a bus stop (getting home safe for the win!). Since we were a solo family without a tag-along babysitter, there was no horrible Eurotechno music enjoyed by either of us. Some of you know that this is a blessing or a curse…depending on what your mood is that late afternoon.
No big deal but Ed Sheeran has played there, before.
Hintertux is a cool place to go and is widely known for its lengthy ski and snowboard season. It is unusual in that it is a VERY small village which requires you to prepare a bit more in terms of your food and drink. With newly fallen snow, there are tons of great off-piste terrain options to chase down and the groomers are very very wide for those of you who prefer them. Hintertux is very popular in the early and late season so ensure you plan most aspects of your day accordingly. We’re unsure at this post’s writing if we’ll go back or return to Sölden next November…but if you’re unsure about November conditions in other places throughout the Alps, it would serve you well to consider going to this cool little corner of the Zillertal valley.
A crystal clear night before the powder fell 
The pre-lift operation line 😬 
Happy girl’s first snowtime for 23/24 season 
Good fun instructors at Tuxertal 
This is the big wide side that my kids preferred. Loads of off-piste! 
T-bar for ski school and basic skills 
Snowboard Mom’s first time since snapping her leg in 2022. 
Them mountain feels 🤘🏂🤘 
When they need a break, any corner will do. 
My kids are way cooler than I ever was. 
My cold ninja and I 
My chilly princess headed towards the Gefrorene Wand 
A muffled, “WHY ARE WE HERE” could be heard. 
Their angst due to the conditions can be felt, here 
What a fantastic view ❄ to wake up to 
Ski bums waiting on a ski bus 
Ski bus stop with Apres Ski getting lit behind them. 
Rare moments of all smiles (5 minutes later there was probably yelling).
Bis zum näschtes Mal!
the snowboard dad in europe
The Snowboard Dad in Europe 