Worldwide Ski Resorts • Austria • Bad Kleinkirchheim
Overview
Situated close to the Italian and Slovenian borders in the south eastern Austrian province of Carinthia, Bad Kleinkirchheim, known to the locals as BKK, is an attractive old spa town consisting of numerous pleasant, traditional chalet style buildings spreading along the valley which stands at a height of 1090 m.
The town is a favourite of the great Austrian downhill champion skier Franz Klammer, who learned to ski on the local mountains. There is a red run here that is named after him and he still maintains a close association with the area and tries to promote BKK whenever possible. In terms of accommodation, the town has a number of excellent, good quality hotels as well as some cheaper styles of self catering apartments to suit all budgets.
Profile
For some reason, the resort does not appear to be particularly popular with British winter holiday makers. While there are not a large number of black runs or testing country to attract the expert skier or snowboarder, the surrounding area does have some very challenging runs and is extremely well suited to intermediates of all levels of competence.
Beginners are also well provided for with the nursery slopes at the main resort and in neighbouring St. Oswald with a couple of long, easy blue runs that lead from the training area back to the resort that will allow novices to quickly gain confidence. The fact that BKK is linked with the next door slopes by efficient gondola lifts provides even further variety for all categories of skier and the local ski pass allows full access and use of all the other resorts in the Carinthian range. Ski schools are available.
Mountain Information
The ski slopes begin just above the town at 1100m and go up to the highest point of 2055 m. BKK has 90 km of piste. The vast majority of the runs are long wide reds that allow all levels of skier to perform confidently and at speed. Some are relatively tricky and provide a worthy challenge.
Black runs are scarce and expert skiers may find themselves becoming bored at the lack of technically testing runs. The can be reached from different parts of the town by either a gondola lift or a high speed quad chair. There are 26 lifts including a number of drags and snowmaking is provided on 75 km of runs within the resort area.
Apres Ski
Bad Kleinkirchheim is less lively than many other, larger Austrian resorts. That being said, there are some very friendly and pleasant bars and restaurants within the town a number of which host live music bands during the season. The resort is ideally suited to the more mature, good to advanced level of intermediate skier who will be content to spend a pleasant week on slopes that are challenging without being too intimidating.
Austrian Resort Guide
Resort Information • Bad Kleinkirchheim
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Resort Height | 1100m |
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Top Station | 2440m |
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Bottom Station | 1100m |
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Vertical Descent | 1050m |
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Drag Lifts | 23 |
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Chair Lifts | 6 |
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High Capacity | 3 |
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Opening Dates | Dec - April |
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Rating Expert | 5 |
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Rating Intermediate | 9 |
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Rating Beginner | 6 |
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Apres Ski Rating | 5 |
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Snow Reliability | 6 |
