Worldwide Ski Resorts • Austria • Kirchberg
Overview
The lively little village of Kirchberg lies close to the much larger and more well know town of Kitzbuhel in the Austrian Tyrol. The resort shares the ski area of its larger neighbour and the slopes are reached from three separate areas, all a courtesy bus ride from the village. Kirchberg itself is somewhat of a sprawling community but has an excellent variety of traditional style chalet hotels and guesthouses as well as a couple of more upmarket establishments that are close to the main gondola. Most restaurants are attached to the hotels but there a number of alternative venues including a steakhouse and a pizza parlour.
Profile
The village stands at 850m and does not have a very good snow record. It lies some 3 km from Kitzbuhel and access is gained to the slopes via the Maieri chair and the gondolas that take you to the Ehrenbachhohe in the centre of the ski area. The resort provides access to 163 km of pisted runs that range from 800m up to 2000 m. There are 53 lifts and to combat the less than great snow record, there are 65 km of pistes that are served by snowmaking machinery. Expert skiers will find a whole range of challenging country both on and off piste, although some off piste areas demand the presence of an experienced guide. Intermediates will enjoy some of the long blue runs and the reds that lead down to Jochberg.
Beginners may find the area a little taxing and the nursery slopes do suffer from patchy snow coverage. There are however some very nice easy green on which to progress once you have found your feet. Snowboarders can enjoy the benefit of the terrain park and the cross country run over Kitbuheler Horn. Cross country skiers have about 40 km of trails at their disposal, but as these are at a low level, they are inclined to suffer from lack of snow. There are a whole range of ski schools available. There are both ski and non-ski kindergartens available in the village for children.
Mountain Information
The ski area is divided into a total of five main areas and offer an excellent choice of wide open high runs at the top of the mountain and some tree lined slopes further down. The Hahnenkamm-Pengelstein area is the largest and lies just above the arrival point from Kirchberg. This area also contains Ehrenbachgraben where some of the best advance ski country is to be found. This is also the place for intermediates who may wish to attempt the Hahnenkamm downhill race track. The other sectors are the Jochberg-Pass Thurn, the Kitbuheler Horn, the small Bichlalm area and Gaisberg that lies directly above Kirchberg and which hosts regular floodlit skiing. There are some very good mountain restaurants.
Apres Ski
The après ski scene is very lively, but if you get bored with the village, the nightlife in Kitzbuhel is amazing.
Austrian Resort Guide
Resort Information • Kirchberg
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Resort Height | 850m |
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Top Station | 1934m |
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Bottom Station | 860m |
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Vertical Descent | 1074m |
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Drag Lifts | 8 |
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Chair Lifts | 7 |
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High Capacity | 1 |
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Opening Dates | Mid Dec-Early April |
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Rating Expert | 6 |
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Rating Intermediate | 8 |
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Rating Beginner | 7 |
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Apres Ski Rating | 8 |
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Snow Reliability | 6 |
