The village of Obergurgl lies in the Austrian Alps. It is an attractively quiet place, virtually traffic free and built in the traditional alpine style. The approach to the village is dominated by small concentrations of hotels, while the central square contains the majority of shops, bars and restaurants.
It is a friendly resort that has become exceedingly popular with British winter holidaymakers, many of whom return year upon year, attracted by the warmth of the welcome as well as the pleasant atmosphere to be found here. There is plenty of accommodation available in the resort, although the standards are generally high and consequently rather more expensive than average. Most of the hotels tend to be in the 4 or 3 star bracket while a similar situation applies to the self catering apartment complexes.
The village stands at 1930m and provides direct access to 110 km of pistes that are served by a system of 23 lifts. A choice of lifts takes the skier from the village to the local slopes and a further gondola link provides access to the slopes over at nearby Hochgurgl. The area has a first class record for snow surety. With its high slopes and reliable snow fall, it is said to be the most snow sure, non glacier resort in Europe. As a back up, it also has a very thorough snow making operation. It is not the best resort for expert skiers, with few challenging runs on offer.
There are some interesting areas of off piste that can be explored with a local guide, and ski-touring parties are popular here. Intermediates have a fair number of runs suitable for all skill levels and when the runs immediately above the village have been exhausted, a quick trip across to Hochgurgl provides plenty more scope. Novices have a selection of nursery slopes available to them, with plenty of convenient progression slopes to aspire to. Ski schools have a good reputation and most of the hotels offer child care facilities. Snowboarders will find that this resort is mainly focussed on traditional skiing and cross country fans have only a small area of trails available.
The local slopes above Obergurgl are actually the smaller of the two sectors. The runs are high and are exposed and bleak in windy conditions. There are very few wooded runs and the mountain is often closed due to poor conditions, particularly in the early part of the year. The sector effectively splits into two areas, the Festkogl at just over 3000m where many of the tougher runs are situated and the lower Hohe Mut with its very hard ski route. Intermediates will enjoy the incredibly long blue run that meanders down from Festkogl back to the village via Gaisberg.
The slopes across at Hochgurgl provide better cruising grounds as well as some very interesting red and difficult blacks for the experts. There are mountain restaurants on both sectors, although apart from the Wurmkogelhutte at Hochgurgl, they do not have a very good reputation.
The resort is a pretty lively place, especially early in the evening when the bars at the base of the lifts get very busy. Of particular mention are the Umbrella Bar and the Hexenkuchl which seem to be the firm favourites of the regulars. Later in the evening, the places to go are the Krumpn’s Stadl and the Austriakeller Disco Bar.
Resort Height | 1740m | |
Top Station | 2313m | |
Bottom Station | 1640m | |
Vertical Descent | 673m | |
Drag Lifts | 15 | |
Chair Lifts | 11 | |
High Capacity | 1 | |
Opening Dates | Dec - Beginning May | |
Rating Expert | 6 | |
Rating Intermediate | 7 | |
Rating Beginner | 7 | |
Apres Ski Rating | 6 | |
Snow Reliability | 7 |