I had an opportunity to ski 8 days across 3 glacier areas in Tirol this October / November. I’ve not seen many reviews focussing on skiing these areas at this time of the year, so thought this may be useful.

I managed to get to Stubai, Pitztal and Hintertux.

The main theme skiing at this time of year is that the areas are training bases for early-season race training with relatively large numbers of skiers from around the world tuning up ahead of the race season. Because of this, the first rides up the mountain in the morning are still relatively busy and a fair chunk of the pistes are reserved for race training.

I’ve detailed the main pistes that were open and where the ski race training was set up. Of course piste opening will vary year by year but hopefully this will give a bit of a guide to what might be open in an ‘normal’ year (whatever that is).

Hintertux - skied 7, 10, 11 November

The main runs open were 3, 11, 11a, 12, 13, 14.

Positives:

- Excellent cold dry snow and extremely well prepared pistes.
- Of the 3 glacier areas I skied on this trip, Hintertux offered the most variety.
- The race training was contained to the top t-bars piste 5, 8 and 9
- Some of the pistes were very wide meaning the snow held up on them really well over the course of the morning. The pistes off Lärmstange 2 chair were particularly good wide cruisers where you could get a nice deep carve on.
- Piste 3 off the Gefrorene Wand gondola had 3 variants each a good width piste with a relatively steep gradient.
- The kaserer 2 t-Bar had zero others skiing it with good pistes either side of the t-bar track.
- No queues once you are on mountain with the exception of the Lärmstange 2 chair. If you are skiing this time of year I’d recommend going there first thing in the morning and get a few excellent carve-laps before moving to the rest of the hill.

Negatives (quibbles):

- Only the top stage of the mountain was open, meaning runs were generally limited to around 350-400m vertical. In excellent years you might get lucky and the middle sector of the mountain may also be skiable. I note that as of now (8 Dec 25) the middle section and the valley run to the car park are both open.
- The first ride experience has a cattle transport feel to it, with an imposing snake queue to navigate in the valley and also to load onto to the second stage. However the queue moved quickly.
See our video here

After many years away, we finally re-visited Hintertux Glacier in late January 2022. Our first visit was during a very slow start to the winter season, yet Hintertux still had great skiing. This time round, we came 4 days after a huge winter storm. We expected the resort to absolutely skied out. To our surprise and delight it was not. Far from it in fact. We slashed easy powder between the groomers on the glaciers. reaped fresh lines on the many shaded aspects below the Lärmstange peak, and enjoyed tracked, but still beautiful turns in sunny powder above Sommerberg from the Tuxerjoch lift.

Our lunch at the Tuxer Fernerhaus restaurant was superb, as was the service. The facilites in the building are absolutely first rate.

We noted that the old Lärmstange double chair is no longer functioning (didn't even have chairs on it!), and most of the towers & top station for its replacement next season are already in place. The new lift will revolutionise access to the off-piste terrain at Hintertux - for better or worse.

Finished the day with a slide down the 1a valley route. It was groomed most of the way and was more of an advanced piste trail, but a cracking way to end a fabulous day.

Getting back to the car in the free undercover car park just near the end of the trail is just another thing that we take for granted when skiing in Europe!

This trip we stayed in a remote farm stay above Zell am Ziller and made the trip to Hintertux in our rental car with ease. We loved the peace and quiet, the views, and communing with the bovines! If you are after some action, stay in Mayrhofen . Great apres ski & nightlife (hence the 5-star nightlife score) and also transport options for those without a car.

Hintertux is definitely 'Wintertux', and with its ability to ski every day of the year, deserves its place as the home of winter.
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There is a photo on this site that shows an off-piste run that looks tracked out...... it is not! Fresh turns were easily banged out after a short traverse. On the same traverse you can turn off earlier and get more turns, fresher turns, maybe even better turns? When there is powder, that traverse will fill your day if you then finish on a ski route. I think it had been 4 days since last fresh snowfall and the ski routes were virtually untouched. The bottom of this review will ask me if I would revisit. The one thumbs up does not represent the desire I have to go back here.👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍should be sufficient.
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Great for pre season, end of season or summer. Go summer, then somewhere else in peak season. This is the place to go when no where else has snow.
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Have been in Zillertal (Hintertux, Mayrhofen) a couple of times and compared with other places in Austria, Norway, Canada etc. is a good place with sometimes not top notch snow but a great area connected with each other. Not cheap. Good after skiing (après). The glacier always with snow!
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We did some fabulous skiing at Hintertux Glacier. Whilst the snow quality was generally superb, major winds had moved alot of snow around and much of the off-piste was closed. Shame because it looked awesome. Delicious lunch at the Spannagelhaus just as the sun popped up over the ridge. The new valley run (no.1) is superb and a fantastic way to end the day before hitting the apres at Tenne.

Hintertux Glacier isn't the most child friendly ski resort owing to the awkward & long surface lifts on the glaciers, but who cares! It is also a shame that one cannot ski the entire vertical owing to the local topography.

The strengths of Hintertux are its snow surety (open every day of the year), long piste trails & also its location at the head of the Tuxer (and by default) the Ziller valleys. Mayrhofen and the other Zillertal ski resorts all become part of the same trip (same lift pass), creating a truly diverse skiing experience, all connected by bus and train. Great stuff. Stay in Mayrhofen to get the most out of the towns nightlife!

Will come back one day to ski it in powder - we hear its awesome!
See our video here