Visited Zauchensee in early January at the start of a long road trip through Austria. We had a fantastically fun time stretching our legs on the long, deserted piste trails, challenging ourselves in amongst the larches, and satiating ourselves with too many beers & spinat knödels.
Compared to its neighbouring resorts, Zauchensee is a quiet outpost nestled in a high alpine valley with fabulous snow and skiing direct to the door of just about every accommodation establishment in the compact village.
Sadly, we didn’t spend long enough here and didn’t ski it on a full-blown powder day, but from what we saw and experienced, Zauchensee is the ‘go to’ ski area during big winter storms. The larch forest and alpine off-piste sectors on the Gamskogel (accessed from the ancient Schwarzwand gondola) provide 750m of sublime skiable vertical on diverse terrain that sucks in the snow. We sent an associate there after our visit when a huge storm was bearing down on Austria (we were in Silvretta Montafon having our own fun!). He experienced endless deep powder runs in this sector with very few other riders out there. From our reconnaissance we certainly got a sense of the resort powder day potential. We loved the steep, wide pistes that run directly into the village from the western side of the resort. Fabulous super schooming. There is a World Cup rated piste for those that way inclined, plus a great novice zone right in the village. We noted the crowd numbers were low throughout the ski area but increased markedly as we ventured toward the Flachauwinkl sector. We expect this to increase further when a new lift finally spans the valley in Flachauwinkl in the coming years. In the mean, start your day in the Zauchensee village for the best first tracks.
The resort village reminds us strongly of Kuhtai. Compact yet lively, it is surrounded by ski terrain and lifts on both sides, providing loads of ski-inn ski-out accommodations, plus easy access for day visitors, and plenty of great bars & restaurants. If you cannot get a room in the village, plenty of well-priced alternatives exist in nearby Altenmarkt-im-Pongau and Radstadt. Free ski buses connect Altenmarkt to the resort village, or you can drive the short distance and park for free outside in the heart of the village.
This region of Austria is replete with incredible ski areas providing premium skiing on perfect groomed terrain (think Schladming & Snow Space Salzburg). With significantly higher base elevations, Zauchensee, & nearby Obertauern, bucks the trend by also providing a premium off-piste freeride experience that any self-respecting powder hound will be keen to seek out when the snow falls. Just be ready to pay for a premium priced lift pass, but at least it gets into all the surrounding Ski amadé resorts too!