Solden - World Snowboard Guide

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There is a long windy road up to glacier in summer, beware if your car is not too good condition as this road has been known to make cars distinctly unhappy

Sölden is a high altitude resort is located 90km from Innsbruck and 40km from Ötztal (the nearest train station), and is just down the road from the better known resort of Obergurgl. The area consists of “The Big 3” mountains, Schwarze Schneide, Gaislachkogel and Tiefenbachkogel, which are all over 3000 metres and serviced by high speed lifts with stunning views into Italy from their summits. At the top are 2 glaciers offering Austria's biggest glacial ski area and 147km of pistes overall, which are all perfectly groomed when the lifts open at 8am, but get seriously moguled by the end of the day by the hoardes of skiers.

Gaislachkogl mittelstation area
Photo: Steve, WSG

The majority of the area is above tree line and most of the runs are wide and pretty mellow. The area accessed from the Giggijochbahn offers by far the easiest terrain, but the runs back to town are little more than cat tracks. At the other end of town, the Gaislachkoglbahn is where to head to access the more testing freeride terrain.

There is a terrain park located under the Hainbachkar chairlift on the Giggijoch. It offers a few boxes and a parallel beginner and intermediate kicker line, with 2-3 features. The pro-line is fenced off from the main park and focuses more on jibs than jumps, and the shaping team are pretty inventive with the setup. The halfpipe is a thing of memory here.

You used to be able to snowboard on Sölden’s glaciers in the summer, but these days the glaciers open in October and the main resort in December and stays open until the beginning of May.

Solden main town
Photo: WSG

The town isn't one of Austria's prettiest, and stretches either side along the Otztaler Ache river for 3 or 4km and at either end are gondolas taking you up to the mountains, its usually possible to board down to the town until the end of the winter season.
Sölden is well known, if not better known more for its party atmosphere that its mountain; quiet this place isn't. Most of the action happens at the Giggijochbahn end of town, and at 4pm bars in town like Marcos and the Schrim umbrella bar are rammed and the momentum doesn’t really stop until the Kuhstall closes at 8am.

New for season

2007/8:Connection "Golden Gate to the Glacier" and "Giggijoch" with artificcial snow making faccilities. Size: 65ha

2007/8:Connection "Golden Gate to the Glacier" and "Giggijoch" with artificcial snow making faccilities. Size: 65ha

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Nearby resorts

Distances are in a direct straight line, and take no account of roads. For driving instructions between resorts take a look at the travel page

Nearby resorts:

Resort Statistics

Resort Type: Alpine
Winter: Nov to May
Summer: June to Oct

Lifts

Total Lifts: 34
Gondolas: 7
Chair lifts: 19
Drag lifts: 8
Max people per hour: 68,000
Board Leashes required: No

Mountain

Total ride area: 147km
Longest run: 12.8km

Top lift: 3250m
Vertical drop: 1900m
First lift: 1350m

Piste suitability

Green runs: 52%
Red runs: 32%
Black runs: 16%

Lift Passes

	Low Season		High Season
	EUR	GBP	EUR	GBP
Day Pass	40.00	32.70	42.00	34.34
6-Day Pass	185.00	151.26	206.00	168.43
6-Day Linked area Pass	195.00	159.43	216.00	176.60

	EUR	GBP
Season Pass:	501.00	409.62

Lift Passes:
Half-day 30.5 euros
1 Day pass - 39.5 euros
6 Day pass - 193.5 euros
Season pass 501 euros
1 Day (summer) 35.5 euros
Lift times:9am to 4.00pm

Snowfall

Average annual snowfall: 250metres
Artificial snowmaking coverage: 27%

Facilities

	EUR	GBP
Days Rental of Board & Boots:	33.00	26.98
4hr Group Lesson (full day):	-	-
4hr Private Lesson (full day):	-	-

Snowboard Schools: various board schools in town. Schischule Sölden, Yellow Power,Aktiv, Vacancia all run english speaking group and private lessons for all abilities.
Night Riding: : Wednesday evenings theres a night ski show and night skiing on the 4km no.10 run